Congratulations to the Winners of the 2023 8th Annual Ignite Cup

1st Place
QoL Devices - $7500
MN Cup Seat Finalist

  • QoL Devices Inc. is the creator of The Alvio® Respiratory Training System, an all-in-one respiratory muscle trainer, Bluetooth game controller, and symptom tracker that lets you Play Your Way to Better Breathing! ™. Alvio® turns your phone or tablet into a gym for your lungs. Alvio® is a non-pharmacological adjunct to a healthy lifestyle that encourages respiratory muscle training through the use of fun and engaging games.

    Richard Hinds is a Registered Respiratory Therapist and CEO of QoL Devices Inc. He was the Medical Director and Management Representative of a medical device startup in Southern California. He is also the former Deputy Director of the Lung Injury Division of the Shanghai Respiratory Research Institute. Prior to that, he was a clinical specialist in the Anesthesia Clinical Research Unit and Respiratory Therapist in the Medical Intensive Care Unit for 13 years at Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN. He received his master's degree in clinical research administration from George Washington University and has been a coauthor on publications published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association and Critical Care.

2nd Place
SAB Co. Software - $5000

  • SAB Co. Software helps employers seamlessly administer their complex employee benefits offerings.

    Joe Gagnon: 5+ years of data analyst experience, full stack software developer, premium variance SME, former billing analyst at Fortune 500 insurance company. Founded company and created minimal viable product full stack code block. Most previous role as a full stack developer at SPS, onboarding enterprise clients onto supply chain analytics platform.

3rd Place
StableFeed - $2500

  • StableFeed is more than just food. StableFeed pairs science with nutrition to innovate feeds and supplements that help horse owners create or restore health to their horses. StableFeed is where nutrition meets health.

    Mary Hartman studied biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison but her personal passion has always been animals. Her desire to help her own horse led her to investigate the role that nutrition and a balanced microbiome play in the health of horses. The dramatic results with her own horse and her friend’s horses led to the birth of StableFeed. The joy Mary receives when she hears about the success her clients achieve using her products continues to drive her to innovate and grow her company.

Congratulations to the Minority & BIPOC
Prosperity Initiative Award Winners

Sponsored by

HOW THE COMPETITION WORKS

Application Period: Ended Feb 24th

· Each Startup completes an online application using YouNoodle platform (login required).

Initial Review Period: Feb 25-March 2

Semi-Finalist Notification: March 3

· Semi-Finalists review round.

March 4-March 8

· Finalist Notification: March 9

· Finalists receive mentoring, Path to Pitch classes, and work on the final pitch deck presentation.

· Finalists present to a panel of judges at the event on 3/30/23.

· Judges award 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place cash award winners, a SE MN Entrepreneur who will advance to the Semi-Finalist MN Cup competition, and a Student (college enrolled) from the 20 County SMIF Region.

· Audience selects People’s, Choice Winner.

What is the Ignite Cup?

A regional pitch competition, sponsored by Red Wing Ignite and Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, was created to elevate entrepreneurs and emerging startups as a feeder to the statewide MN Cup competition. Finalists present their idea/business to a panel of judges made up of entrepreneurs, investors, business/regional leaders, and an MN Cup representative.

All applicants receive feedback on their idea/business and application, and exposure to a diverse group of people in the MN Startup community.

Applications must be received between Jan. 9th - Feb. 24

The 20 county region

E1 IGNITE CUP AWARDS

MN Cup Semi-Finalist Seat

• Awarded to Top Winner of 11 County-E1 Region.

MN Cup Semi-Finalist Student (college enrolled) Seat

• Awarded to Top Student of the 20 County SMIF Region.

People's Choice Award

• $500 cash prize

1st Place Cash Award

• $7,500 cash prize

• 1:1 Debriefing and Strategy Session

2nd Place Cash Award

• $5,000 cash prize

• 1:1 Debriefing and Strategy Session

3rd Place Cash Award

• $2,000 cash prize

• 1:1 Debriefing and Strategy Session

Event Schedule

4:30 pm-5:30 pm Networking/Registration

5:30 pm-5:45 pm Welcome, Introductions

5:45 pm-6:00 pm Speaker(s)

6:00 pm-7:00 pm Pitches

7:00 pm-8:00 pm Judging/Networking

7:30 pm Winners Announced

Congratulations to our 6 finalists

  • StableFeed is more than just food. StableFeed pairs science with nutrition to innovate feeds and supplements that help horse owners create or restore health to their horses. StableFeed is where nutrition meets health.

    Mary Hartman studied biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison but her personal passion has always been animals. Her desire to help her own horse led her to investigate the role that nutrition and a balanced microbiome play in the health of horses. The dramatic results with her own horse and friend’s horses led to the birth of StableFeed. The joy Mary receives when she hears about the success her clients achieve using her products continues to drive her to innovate and grow her company.

  • SAB Co. Software helps employers seamlessly administer their complex employee benefits offerings.

    Joe Gagnon: 5+ years data analyst experience, full stack software developer, premium variance SME, former billing analyst at fortune 500 insurance company. Founded company and created minimal viable product full stack code block. Most previous role as a full stack developer at SPS, onboarding enterprise clients onto supply chain analytics platform.

  • RecoverMe was created for athletes by athletes. A tool that allows athletes to train harder and longer by cooling their internal body temperature

    Madeline Rice, senior Business major at Gustavus Adolphus College. Throughout her collegiate career heavily involved in Varsity Women's basketball, President's Council For Indigenous Relations, and the Gustavus Entrepreneurship program.

  • At OOPSpam, we specialize in providing comprehensive anti-spam and anti-phishing solutions for businesses. Leveraging the power of AI and other advanced techniques, we have developed a sophisticated system that offers robust protection against a wide range of online threat

    Onar holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Rome. During his studies, he worked on and contributed to the European Commission-sponsored PANOPTESEC Project; a cyber defense decision support system. With more than 14 years of professional software engineering experience under his belt, for the past five years, he has focused specifically on anti-abuse, phishing, and spam, using his expertise to combat these online threats. Onar also was a founding engineer at the globally funded startup, BethClip, as well as the winner of several Hackathons.

  • Medecibel (MD) is an AI-powered platform that offers innovative solutions to challenges faced by healthcare professionals in accessibility and reproducibility of medical literature. Our three-pronged approach includes Audium, a voice-enabled article platform, Feedium, a high-impact literature recommendation system, and Connectium, a research collaboration platform. With Medecibel, healthcare professionals can access reliable information, connect with peers, and collaborate to improve patient care.

    Neurosurgery Researcher Associate Editor “The International Journal of Neuroscience” (IJNS), Neurosurgery/ Neurology section Reviewer “The Cureaus Journal of Medical Science”, “The Journal of Clinical Neuroscience” PI/Mentor Neurosurgery Virtual Lab. Published Author.
    Board Member RWI, Chamber of Commerce.
    Medical Advisor, and Scientific Advisor for two Startups.

  • QoL Devices Inc. is the creator of The Alvio® Respiratory Training System, an all-in-one respiratory muscle trainer, Bluetooth game controller, and symptom tracker that lets you Play Your Way to Better Breathing! ™. Alvio® turns your phone or tablet into a gym for your lungs. Alvio® is a non-pharmacological adjunct to a healthy lifestyle that encourages respiratory muscle training through the use of fun and engaging games.

    Richard Hinds is a Registered Respiratory Therapist and CEO of QoL Devices Inc. He was the Medical Director and Management Representative of a medical device startup in Southern California. He is also the former Deputy Director of the Lung Injury Division of the Shanghai Respiratory Research Institute. Prior to that, he was a clinical specialist in the Anesthesia Clinical Research Unit and Respiratory Therapist in the Medical Intensive Care Unit for 13 years at Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN. He received his master's degree in clinical research administration from George Washington University and has been a coauthor on publications published in peer reviewed journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association and Critical Care.

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