Some of Richmond's most promising young startups were awarded Tuesday at the annual rvAwesome Founders Awards.
The event, hosted at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center, marked the launch of the second annual UpRiver summit. It recognized ventures with the potential to significantly impact the Richmond region’s economy.
At least 67 startups and entrepreneurs applied to the competition, whose winners – in five categories and one overall champ – were selected by a panel of five judges.
Roundtrip, a Richmond-based company that makes a ride-hailing platform for healthcare providers and patients, emerged on top with the title of Founder of the Year.
The startup launched in 2016 under the leadership of Mark Switaj with the goal of eradicating missed medical appointments, soon expanding with an office in Philadelphia and operations in 27 states.
Roundtrip was named one of Richmond's 2019 Startups to Watch, and went on to raise more than $5 million in Series A funding in May.
Winners in the other categories were:
High Growth: Warehowz, founded by Darrell Jervey, runs a marketplace for on-demand warehousing. It raised $1 million earlier this year to launch.
Micro: The Broad, founded by Ali Greenberg, is a Richmond coworking space and social club designed for women and gender minorities that was named a 2019 Inno on Fire winner.
Maker: O’My Foods, co-founded by Allison Monette, makes dairy-free dessert products that started distributing nationwide this year.
Main Street: Fuel Digital, co-founded by Chris Cook, provides consulting services for digital projects.
Student: Pocket Innovations, co-founded by Karlie Vogt, is a medical device design business that recently won the IdeaFest Pitch Competition.
Local nonprofit Activation Capital and Venture Forum RVA sponsored the Founders Awards and UpRiver summit, which continued Wednesday with speakers and startup panels.
