Innolyzer Labs has taken home the top prize and $25,000 cash from the second annual Louisiana Startup Prize, a Shreveport-based competition also referred to as “The Most Amazing Entrepreneurial Competition on the Planet”.
Innolyzer accepting the $25,000 grand prize. Photo courtesy of Louisiana Startup Prize.
The company produces accurate and cost-effective lab on-a-chip analysis devices for hydrogen sulfide detection, a signaling molecule vital in human health and disease as well as industries ranging from water treatment to oil and gas.
“This was certainly the best group of entrepreneurs that we’ve ever seen,” said Gregory Kallenberg. “The judging was incredibly intense.”
The startup trumped the four other finalists for the competition. Nearly half of the applicants were from outside of the Shreveport area, ranging from as close as New Orleans to even Los Angeles and Cairo. Thirty-eight percent of the startups are run by women entrepreneurs and 31 percent are minority business owners.
Along with the cash prize, Innolyzer also received $10,000 worth of marketing services from Williams Creative Group, $10,000 of accounting services from Heard, McElroy and Vestal, one free year of office space provided from American Tower (valued at $20,000) a $5,000 corporate video provided by Fairfield Studios and new this year. ANECA Federal Credit Union will be offering each of the finalists access to $100,000 of financing for business expenses.
“We’re really excited about winning the LA Startup Prize and honored to have been part of such a great group of participating startups,” said InnolyzerCEO, John Chidlow. “We feel that being part of such a strong local support system with groups like Cohab’s Breaking Lean, BRF’s EAP, and of course the LASP and their mentors, definitely helped us get here.”
Innolyzer is part of Breaking Lean, an 11-month startup development program designed to support businesses in the Shreveport-Bossier area and to help them develop roots in Northern Louisiana. The program was launched by the innovative shared workspace in the area, CoHab, back in February.