Medley Genomics took home the top prize of $50,000, which includes $25,000 in cash, at Cox Business' sixth-annual #GetStartedRI pitch competition last night.
ReliaBra also brought home a prize: $5,000, for winning the Audience Choice award.
"[The prize] will help us continue on with the work we're doing here and making a difference," Medley Genomics founder Patrice Milos told Rhode Island Inno.
Milos' startup is looking to make cancer a chronic illness as opposed to a terminal disease by taking a closer look at the “molecular fingerprints” of a patient’s cancer, therefore providing a more specific and customized treatment plan. Last year, the company received a $50,000 Innovation Voucher to continue its work with Rhode Island Hospital and was named one of Rhode Island Inno's 50 on Fire winners. In 2018, it was also named one of the state's Coolest Companies.
ReliaBra is the creation of recent Brown University graduate Rose Mangiarotti. Her startup develops “sticky bras that offer removable and replaceable adhesives.” She brought her product to the Brown Venture Prize competition and was a member of the 2018 cohort of Breakthrough Lab — an 8-week accelerator program that involves founders from RISD and Brown. Additionally, Mangiarotti was named one of Rhode Island Inno's 25 Under 25 entrepreneurs this year.
She told Rhode Island Inno that the win felt "good," and it was edifying to receive the support of the crowd.
"[ReliaBra] had quite a few fans here," she said. "I'm especially certain a lot of women can relate to [the product]."
Mangiarotti added that she'd use the funds to help work on product developments with her manufacturer.
The two were joined on the stage by five other finalists: OURGrain, Cloud Agronomics, RacerX, Rhodeside Revival and TextUp. Read more about these startups here.
All seven finalists had a chance to present for five minutes in front of a panel of judges: moderator Ken Kraft, senior vice president of marketing and sales operations for Cox Business, a division of Cox; Karl Wadensten, president/CEO of VIBCO Vibrators; Shannon Shallcross, co-founder and CEO of BetaXAnalytics; Chris Bergenheim, Providence Business News web editor; and Matt Tortora, co-founder and CEO of Crave Food Systems. Afterwards, said judges were then given five minutes to ask the presenter questions about their product.
The night included opening remarks from these thought leaders, food and drink, networking and insights from guests like Secretary of Commerce Stefan Pryor and Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, who said evenings like this illustrated the power of the local ecosystem.
"It's not having one [entrepreneur] who is a superlative superstar," he continued. In Rhody, "its many nodes who are interconnected."
Added judge Shallcross, to the delight of the crowd: "Hearing all these pitches makes me damn proud to be a Rhode Islander."
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Disclosure: Cox Business is a founding partner of Rhode Island Inno.
