The Macomb-OU INCubator just handed out $23,000 in seed capital and services at its first elevator pitch competition earlier this month.
The Sterling Heights-based small business accelerator gave the money to three local startups that participated in the first Macomb Pitch: A Competition for Small Businesses. The Macomb-OU INCubator received 50 applications for the competition and narrowed the field down to eight finalists.
The winners include
LayStitch taking first place, which is worth $8,500, a year-long service package from Mac-OU INC and seven-and-a-half hours of consultation with Butzel Long. Second place ($1,500) went to
re-Contour, a developer of breast reconstruction dressings. Third place ($500) went to
Warmilu, which is developing a non-electric, blanket-warming technology for the geriatric community.
Both re-Contour and Warmilu also received a one-year lease for a Mac-OU INC cubicle, five hours of consultation with Butzel Long, and a two-hour, strategic planning session with Advicoach of Michigan. The money and the services will go toward product development, customer research, and marketing efforts for the startups.
"Those are the main things people are using them for," says Julie Gustafson, executive director of the
Macomb-OU INCubator. "It's meant to help them move their company forward and launch their product."
The Macomb-OU INCubator plans to turn the Macomb Pitch competition into an annual event with a few smaller pitch competitions sprinkled in between.
Source: Julie Gustafson, executive director of the Macomb-OU INCubator
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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