A Folsom company that helps people find incentives to buy electric cars won the $10,000 top cash prize in Elk Grove’s inaugural Pitch Elk Grove startup company competition Thursday.
EV Life finds applicable subsidies from the 400 available nationwide, and it offers a climate loan that reduces the upfront cost of the vehicle, said co-founder and co-CEO Kevin Favro.
A lot of people are considering switching to electric vehicles, but getting to a sale is hard, Favro said, primarily because EVs are more expensive to buy and because electric car subsidies return to the consumer more than a year after the purchase.
Beyond just buying cars, the company is poised to help consumers find incentives in buying solar systems, battery storage, induction stoves and other products.
“There is a tsunami of electrification” coming in the near future, he said.
Second place, and $5,000 in cash, went to Elk Grove-based EyeRate, which offers a customer communication platform that pays retail employees for good customer reviews.
An audience favorite prize, and $2,500 in cash, was awarded to Mediminder Inc. of Davis, which has a smartphone epinephrine monitor to remind people with severe allergies to always have an EpiPen with them.
“Why is Elk Grove hosting a startup competition?” said Darrell Doan, economic development director with Elk Grove. “Because economies that don’t grow stagnate."
The pitch competition brought angel investors, other startups and members of the technology and startup community to Elk Grove, some maybe for the first time, Doan said.
The pitch was in the city’s new community center space, The Center at District 56, which recently opened.
The city provided the prize money to introduce startups to its Startup Elk Grove Incentive Program, which launched in 2018 and offers direct cash subsidies to companies based in the city.
Doan said he would like the city to repeat this event annually. In its first year, the pitch event got 50 entrants from around the region.
