SellSwipe, an app offering a peer-to-peer and business-to-consumer marketplace for communities, won this year’s final PitchBR competition taking place on Thursday night as the finale of Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week.
A three-judge panel chose SellSwipe founder David Facey’s pitch over two other competing companies: The Healing Sole and Aqua Pak. SellSwipe now advances to a private due-diligence phase, where it can receive an investment of up to $50,000 from Innovation Catalyst. Facey said he would use the investment for business development and marketing.
“We’re looking to hire staff in Baton Rouge to join our team,” said Facey after the event. “After leaving Baton Rouge and working in Chicago and New York, I wanted to come back here to launch this company in my own community.”
SellSwipe, which plans to launch in early 2018, bills itself as a hyperlocal mobile platform used to find products and businesses within communities. Users can connect with friends and neighbors to see what others are buying or selling and recommend local businesses to one another.
The judges—Louis Freeman of Innovation Catalyst, Veneeth Lyengar of Sage Growth Partners and Addison Killebrew of Waitr—chose the winner based on which company could make the most return on investment, had the right product-market fit and could get in front of consumers fastest, Killebrew said.
“SellSwipe could be dynamic in a city like Baton Rouge that cares about local businesses,” Killebrew added.
In his pitch, Facey said four out of five consumers search for businesses online, but small businesses often don’t have the resources to develop a strong online presence. With SellSwipe, Facey wants to close the gap by creating a social network marketplace based on product discovery and word of mouth from peers. He said 80% of people want products recommended from people they trust.
“SellSwipe helps level the playing field for small businesses,” Facey said. “It turns their supporters into their biggest advocates and helps customers make better data-driven decisions.”
Although the app hasn’t launched yet, SellSwipe has 400 pre-registered businesses. Facey said they plan to launch in Baton Rouge and Austin. The company’s revenue will come from advertisers and businesses on the app, although pre-registered businesses join for free for the first year. SellSwipe is also working with universities to build up a consumer base.
After announcing the winner, Freeman said the judges were also impressed with The Healing Sole pitch by founder Dr. Meredith Warner and wanted to explore further conversations with her company.
The pitch event also featured four 60-second business pitches from LSU student teams in the university’s Innovations Corps, or I-Corps, program. All four teams were awarded $1,000 from the LSU program after their pitches. See PitchBR contestant profiles.
—Annie Ourso Landry
