Ravata Solutions wins $10,000 first place prize in Pitch Elk Grove startup competion.
Yesterday, the City of Elk Grove, in partnership with StartupSac and Explore Elk Grove, held the second annual Pitch Elk Grove, a startup competition that offered entrepreneurs in the greater Sacramento region a chance to gain visibility, receive mentorship, and win up to $10,000 in prize money. Over 120 people attended the event at The Center at District56 in Elk Grove and eight early stage startups competed for total prize money of $17,500, provided by the City of Elk Grove.
Awards were given to the winners in three categories: Ravata Solutions Inc., which builds sensors to quantify embryo health for the IVF industry, won the $10,000 first place prize; Matrubials, Inc., which is developing antimicrobial peptides from milk for combating bacterial infections, won the $5,000 second place prize; and Adload Technologies, which is bringing roadside billboard advertising to the roadway with its digital screens for big rigs, took home the $2,500 Best Elk Grove Startup prize.
“It’s amazing to see a triangle of entrepreneurship forming in the Sacramento Region with the three corners being Davis, Roseville, and most recently Elk Grove,” said Gurkern Sufi, first place winner Ravata Solutions’ cofounder and CEO. “With the recent developments and investments Elk Grove has made in startup resources including incubator space, grant opportunities, and entrepreneurship focused events, the city has put itself on the map as a friend to the startup community. Having grown up in Elk Grove, I’m proud to see the approach to economic development the city is taking and look forward to the next big Elk Grove unicorn! Who knows, maybe it was at last night’s event.”
First Place Winner
Ravata Solutions is a fertility startup based in the Sacramento Region. Their team has built a lab diagnostic tool to increase embryo grading accuracy by an order of magnitude improving the 70% failure rate in IVF. Their goal is to make IVF successful the first time through single embryo transfer. The technology has been validated in the $380M animal IVF market and they are moving into the $1B human IVF opportunity.
“Ravata embodies the journey of a company born and nurtured in our region. It all started with 3 co-founders from the Sacramento area who met at UC Davis, built their prototype with resources available in our region, and expanded their sales internationally. Their progress took them from the Indiebio program in SF, Creative Destruction Labs in Toronto, and ultimately through the Growth Factory accelerator program in our very own backyard,” said Laura Good, CEO of StartupSac. “Witnessing this startup’s evolution with roots in our entrepreneurial ecosystem, from the inception of an idea to the realization of a traction-gaining business, is truly gratifying.”
Second Place Winner
Second place winner, Matrubials, harnesses the power of milk, which has nurtured infants throughout human existence, to combat modern ailments that impact individuals of all ages. Their technology involves extracting protective compounds found in milk, such as antimicrobial peptides, known for their targeted effectiveness and strong safety record. Currently, Matrubials concentrates on creating topical solutions, aiming to alleviate the prevalence of infectious diseases among women.
Best Elk Grove Startup
The winner of the Best Elk Grove prize, Adload Technologies, specializes in the sales, management, and production of advertisements displayed on truck exteriors, utilizing a revenue-sharing model with the truck owners. Their innovative approach involves employing digital screens that are interconnected through 4G Wi-Fi networks, allowing for geofencing and precise tracking of advertising campaigns within specific geographical areas.
About Pitch Elk Grove
Pitch Elk Grove was a free public event. Josh David “JDM” Miller, an accomplished entrepreneur and startup mentor, kept the energy level high as emcee of the event. City of Elk Grove Mayor, Bobbie Singh-Allen, kicked off the evening with welcoming remarks. The event was catered by Fujiya, Crest Cafe, and Cafe Elk Grove, and also featured wine from Christopher Cellars, South Slope, and McConnell Estates, and local craft brews from Tilted Mash. All of these vendors are Elk Grove-based.
Pitch Elk Grove is part of the Startup Elk Grove Incentive Program, which provides technical and financial assistance to launching and scaling startups and the places that support them.
The judges for the event were:
- Kim Emerson, Sacramento Angels, House of Thor
- Jon Gregory, Five Star Bank
- Pam Kaur, BankTech Ventures
- Michael Knittel, APED Capital
- Kumar Senthil, Sacramento Angels
The eight Finalists were:
- 4pm AI (Sacramento): An AI sales assistant that automates 1 hour per day of admin tasks.
- Adload Technologies (Elk Grove): AdTech platform leveraging the trucking industry.
- Foodom (Folsom): A marketplace for personalized meals cooked in your home by local chefs, starting at $5 a portion, to prevent and reverse diabetes..
- HuLoop Automation, Inc (Folsom): AI-Powered Intelligent Automation Platform.
- Matrubials (Davis): Antimicrobial peptides from milk for combating severe bacterial infections.
- Neural Lab, Inc. (El Dorado Hills): Touchless user interface for any camera and any device.
- Ravata Solutions Inc (Davis): Builds sensors to quantify embryo health for the IVF industry.
- Tiami Networks (Elk Grove): Bringing sensing intelligence to every wireless device in the world.
About Startup Elk Grove Incentive Program
The Startup Elk Grove Incentive Program provides technical and financial assistance to launching and scaling startups, and for coworking and incubator facilities that support them. To qualify, startups must operate in Elk Grove and be an emerging or scaling company commercializing innovative products and platforms in most tech verticals. For more information, visit www.investelkgrove.org.
About StartupSac
StartupSac was established as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2017, and is accelerating the greater Sacramento region’s startup and innovation ecosystem by informing, educating, empowering, and connecting its startup founders and innovators. For more information, visit startupsac.com.
About Explore Elk Grove
Explore Elk Grove is a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization that inspires locals and visitors alike to visit, shop, dine, meet and gather at our local businesses, parks, attractions, hotels and venues in order to foster positive economic development for the region. For more information, visit www.exploreelkgrove.com.
Photo Credits: Rich Foreman
