RALEIGH — More than 150 people crammed into the Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh for RIoT’s second RAP Pitch Night on Wednesday night.
From environmentally friendly pet cremation to smart lighting solutions, the full scope of Internet of Things (IoT) applications was on display.
In the end, judges selected Green Stream Technologies — a startup from Norfolk, Virginia that offers real-time flood monitoring for better decision-making and risk management — for the top prize.
Meanwhile, Safe Zone — a gunshot detection device developed by Florida-based AVidea — won the Audience’s favorite award.
Here’s a look at all the six startups that participated:
Hal and Shannon Atkins.
Startup: Companah
A startup that works with pet owners and veterinary clinics to provide pet cremation services that use environmentally sustainable methods and IoT integrations for operational efficiency and assurance of accuracy.
Website: www. companah.com
Founders: Shannon and Hal Atkins
Year founded: 2018
Previous job: Shannon taught Environmental Science and Biology. Hal previously worked as a Technical Program Manager as a federal contractor.
Company mission: “Companah is here to provide a modern, sustainable approach to pet cremation. We work directly with pet owners and veterinarians, providing the best experience possible during a difficult time. Our environmentally-friendly approach gives pet owners a better choice as they seek to memorialize their companion.”
Number of employees: 5
Funds raised and sources: To date, our team has self-funded our startup.
How much are you trying to raise now? We are interested in building out our software platform to provide direct integration with veterinary practice management software.
Bruce Lee, Gary Harper, Karen Lindquist, Jim Gray. Not pictured: Mouhamed Rebeiz.
Software developer and cyber security specialist
Startup: Green Stream Technologies, Inc.
An environmental sensing startup providing end-to-end monitoring and reporting solutions for environmental experts and property/infrastructure managers. Its first service is a real-time flood monitoring system, generating localized high-resolution flood data for better situational awareness, decision-making and risk-modeling.
Website: www.greenstream.com
Founders: Jim Gray and Karen Lindquist
Year founded: 2017
Previous job: Gray is an electrical and systems engineer with decades of experience serving large enterprise clients. He worked for Kronos, SAIC and Lockheed Martin in Northern Virginia and also has run his own small engineering firms before co-founding Green Stream. Lindquist is an MBA and comes from professional services. She worked over 25 years in Europe, for IMD and Management Centre Europe in B2B sales and marketing. In the US, Karen ran her own management training consultancy before co-founding Green Stream.
Company mission: “Green Stream is an environmental Internet of Things (eIoT) that monitors and reports conditions in the environment. We aim to help build smarter, safer, more sustainable communities.”
Number of employees: 5 (4 full time, 1 part time)
Funds raised and sources: Green Stream has grown to date on owner’s equity and sales. They won an MIT Solve challenge in 2018 and were awarded a $10,000 prize. They are also a semi-finalist for an NC IDEA SEED grant of $50,000.
How much are you trying to raise now? Green Stream is not actively looking for equity investors, although it is open to speaking with investors who are motivated to support its mission.
How will you use funds? These funds will be used to consolidate our technology platform and make it flexible enough to support other environmental applications, beyond our first product focus of flood monitoring and reporting.
Neeraj Lal
Startup: Purillume
The company is a science-based smart lighting solution that mimics natural light to help increase productivity and overall happiness.
Website: www.purillume.com
Founder: Neeraj Lal
Year founded: 2014
Previous job: Product Manager at Cree
Company mission: “To provide a healthy lighting solution that mimics natural light and helps to align one’s circadian rhythm.”
Number of employees: 1
Funds raised and sources: $400K through friends and family.
How will you used your funds? Our funds will be used to develop our second generation desk/task lamp, conduct the necessary regulatory testing, set-up production and build inventory. I will also be looking to hire new team members to help expand and grow the business.
Ember Melcher
Startup: NIRSleep, Inc.
A startup developing and deploying an unobtrusive infrared sensor that adheres to the user’s forehead to directly monitor oxygen consumption in the brain.
Website: www.NIRSleep.com
Founders: Casey Boutwell, chief executive officer; Jason Strohmaier, chief technology officer; Ember Melcher, chief product officer; Callie Kimberly, chief operations officer.
Year founded: 2018
Previous job: Our team met while working for a wearable device research center headquartered at NC State.
Company mission: “To help millions of undiagnosed Americans suffering from sleep disorders by accurately sensing sleep at home with a wireless wearable.”
Number of employees: 4
Funds raised and sources: Self funded to date.
How much are you trying to raise now? While we are not actively seeking private investor capital at this time, we are aggressively pursuing grant opportunities and contracts with military and government agencies.
How will you use funds? Funds raised will go towards hardware and software enhancements, manufacturability/testing, and regulatory engagement.
Cameron Coleal, Ryan Kelley, Luke Marshall, Andy Taylor.
Startup: VitalFlo
The startup provides preventative respiratory health insights when patients need it most: before they have an asthma attack. VitalFlo’s machine-learning platform forecasts patient risk of respiratory exacerbation by analyzing real-time lung health and environmental exposure data.
Website: www.vitalflohealth.com
Founder: Luke Marshall, Ph.D.
Year founded: 2017
Previous job: Previously, Luke has built and led technical teams focusing on commercializing university-based technologies, including the helping to develop a private-public partnership between Rogers Corporation and Northeastern University focused on the commercialization of a new permanent magnet technology.
Company mission: “VitalFlo’s mission is to create a world without asthma attacks. VitalFlo uses remote patient monitoring and machine learning to deliver actionable respiratory health insights to clinicians when they are needed most: before their patients have an asthma attack.”
Number of employees: 4
Funds raised and sources: We are privileged to be working with some fantastic private investors, including The Launch Place, RTP Capital, and independent angels who partnered with us on VitalFlo’s Pre-Seed round that closed last year. We are also very excited to have also raised non-dilutive funding from grants and awards including an NSF SBIR Phase I, NC IDEA Grant, and the NCSU Lulu eGames.
How much are you trying to raise now? VitalFlo is now raising its Seed round of investment. We welcome conversations with accredited investors to discuss the details.
How will you use funds? We are very excited to continue executing on our value-creating milestones, which include completing our clinical validation study and launching provider-based pilots.
John Anderson.
Startup: Safe Zone
A gunshot detection device developed by AVidea uses a network of acoustic and infrared sensors to identify gunshots, alert necessary administrators (when systems are deployed in office buildings or schools for example), and dispatch first responders, helping to end threats more quickly.
Website: www.safezonetech.com
Founder: John Anderson, Mike Anderson, Neil Grosse
Year founded: 2018
Company mission: “Save lives!”
Number of employees: 9
Funds raised and sources: $1 million through a seed round
How much are you trying to raise now? Not currently raising
How will you use funds? Our previous round is being used to complete production ramp up and ship to customers.
RIoT’s RAP pitch night showcases diverse spread of IoT applications
