Six founders of Chicago-area startups will compete for a $100,000 grand prize on Thursday at a live pitch competition in the West Loop.
The businesses include a sustainable tampon maker; an education company that uses comics to teach history; an online teaching platform for deaf students and more.
The fourth annual pitch competition is part of TechRise, a program organized by the tech nonprofit P33 to support historically underrepresented founders in Chicago.
TechRise hosts weekly virtual pitch competitions from April through November for early-stage tech companies and awards $25,000 to $50,000, culminating with a finale for a grand prize. In addition to Thursday’s $100,000 grand prize, one other company will win $25,000.
This year, 80 founders participated in TechRise with more than $487,000 awarded in total weekly prizes.
Applications for TechRise competitions are open to founders based in the Chicago area who identify as being from a historically socially or economically disadvantaged demographic. Their business must also be in the early stages of development.
In 2024, TechRise launched a neighborhood series focused on the South and West sides. It hosted competitions in North Lawndale, Little Village and Englewood. There are plans to expand to Humboldt Park and Greater Grand Crossing for the 2025 season, starting in April.
Thursday’s finalists include:
- Ayesha Kazi, founder of ASL Aspire, an online educational platform that teaches STEM to K-12 deaf students and their teachers through games.
- Camryn Ross, founder of Fillow, maker of a sustainable tampon alternative that has the reusability of menstrual cups.
- Gabriel Huertas del Pino, founder of Arch Pet Food, healthy, eco-friendly pet food with ingredients such as crickets, flaxseed, blueberries and pea protein.
- Laura Epstein, founder of Pulse Charter Connect, a digital platform to streamline air and ground transportation for organ transplants.
- Prarthana Gupta, founder of OrdrSmart, an online platform for manufacturers to manage the shipping, inventory and tracking of samples.
- Stephane Manuel, founder of TrueFiktion, an education company that uses comics to teach history.
About 400 attendees are expected for this week’s finale at event venue Morgan Manufacturing, 401 N. Morgan St. Tickets are open to the public for $25 and can be purchased on TechRise’s website.
Last year’s grand prize winner was Sana Jafri and Qudsia Khan, co-founders of Babygami, maker of collapsible baby bottles.
Since TechRise started in 2021, more than 350 founders have participated in the program, and they’ve collectively raised $193 million in funding from various sources. Their companies have created 1,140 new jobs in less than four years, according to TechRise.
Founders of Babygami receiving their award at the 2023 TechRise pitch competition.
