LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Eight early stage technology companies – four from the Louisville area and four from other parts of the country – will each get $100,000 in seed money from a Louisville venture fund after beating out nearly 200 competitors in a “Virtual Pitch Competition.”
Render Capital’s inaugural competition drew 194 applicants, and the Louisville-based investment fund plans to repeat the competition every year, said T.J. Abood, a partner at Access Ventures, the private, nonprofit foundation that operates Render Capital.
TJ Abood, partner at Access Ventures (Access Ventures website)
Abood said the competition is “part of a larger investment focus in Louisville where we want to see a more vibrant ecosystem of entrepreneurs here.”
The winners were announced in a video on Friday.
While half the companies are from other areas of the country, the $100,000 comes with a string attached: One of the business’ founders must relocate to Louisville for a year, Abood said.
“Some of these founders have fantastic ideas, and they are coming into a community that can help them just catapult,” he said.
Access Ventures is an endowed nonprofit organization that had $32 million in assets as of its most recent public tax form. It manages Render Capital, a for-profit investment vehicle formed in January with other investors.
Access Ventures is focused on fostering “a more inclusive and creative economy,” Abood said.
Companies funded through the competition are “tech-forward” ventures in a very early stage, Abood said.
“Some of them may have received some angel investment in the past, but we are more likely the first institutional money they’ve received,” Abood said.
Abood said there are investment dollars available from promising companies in Louisville and throughout the Midwest, but the idea behind the $100,000 contributions is, “Can we open up the access to the money that already exists by giving someone money a little bit earlier to test their idea and to show traction?”
Here are the winners of the competition with descriptions provided by Render Capital:
Local companies
- Stuccco: “A virtual staging and online interior design company enabling Realtors® and homeowners to get any room staged or designed in as little as one day, democratizing the antiquated $6 billion staging and $114 billion interior design industries and creating an advertising channel for the $45 billion e-commerce home furnishing industry.”
- BrainSTEM: “BrainSTEM University is an educational tech startup that provides a virtual learning environment and social network for students to participate in S.T.E.A.M based classes, projects, and clubs.”
- Unitonomy: “Unitonomy makes software for businesses to cultivate and scale work culture. They’re starting with 3 products: Glvvv, GetCommit, and OrgVitals.”
- Moxie Girl (Jeffersonville, Ind.): “Moxie Girl is a platform built to improve the mental health and wellness of girls everywhere. The platform powers connections with e-mentors, group coaching, and insights to behavioral specialists about their adolescent female patients.”
Non-local companies
- Briocare,(Frisco, Texas) “Briocare is revolutionizing the elderly care industry using VOICE AI (artificial intelligence). We help seniors lead an active and healthy life while providing peace of mind to the caregivers.”
- SplitGym (Chicago, Ill.) “We create liquidity for membership days, classes and sessions (starting with fitness)! Buyers can purchase discounted passes, sellers can sell their membership days and classes for cash, and studios convert and retain more members. It's a win-win-win. We make fitness more affordable for everyone."
- Roborus, (Fort Lee, N.J.) “Roborus is building smart robot technology and software to automate in-store customer service for fast food restaurants through facial recognition and machine learning.”
- True Adherence (Salt Lake City, Utah) “We leverage interactive digital displays, powered by computer vision, to provide users real-time biomechanical feedback while they perform resistance training movements. Our platform’s spacing requirements and AI trainer aspects empower gyms to offer an unrivaled social distance fitness experience.”
