Repaint Studios, a Hampton-based startup, won the $100,000 cash prize at the third annual InnoVenture Challenge on Dec. 5 at the Loft DSM in Des Moines.
Repaint Studios founder and CEO Billie Asmus invented the Repaint Tray, a reusable and resealable paint tray with the goal of reducing the environmental impact of home improvement supplies.
Asmus worked with the North Iowa Area Community College Pappajohn Center as she started her business and graduated from the NIACC cohort of the University of Iowa Venture School, according to a news release. She also won first place and $40,000 at the John Pappajohn Iowa Entrepreneurial Venture Competition in August and came in second place at the 2022 EntreFest Launch Day Pitch Competition.
“Support is one of the hardest parts of entrepreneurship when starting out, because not everyone will see your vision. But everyone at the Pappajohn Center saw that vision from the very beginning and has always advocated for me, pushing the status quo just to see me rise above,” Asmus said in a prepared statement. “If I could go back to 2021 and give that girl in Venture School a hug when she wanted to give up and felt disappointed for only receiving honorable mention in her first pitch competition, I’d tell her to hold on because it would all be worth it.”
Immuno Nano Med, which has developed an inhalable delivery system for vaccines, received the $10,000 Nyemaster Goode People’s Choice Award. The startup is co-founded by Iowa State University professor Balaji Narasimhan.
The third finalist was NarrateAR co-founded by Karri Haen Whitmer and Christopher Whitmer. The company has created a personalized artificial intelligence companion for elementary school students with education accommodations.
This year’s pitch competition was judged by Paul Singh, angel investor and CEO of StrataPT, Clayton Nevins, InnoVenture Iowa investment fund committee member, and Charise Flynn, co-founder and chief operating officer of Hummingbirds. The annual pitch competition is hosted by InnoVenture Iowa, the state’s first publicly funded venture capital fund, and BioConnect Iowa.
Look back at past year’s winners:
- ReEnvision Ag wins 2023 InnoVenture Challenge
- Hawkeye Surgical Lighting wins first InnoVenture Challenge pitch competition