Thursday, March 28, 2024

Top 10 companies selected to compete for $325,000+ at 2022 Flywheel Investment Conference

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For the first time since its inception, the Flywheel Angel Network has selected ten companies who will compete live for up to $325,000 in awards at the 2022 Flywheel Investment Conference, May 18 - 19 in Wenatchee.

The goal of the annual Flywheel Conference is to bring entrepreneurs, investors, and professionals together to cultivate momentum for growing companies across Washington State. Angel investors, institutional investors, startup advisors, ecosystem partners, startups, and professionals from across the Pacific Northwest travel to Wenatchee to attend the annual event.
 
The conference is organized by non-profit NCW Tech Alliance and is hosted in partnership with the Flywheel Angel Network who fund the investment offerings. The Flywheel Angel Network is a group of investors who support long-term economic development throughout North Central Washington. This year, the network grew to 40+ investors and exceeded expectations when they sold out their investment fund.

This year’s competition will see over $275,000 in investment awards, the highest offering in Flywheel Conference history. The investment awards combined with the relocation offer of $50,000 puts over $325,000 on the table for Washington State companies.

Over the course of six weeks, the Flywheel Investment Conference received over 77 applications from startup companies across Washington State, the highest number of applications in Flywheel Conference history. In prior years, only the top six companies went on to compete in the conference. But through careful deliberation, this year the Flywheel Angel Network opted to select ten finalists to compete. The ten finalists include:

Aviot, Shashwat Srivastav, CEO; Seattle
Aivot builds general-purpose and fast-learning robots that cost a few dollars per hour to run. It uses intelligent software with commodity hardware to enable automation for open-ended environments like the food services, which are facing labor shortages. Aivot has strong customer validation.

BodiGuide Inc., Deborah Kessler, CEO; Bellevue
BodiGuide has developed and is commercializing the first leg-edema monitoring system for heart failure patients. The BodiGuide Anklet automatically measures ankle circumference, which is the most direct and accurate way of monitoring fluid retention. It gives 6 million heart failure patients in the U.S. a worry-free way to improve their self-care and inform their cardiologist of the need for medical attention to prevent emergency hospitalizations.

BrainSpace, Caitlin Morse, CEO; Seattle
BrainSpace is modernizing the neuro ICU by developing hardware and software to protect the brain and help it heal. Their vision of success is to improve patient outcomes, reduce ICU staff burnout, build datasets for machine learning/AI applications and expand equitable access to care. Their first product will be used in the hospital to manage severe TBI, stroke, dementia and surgical recovery.

Drip7, Heather Stratford, CEO; Spokane
Once upon a time, someone realized training was broken. Both systems and attacks became more complex, risks were increasing. The bad guys were winning. Everyone was forgetting what they were taught — and what was remembered was not put into practice. Dangers were evolving too fast and training wasn’t keeping up. Then someone looked at how your brain works and realized there’s a solution — make it short, make it fun, and make it daily. And that is how Drip7 emerged into the world — to rescue training, one drip at a time.

FlexCharging, Brian Grunkemeyer, CEO; Redmond
The transportation sector is the single largest consumer of fossil fuels and the largest producer of greenhouse gasses that are driving climate change. To solve this, the entire transportation industry is rapidly shifting from fossil fuels to electricity, but every vehicle is dependent on its local utility to supply this energy. The utilities cannot handle this massive new requirement, especially if it hits the grid at the same time.

FlexCharging solves this by shifting when electric vehicles charge. This flexible charging also lowers prices for consumers, reduces carbon emissions from utilities by charging when more renewables are available, and generates a rich data set. This data set is used by utilities in their planning but is also highly valued by fleets, automakers, and EV charging providers.

Give InKind, Laura Malcolm, CEO; Tacoma
Give InKind is a platform for organizing support for anyone, from anywhere. Each InKind page allows friends, families, and communities to provide help in a way that works for them. From sending a meal to new parents to supporting a sick coworker, more than 2M people have come to InKind to answer the question “how can I help?”

Huney Jun LLC, Beau Carrillo & Molly Hemler, CEO; Peshastin
Huney Jun is a certified organic producer of Honey fermented Jun-Kombucha, a bubbly probiotic-rich beverage infused with healthy herbs and botanicals. As well as Huney Nectar, a line of first to market probiotic herbal honey's. Beau and Molly started brewing Jun-Kombucha at their home kitchen in Leavenworth, WA, and have steadily grown the company over the last four years in Peshastin, WA where they have built a state of the art brewing facility. Huney Jun-Kombucha is now available nationwide with retail distribution to more than 40 states.

innov8.ag, Steve Mantle, CEO; Walla Walla
Innov8.ag is an Eastern Washington based company focused on unlocking agricultural productivity in labor intensive, high value fruit farms across the US; enabling farmers to grow more, in fewer acres, using less resources. Visualizing unrealized economic potential with precision agricultural data and insights, empowering them to harness the true capabilities of their land and crops in a manner that supports sustainability of the environment.

Stack Moxie, MH Lines, CEO; Kirkland
Stack Moxie is the first platform to allow business users to manage tech stacks with the same quality an engineer brings to code or IT brings to a network. Marketing & Rev Ops is core to every thing happening in Product Led Growth, ABM, Big Data and just about every revenue function - Stack Moxie helps them deploy campaigns faster, scale faster, and make sure everything works as expected.

ZILA Works SPC, Jason Puracal, CEO; Renton
ZILA Works is developing a patented industrial bioplastic to help product manufacturers lower their carbon footprint. ZILA has traction in the marketplace: the world's largest snowboard manufacturer, and the largest wind turbine manufacturer, want to use ZILA's technology in their products. ZILA is currently scaling up production of their bio-epoxy resin for its first paid pilot of 100 snowboards with resin delivery expected in June.

The public is invited to purchase tickets to attend the 2022 Flywheel Investment Conference. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online at www.flywheelconference.com.

About the Flywheel Investment Conference
The Flywheel Investment Conference is an annual full-day event that generates momentum and resources for early stage companies. The Flywheel Conference is a unique opportunity for angel investors, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, startups and community members to come together to connect, learn, and develop resources for building companies. Held in downtown Wenatchee, WA, the event features an investment competition, educational seminars, keynote presentations, and after-party celebration. More information at www.flywheelconference.com.
About NCW Tech Alliance
Since 1999, NCW Tech Alliance has served as the region’s tech alliance, championing growth and development in North Central Washington. As a 501(c)3, NCW Tech Alliance’s mission is to bring together people and resources in technology, entrepreneurship, and STEM education. For more information visit www.ncwtech.org.

Flywheel Investment Conference, $325k

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