More than 600 people turned out last night in Seattle to listen to business plans from entrepreneurs who are trying to the make the world a better place. And some of those startupers walked away with a little cash in their pockets.
The first annual Seattle Social Innovation Fast Pitch competition, organized by Social Venture Partners and hosted at Seattle Center’s Fisher Pavilion, featured 14 finalists who competed for $175,00o in prize money by delivering five-minute pitches to a panel of judges.
Here are the winners with descriptions from SIFP:
Non-profit: The top non-profit prize was awarded to Viva Farms, which received the “Social Venture Partners Award” of $30,000. Next in the non-profit category was Dynamic Labs, which received the “ZINO Society Award” of $20,000. Following in the non-profit category was Jolkona which received the “Social Endeavors Award” of $15,000. The next non-profit award was earned by Flash Volunteer, which won the “Microsoft Award” of $10,000. The final non-profit award was presented to Village, which won the “Intelius Award” of $5000.
Youth Teams: Reach Out won the university category “Ashoka Youth Venture Award” of $5000. Biodiesel Cooperative won the “University Fast Pitch Award” of $2000. In the high school category, SIFF: Sharing Interests Forming Friendships won the “Winshuttle Award” of $2000. Also, Money Sense earned the “High School Fast Pitch Award” of $1000.
For-profit: Food N’ Me was selected for a $50,000 investment and FindProz.com was chosen for $25,000 of investment from the SIFP Seattle Fund.
In addition to those awards, Viva Farms claimed $10,000 for winning the audience awards of “Most Innovative” and the “Best Fast Pitch” presentations. The competition will be held again next year on October 18th.
