Five startups from a pool of 235 were selected to share in $70,000 in upfront funding as part of the 2016 fund of Winston-Salem-based New Ventures Investment Club.
Each of the five will now participate in the New Ventures Startup Accelerator program based at Flywheel Cowork in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, with the opportunity to secure $50,000 each in total funding.
The business challenge that produced the five winners was focused on building technological solutions within areas such as digital health, medical devices, advanced textiles, the Internet of Things, logistics and other market areas within the Triad.
The five winners were selected from 11 finalists, each of which participated in a pitch event at Flywheel late last month.
First prize, and $35,000 in initial funding, went to Catalant, a Greensboro-based company that has developed an online and mobile system for measuring and tracking individual and team performance within work environments.
Peter Marsh, a partner in Flywheel and investor in New Ventures, said Catalant’s offering “most closely addressed the challenge statement and aligns well with the club’s ability to advance their start up and grow their business.”
Jonathan Woahn, the CEO and chief technical officer for Catalant, said the funding will be used for continued product development and to help expand Catalant’s team.
Urban Offsets of Greensboro won $15,000 in initial funding for its system of creating local carbon offset credits that can be resold.
Scout IoT, also based in Greensboro, is designing a new industrial signaling horn for manufacturing environments, and won $10,000 in initial funding.
Petrics, of Wilmington, helps pet owners manage the health of their pets, and Leading Role, based in Winston-Salem, is developing environmental content for virtual reality systems. Each won a $5,000 initial investment.
The five groups began their 12-week accelerator program on Monday at Flywheel, with that program to be followed by two months of intensive mentoring while still at Flywheel.
