Three Louisiana tech companies will compete for a $1,000 prize in an entrepreneurial pitch competition taking place in Baton Rouge next week.
The pitch competition, jointly hosted by the Small Business Innovation Research Consortium and the Louisiana Tech Park, will be held Thursday, April, 19, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Sullivan’s Steakhouse on Corporate Boulevard.
The event, which is free to attend, aims to showcase high-tech, high-growth Louisiana companies in their early stage of formation, says Andy McCandless, chairman of the newly formed SBIR Consortium. The companies are seeking investment and federal grants to help support their research and bring new technologies to the marketplace.
The competing companies are:
- Pecan Analytics of Baton Rouge: a data analytics company offering predictive insights, visual analytics and critical support solutions for clients in politics, environmental science, engineering, transportation and health care.
- Acadian Labs of New Orleans: a woman-owned biotech company that produces a patented technology for the treatment of nail fungus.
- RNvention of Lafayette: a veteran-owned company that designs, develops, patents and commercializes technologies to improve efficiency in the delivery of health care services.
In addition to the $1,000 prize, the winner also will receive $2,500 in in-kind legal support from Baker Donelson law firm. The federal SBIR program awards $2.5 billion in innovation grants each year through a competitive award process, administered through a dozen federal agencies.
