LaunchPad finalists chosen for live pitch-off in June
Courtesy/ Gorham Savings Bank
A live pitch-off for Gorham Savings Bank's annual LaunchPad competition will take place on June 4 at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. It will be the same format as last year, shown in this picture.
Who will take home the $50,000 grand prize in this year's LaunchPad competition for small businesses?
Five finalists have been chosen to compete at a June 4 live pitch-off at the University of Southern Maine's Hannaford Hall in Portland.
They'll appear on stage before a panel of judges and a live audience in the seventh edition of the contest won last year by North Spore, a mushroom grower based in Westbrook that went on to "Greenlight Maine" glory weeks later.
Out of 150 applicants for this year's edition, five businesses made it to the final round, according to an announcement out this morning. They are:
- Casco Bay Creamery, Portland (Jennell Carter, Alicia Menard, Andrew Menard, Sue Konkel), a returning finalist from 2015 that makes butter and cream cheese for customers who want to make breaking bread a joyful occasion";
- CourseStorm, Orono (Brian Rahill, Matt James), a provider of online tools for class registration that help educational organizations save time and money while increasing enrollments;
- GO Lab, Belfast (Joshua Henry, Matthew O’Malia), a maker of nontoxic, renewable, wood fiber insulations that cost the same and perform better than commercially available insulations;
- Sidewalk Buttler, Scarborough (Mike Roylos and Nan McLaughlin), which designs, manufactures and distributes the a cigarette litter receptacle that removes, reduces and recycles cigarette waste; and
- Vintage Maine Kitchen, Freeport (Kelly Brodeur), which makes small-batch potato chips.
This year's judges are Ford Reiche, entrepreneur and co-founder of Safe Handling Inc.; Logically CEO and co-founder Chris Claudio; and Catherine Cloudman, a shareholder and board member at Village Fertility Pharmacy.
Business consultant Michelle Neujahr will emcee again this year.
“Our preliminary judges selected an extremely diverse group of small businesses this year,” said Steve deCastro, president and CEO of Gorham Savings Bank, in a news release.
He noted that while each of the finalists operates in a different niche, they all highlight what Maine is known for nationally. That includes natural resources, sustainable products and innovation.
In its third year, the Emerging Idea Award is a $10,000 grant that comes with an additional $10,000 worth of in-kind marketing, business development and public relations services.
Emerging Idea finalists
This year’s Emerging Idea finalists, selected from LaunchPad applicants are as follows:
- Friday, Portland (Luke Thomas);
- Kinotek, Orono (David Holomakoff, Justin Hafner, Jon Gagnon, Patrick Breeding);
- Lobster Unlimited, Brewer (Cathy Billings, Dr. Robert C. Bayer, Stewart Hardison, Mathew Hodgkin);
- MyBodyModel, Portland (Erica Schmitz); and
- OpBox, Portland (Emily Davis and Ben Davis, siblings who were Mainebiz Next honorees in 2018).
Each finalist will have the opportunity to submit a 60-second pitch video, which will be played at the event.
The Emerging Idea Award winner will be announced just before the LaunchPad winner at the live event at Hannaford Hall.
All those interested in attending the June 4 LaunchPad event are invited to register online.
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