RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Ten early-stage startups, including five from the Triangle, pitched for $20,000 in cash at the sixth annual Big Launch Challenge on Wednesday with Intake, a health tech startup from Raleigh seeking to “eradicate chronic disease,” taking home the $15,000 first prize.

Based out of Nest Raleigh, its founder and CEO Michael Bender, 36, is building tools designed to “simplify and personalize” dietary and nutritional intake – including a product called the “Intake Wand,” a home-test urinalysis device.

“It now means we can roll out a pilot program,” Bender told WRAL TechWire, shortly after the win. “[That] is going to be critical for user feedback and to make sure that we’re building something that actually helps people and engages with them.

“It also allows us to do a regulatory assessment, which will be important to understand how we go about getting FDA approval and alleviating the cost burden to our users.”

The company also will receive mentoring and other services.

Startups which participated in The Big Launch Challenge on Wednesday.

Optimal Solar, a cleantech startup working out of Durham’s American Underground, scored second place – and the $5,000 prize.

Its CEO and founder, Dr. Reginald Parker, 49, who recently completed Arlan Hamilton’s three-month Backstage Capital Accelerator program in Los Angeles, appeared satisfied with the honor.

“I was winning even when I got here. To present in front of this many angel investors, and then have peers to speak to you, it’s great.”

Coincidentally, both winners had met weeks earlier when they participated in the MiLA Capital (Make in LA) accelerator program, also held in Los Angeles.

Here are snapshots of top 2 finishers in Big Launch Challenge

“We admire each other’s companies,” Parker said. “If I was going to be beat by anybody, he’s a good guy to be beat by.”

The Big Launch Challenge is sponsored by The Launch Place, an entrepreneurial organization based in Danville, Va., with a second office in RTP, and the First Flight Venture Center in the Park. In its sixth year, the event was held in conjunction with the Angel Capital Association’s (ACA) Southeast Regional Meeting.

Elaine Bolle, director at RTP Capital Associates and ACA board member, acted as one of the competition’s judges.

“We had some really spirited discussions,” she said. Of the winners, she added: “We’ve got a clean tech solution in Optimal Solar, and we’ve got a healthcare solution and med device in Intake. It’s a perfect combination of what we do here in the Triangle.

The pitchers

Here are the 10 finalists and their websites plus a brief summary of each venture:

  • 6AM City – Redefining the local media landscape. Greenville, SC
  • Hite Health Solutions – Innovation in feminine hygiene while serving women’s health and wellness. Burlington, NC
  • Intake – Health empowerment through automated preventive care. Raleigh, NC
  • Kamana – Empowering healthcare employers to efficiently manage and fill critical staffing needs. Richmond, VA
  • Microbial Biosensors, Inc. – New technology to rapidly detect bacterial contamination in food and animal feed. Durham, NC
  • Muuktest – Helps software companies build products faster without armies of test engineers. Raleigh, NC
  • Optimal Solar – Maker of the highest efficiency solar module. Durham, NC
  • PureSurgery – Digital platform for optimizing patients before, during, and after surgery. Charlotte, NC
  • Point 93 – Offers dynamic pricing and data exchange for the retail industry. Roanoke, VA
  • VerusTitle – AI enabled processing of title insurance. Durham, NC

Angel investing is growing in SE, but there’s a hitch: only 5% are African-American founders