25th Anniversary of IdeaFunding Features 25 Companies Advancing to Final Round

BizTUCSONOctober 25, 2022

2 minutes read

IdeaFunding has played a significant role in the entrepreneurial landscape for 25 years and is Southern Arizona’s largest and longest entrepreneurial conference and pitch competition. Over the past two months, early-stage startup companies from all over Arizona have participated in several rounds of company pitch presentations at IdeaFunding, which is part of the TENWEST Festival co-led by Startup Tucson and the University of Arizona Center for Innovation.

A total of 20 startup companies have been selected as finalists with five teams selected to compete on the mainstage the night of IdeaFunding on Nov. 3. Startups that advanced to the final phase of IdeaFunding have completed robust pitch training to prepare them to present in front of a live audience during the TENWEST Festival. By competing in two rounds, participants have polished their pitch through rigorous training and mentorship which was provided by UACI and Startup Tucson.

To celebrate IdeaFunding’s 25 ^thanniversary milestone, 25 startups will be competing for over $50,000 in prize money. Companies selected as finalists are divided into four vertical industry stages within the industries of technology, consumer products, bio/life sciences, and social impact. The innovations showcased on the final stage come from across the Southern Arizona community with some inventions stemming from the University of Arizona. Finalist companies will compete for $2,500 in cash prizes awarded in each vertical. The following companies are competing in industry vertical rooms:

Tech	Consumer	Bio/Life Sciences	Impact
Desert Saber	Iwona Ash	Metfora	RentLab
Revolute Robotics	Ambr Grading	iCalQ	AZLuminaria
Paramium	Better Than Provisions	Le Cactus	Kids Chemical
EarthEn	Luna y Sol	POCUS Pro	Nopalito Network
CarbeNiumTec	Cero	uPetsia	Earnest House

Five companies were also selected to pitch on the mainstage of IdeaFunding and will be competing for a grand prize of $25,000 and second place prize of $5,000 in cash and a year of incubation programming and space at UACI valued at an additional $10,000.

The five main stage finalists include:

Divine Hair Goods

Divine Hair Goods specialize in salon products that make the salon experience better for the client and the stylist. Their flagship product, the Speedee Cap, cuts drying time in half, and allows the stylist to increase the capacity of their salon.

Fraqtals Innovations

Fraqtals is the iPhone of screen-printing machines. It’s an innovation to the world’s most commonly used apparel printing process. Fraqtals sells speed, simplicity and efficiency to brand makers, print shops and crafters.

Imanyco

Imanyco is a real-time transcription app to help deaf people with group conversations. This app transcribes and separates multiple speakers’ voices in real-time. The same audio file allows a deaf person to easily follow along with the natural flow of speech during conversations.

MindReady

MindReady provides sport psychology coaching and education for athletes. By combining the world’s best coaches with athletes, parents, practitioners, and sports industry leaders, we’re creating a better environment for developing young athletes

Orgo

Orgo is developing technology to enable disparate groups of people to rapidly unite, share information across system boundaries, and work together to solve common problems.

Companies selected to advance as finalists during the IdeaFunding semifinals on Oct. 5 and 6 were selected based on merit by local community leaders who served as unbiased judges. The judges include: