These 8 Startups Will Receive $100,000 Investments Each
Render Capital is excited to announce the winners of the 2020 Render Competition, a competition focused on supporting innovative and scalable startups in our region. Eight startups have been awarded $100,000 investments and pro-bono services from our partner providers. Winners, if not local, will relocate to the Greater Louisville area.
This spring we announced the Render Competition and shortly thereafter received over 200 applications from 18 different states, 4 different continents and 5 different countries. Applications were made up from startups within a wide range of industries including healthcare, logistics, artificial intelligence, broad technology solutions, among others.
Once applications closed on May 15th, our team of over 75 judges from across the country and various industries worked to narrow down the field of applicants to the 15 best startups. This week we were proud to announce those 15 finalists via our Virtual Pitch Event.
- Roborus, Fort Lee, NJ “Roborus is building smart robot technology and software to automate in-store customer service for fast food restaurants through facial recognition and machine learning.”
- Unitonomy, Louisville, KY “Unitonomy makes software for businesses to cultivate and scale work culture. They’re starting with 3 products: Glvvv, GetCommit, and OrgVitals.”
- Moxie Girl, Jeffersonville, IN “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.”
- SplitGym, Chicago, IL “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."
- Luv Health Co., Louisville, KY “Luv Health Co connects organizations and individuals to vetted sexual wellness resources, support and care. Our initial product supports universities and colleges their Title IX compliance through our technology and professional network.”
- True Adherence, Salt Lake City, UT “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.”
- Kwema, St. Louis, MO “Kwema mitigates the safety risks that employees face by providing wearables that activate an emergency protocol. Our technology is designed to avoid adoption hurdles and training costs by being placed in something employees already wear.”
- Stuccco, Louisville, KY “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.”
- Scudo, Miami, FL “Scudo is a tech solution that combines human and artificial intelligence to help people, businesses and governments prepare for infectious disease outbreaks, natural disasters, social unrest and other similar events. We protect people and organizations by offering them data alerts about all significant events that affect them, and their communities.”
- Compliance Sign, Tallmadge, OH “Compliance Sign helps CIO, CTOs, and Regulatory Directors keep compliant by leveraging advanced AI/ML to assist with documents using tens-of-thousands of common mistakes, laws, and similar documents. With 'spellcheck of compliance', we bring superpowers to regulatory and administrative persons with exponential and growing complexities of regulatory and policy.”
- Briocare, Frisco, TX “Briocare is revolutionizing the elderly care industry using VOICE AI. We help seniors lead an active and healthy life while providing peace of mind to the caregivers.”
- Enriched Couples, New Albany, IN “The Enriched Couples platform helps young couples conquer the behavioral and social challenges of financial wellness -- as a team, and before it becomes a crisis. Using a proprietary methodology, the SaaS platform guides partners through personalized activities to forge lasting financial teamwork based on trust and mutual goals.”
- Taproot, Louisville, KY “Taproot is a SaaS company specializing in improving the SBA lending process for banks and borrowers. Taproot provides regional and community banks and credit unions with a front-end application that leverages great user experience paired with industry-leading APIs to compile borrower’s business and personal financial data for SBA loan applications.”
- Total Mindcare, New Albany, IN “Total MINDCARE is the first integrated, full-stack, digitally focused, AI-driven precision treatment organization for Mental Healthcare. Total MINDCARE uses technology to reduce costs and barriers to effective mental health treatment. We deliver the future mental healthcare direct to consumers, today!”
- BrainSTEM, Louisville, KY “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.”
Then during the week of September 14th, our panel of final round judges selected these 8 winners of the 2020 Render Competition.
- BrainSTEM, Louisville, KY
- Briocare, Frisco, TX
- Moxie Girl, Jeffersonville, IN
- Roborus, Fort Lee, NJ
- SplitGym, Chicago, IL
- Stuccco, Louisville, KY
- True Adherence, Salt Lake City, UT
- Unitonomy, Louisville, KY
We are so excited to be investing in these 8 startups. They are each working to solve such unique and important problems, and we are proud to be able to support their innovative solutions. We can't wait to watch these companies continue to grow and do great things in our local economy.
Marigrace Ragsdale, Senior Associate, Render Capital
Render Competition Program Sponsors included Samtec, UPS, the Mircosoft Future of Work Initiative, and the Greater Louisville, Inc (GLI). Presenting Sponsors for the Virtual Pitch Event included EdjSports, Edj Analytics, and Amplify Louisville. Support was also provided by Venture First.
About Render Capital: Render Capital is working to create an environment where entrepreneurs build businesses and thrive. We envision a robust and thriving regional economy where entrepreneurs see Louisville and Southern Indiana as a place they can find appropriate risk capital necessary for them to start and grow. Render Capital is a regional fund of Access Ventures.
