PowerMoves.NOLA launched last year to create power and opportunity through entrepreneurship in New Orleans. The goal was to increase the number of high-growth, minority-owned businesses through connecting entrepreneurs to mentors, financing and technical assistance both locally and nationally.
Techturized won $25,000 at the Liberty Bank “Angel” Power Pitch at PowerMoves.NOLA in 2014.
Now in its second year, the initiative, held in conjunction with Essence Festival, wrapped up late last week following a number of pitches and demos from over 50 minority owned technology companies.
Below is a recap from day two of the conference, which is designed to connect nationally-sourced entrepreneurs with a preeminent network of advisors, experts, and investors.
Entergy Angel Pitch
Winner — Ntensify took home the $25,000 Entergy Angel Pitch prize. The company provides a branded merchandise store as an additional revenue stream for mobile app developers, integrated via a software development kit. Ntensify creates apparel, plush, and other unique merchandise based on app designs. Ntensify provides a full service production chain, handling all customer data, payment processing, design, manufacturing, and fulfillment.
Other Contestants:
- bluField is an interconnected system of Bluetooth® beacon networks, which creates a high-resolution grid of a real-world geographic area.
- JOICASTER is a video syndication platform that enables content creators to schedule, manage, and distribute live content across multiple platforms to yield larger audiences in a simpler cost effective manner.
- Lineapple turns smart phones into a mobile buzzer which in turn helps businesses increase profits by converting lost shopping time into new opportunities to increase and close sales.
More at: http://www.powermovesnola.org/entergy-angel-pitch-2015
Morgan Stanley Series A Pitch
Winner — Partpic took home the $25,000 prize for the Morgan Stanley Series A Pitch. Partpic is an enterprise software solution that simplifies the search and purchase process of replacement parts using visual recognition technology.
Other Contestants:
- Maker’s Row is an online B2B marketplace that connects brands with US-based factories.
- Quarrio is Conversational Analytics. where users ask questions in ordinary English and the system answers instantaneously in plain English with auto-generated graphs and charts.
- Upswing partners with colleges to provide an easy-to-use virtual learning center for students (for free) and a real-time comprehensive analytics for administrators.
- Nexercise is a digital health company with the goal of disrupting the exercise industry with the only platform that provides personalized on-demand video workouts for any need to any screen anywhere.
More at: http://www.powermovesnola.org/morgan-stanley-series-a-pitch-2015
Alumni Panel
This panel featured former PowerMoves.NOLA Pitch and Demo Day participants who discussed their experiences scaling their startups and raising capital as entrepreneurs of colors.
Entrepreneurs:
- Blendoor is an Android and iOS job matching app that helps connect tech companies to qualified women and underrepresented minority candidates.
- Education Everytime uses the power of songs to maximize student learning-time.
- GoToInterview is an online employment service that gives employers the ability to view candidate’s job interview prior to scheduling an in-person interview.
- Kairos uses biometrics to create government-level facial recognition technology.