This post originally appeared on the Nexus Louisiana Tech Park blog.
A record number of local startups competed in the BREW 10 High-Stakes Pitch Competition for a $50,0000 investment prize.
First, there were 56 high-tech startups, then nine in semi-finals, narrowed down to three finalists:
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BioCADE’s associative AI searches massive bioscience data repositories to find biological connections not yet known.
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Omnidek’s business process management creates private business portals that streamline several of a company’s processes.
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Relief Telemed’s telemedicine service is bringing in-home doctor visits and COVID-19 tests to many.
Amid the stiff competition, the three judges — Stone Pigman’s Scott T. Whittaker, City Year’s Jennie Eplett Reilly and GMFS Mortgage’s Will Eglin — chose Omnidek as the winner.
Omnidek’s Business Model
Founded by Chris Jordan in 2016 with only $500, Omnidek entered the Baton Rouge market in 2019. Jordan sees the number of software applications continue to grow rapidly. In 2010, there were more than 10,000 software makers worldwide. Now there are 100,000 software companies and, by 2035, that number is expected to reach 1 million.
Omnidek wants to be the all-in-one application that could consolidate an organization’s many business processes. Omnidek offers a free, ad-supported version of its application as well as a paid version without ads.
Omnidek’s Technology
Omnidek combines a business’s many processes and applications into a streamlined private portal. It allows companies to create their own portal environment. Omnidek is a “no-code” application, which means no programming is not required. Its Zero Code form builder allows customers to create web and mobile forms for gathering valuable business data. They simply drag and drop form elements, connect to spreadsheets or data sources, and start up the Omnidek intranet portal.
Described as a “B2B Facebook,” Omnidek simplifies business process management. The average business user tracks 11 processes with Omnidek, including expense reports, timesheets, emails, vendor lists, company directories and project management. The platform is customizable, private, and updated in real-time.
No-code tools can have significant impacts on the bottom line. Jordan estimates that Omnidek can reduce the tech cost per employee by 25%, decrease the time employees are on email by 70% through Omnidek business network chat, and cut the time to start a new process by 90%.
Omnidek’s Potential
Omnidek has raised $3.5 million. The company aims to fund an acquisition either through large capital or debt raise. Half of Omnidek’s clients subscribe to the premium version within 180 days of usage.
It’s early days for Omnidek with 43 companies using its platform. Jordan plans to use the prize money to fuel more growth and acquire four to six companies over the next four years. He sees a vast digital workplace that empowers employees, vendors and customers to work together in one place, with no code.
BREW is produced by Nexus Louisiana and supported by Lucid, High Fidelity, Resilia, Stone Pigman, LSU Stephenson Department of Entrepreneurship & Information Systems, Venyu, Greater Baton Rouge Business Report, 225 Magazine, Power Pump Girls, Inc., JCW Creative Agency, Rep Cap, and the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge.