Finalists unveiled for statewide student pitch competition
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The Indianapolis-based STARTedUP Foundation has revealed the 10 finalists for this year’s Innovate WithIN statewide pitch competition.
The teams will now bring their business ideas to the state finals in June for a chance to win $25,000 in seed funding, in addition to financial support to continue their education.
One team from each of six regions throughout the state was selected from a panel of judges in the regional competitions, in addition to four “wild card” teams.
By being named finalists, each student competitor will receive $1,000 to help further develop their ideas into viable business ventures over the next two months.
The 10 finalist teams are:
- Hydroxy | Lenea Elliot, Matthew McKeehan, Colten Mitchell | Perry Central Jr-Sr High School (Leopold)
- ShellSafe | Pragathi Arunkumar | Carmel High School (Carmel)
- PinPoint Allergy | Genesis Austin, Jayden Brosman | Speedway Senior High School (Speedway)
- Wringo | Connor Gomez, Ameen Musleh, Vasili Papageorge | Munster High School (Munster)
- Skyguard | Luke Herring, Landon Mitchell, Brody Overlander | Southwood Jr-Sr High School (Wabash)
- CayPops | Caylyn Pruitt | Columbus North High School (Columbus)
- Caseflood.ai | Ethan Hilton, Emily Rudolph, Tolen Schreid | Signature School / New Tech Institute (Evansville)
- Epi-Patch | Max Ledingham, Alexander Lu, Adithyan Naren | Carmel High School (Carmel)
- SafetyGlow | Ashton Verbish | Hanover Central High School (Cedar Lake)
- Bluer Waters | Tucker Harris, Tyler Harris, William Trask | Floyd Central High School (Floyds Knobs)
As part of the journey to the state finals, the teams will receive mentorship from leaders at Indianapolis-based venture studio Elevate Ventures, as well as the Venture Support Program from TechPoint. The teams will also participate in a weekend-long bootcamp, where they will receive mentorship and feedback from local business and community leaders.
In addition to the $25,000 grand prize, each student in the first-place team will receive $10,000 in 529 funds that will support their postsecondary education. All 10 teams will also have the chance to earn thousands of dollars in scholarships from participating colleges and universities, according to the foundation.
The Innovate WithIN State Finals will take place June 21 at the Lacy School of Business on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis.