Elk Grove’s inaugural Pitch Elk Grove contest got 50 entries vying for $17,500 in prize money that will be awarded at an in-person event later this month.
The city has narrowed the field to 16 finalists from startup companies based in Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, San Joaquin, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties.
“It was a stiff competition, with a lot of good companies,” said Laura Good, co-founder of StartupSac, which is organizing the event for the city.
The city was seeking companies that are investment-ready, and Good said the cohort is that and more. “Many of these companies have already raised money,” she said.
The 16 companies will get narrowed down to eight finalists during a private pitch event March 9 on Zoom. Each company will get to make a five-minute presentation before judges.
Final pitches will be in person March 31 at The Center at District 56 - The Sheldon Room in Elk Grove, which is open to the public.
The top prize is $10,000, second prize is $5,000 and audience favorite gets $2,500. The city of Elk Grove is providing the prize money.
The companies are:
- AdvanceAg of Live Oak, which offers data systems for outdoor farming efficiency.
- Agrinerds Inc. of Davis, which offers software and hardware for the poultry industry.
- CoreImpact Inc. of Elk Grove, which offers a training data platform for athletes.
- Demo Genie of Sacramento, which offers a customizable sales platform.
- EV Life of Folsom, which helps consumers buy electric vehicles.
- EyeRate of Elk Grove, which offers a customer communication platform.
- Fanalyze Inc. of Roseville, which has a sports analysis app for fantasy sports and betting.
- FloraPulse of Davis, which offers precise plant irrigation technology.
- Humaxa of Cameron Park, which offers an AI digital assistant bot.
- JNH Dream Innovations Inc. of Granite Bay, which has a pain mitigation device.
- Matrubials Inc. of Davis, which is developing antibacterial therapeutics.
- Mediminder Inc. of Davis, which has a smartphone epinephrine monitor.
- Neural Lab Inc. of El Dorado Hills, which offers touchless touchscreen technology.
- Opeeka of Folsom, which is developing behavioral health software.
- OpenGrants of Folsom, which has a grant search engine.
- Tiami Networks of Elk Grove, which is working on 5G wireless security.
Five of the companies that made the top 16 in the Elk Grove competition also made it to the “select 16” in the Sacramento Kings Capitalize contest, which also pays a $10,000 cash prize for the winner in a March Madness-style contest. Those five are AdvanceAg, EV Life, EyeRate, Matrubials and Neural Lab. This is the seventh year for the Capitalize contest, where the Sacramento Kings invite startups based within 75 miles of Sacramento to apply for the pitch competition, which this year will culminate with a crowdsourced vote at Golden 1 Center during a basketball game April 3.
The Elk Grove pitch competition is an opportunity for the city to show local entrepreneurs its Startup Elk Grove Incentive Program, which launched in 2018 and offers direct cash subsidies to companies based in the city.
