That’s a wrap on the 2024 Morgenthaler-Pavey Startup Competition!
On April 3, over 150 attendees gathered in the Sears think[box] to celebrate the accomplishments of our twenty finalist teams, who pitched their ventures, ideas and research to a group of twenty judges.
All of the participants showed up with their best energy. Competition was fierce. Presentations were solid. And in the end, nine were deemed winners.
Our big prize winner for 2024 was Lighthanded Enterprises, who won $16K in funding for their venture, which helps doctors diagnose the most common cause of hearing loss in young children.
Watch a clip of Lighthanded team lead Brecken Blackburn after winning the grand prize.
Before Veale Institute team members presented the awards, competition namesake and venture capital leader Bob Pavey spoke to the eager crowd, sharing his thoughts on how young entrepreneurs are what drive innovation forward in Cleveland, and in America. He told the audience about how excited his former partner and mentor David Morgenthaler would have been to have seen such vibrant community.
Pavey sits on the Board of Trustees at Case Western Reserve University, and as an angel investor his focus is on seed companies run by experienced entrepreneurs in California and Ohio. His involvement with the Morgenthaler-Pavey Startup Competition includes contributing generous funding for the prize money.
Please join us in congratulating all of the winners from this year:
Idea Track
Second Place: MAWE Technologies ($2,000)
First Place: HemoSan ($5,000)
Research Track
Second Place: AGTR2 Agonist Lung Therapeutics ($3,000)
First Place: Artemis Platform ($4,000)
Social Impact Track
Second Place: Voteable ($1,000)
First Place: tekSafari ($5,000)
Venture Track
Third Place: SellAnalytix ($4,000)
Second Place: SearchOwl ($5,000)
First Place: Lighthanded Enterprises ($16,000)