Five Startups Awarded $100,000, Advance in The Germinator Regional Business Competition

CenterState CEO today announced the five teams that will compete in the second round of The Germinator, the region’s largest and most comprehensive annual business competition. Teams will each receive $20,000 in funding and ongoing mentorship. The two year competition will ultimately award one winner a total of $250,000 in investments over the course of the program.

On October 29, six teams pitched their business ideas and progress to judges in the first of four “Greenhouse Demo Days.” After the judges deliberated, the five teams to move forward in the competition are: ?

• Euphony Inc., specializing in natural-sounding text-to-speech synthesis software, and applying their technologies to speech therapy applications and speech simulation.
• Life Source Health, Inc., a company that offers real time vital health information to emergency responders in order to better assist them in saving patients.
• Sarita’s, a sister company to Sarita’s food truck, which will expand its business with a line of frozen empanadas available in grocery stores.
• Volu, Inc., a volunteer engagement platform for nonprofit organizations and volunteers.
• VossVertical, a company creating new technology that expands the distance and endurance of unmanned aerial systems.

The Germinator awards startups funding every six months. In addition to funding, teams receive training on topics including marketing, intellectual property, sales, financing and fundraising. Participants also have access software developers in The DevBox that can assist in building software, application and other digital products.

At the end of each six month round, teams compete in a public presentation called a “Greenhouse Demo Day.” Judges and sponsors rate the teams’ progress and potential for success before choosing the teams that will earn additional funding and continue through the next round of the competition.

Trainer Engine, the team eliminated from the competition in this round, is now eligible to compete for a $50,000 “Best of the Rest” investment during the final “Greenhouse” competition with three other eliminated teams.

Over the course of the competition each team’s total investment will vary, but one final team will win a grand prize of $100,000 at the final “Greenhouse,” for a total investment of $250,000.

To learn more about The Germinator, visit thegerminator.net.

The Germinator Sponsors
Presenting Sponsor
National Grid www.nationalgridus.com

Lead Sponsors
M&T Bank www.mandtbank.com
CenterState CEO www.centerstateceo.com