Winners declared in to start with Seed WV small company contest

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Entrepreneurial seeds are sprouting in West Virginia as a final result of the very first yearly Seed WV contest.

The to start with of its type in the Mountain Point out, the contest, brought to daily life by the West Virginia College John Chambers College of Business and Economics, gave 20 West Virginia people, innovators, business owners, firms and non-profits from throughout the point out the option to acquire $15,000 to shift modern business strategies to market.

The contest released Feb. 1, and any West Virginia resident was eligible to take part. The 1st round involved 20 contestants, which was narrowed down to nine contestants in spherical two. A few winners were named throughout the third round of competition April 15:

To start with location ($7,500 winner): Warhead Offroad is a veteran-owned company based in Bruceton Mills. The brainchild of Joanna Reynolds, it is developing new utility terrain automobile aftermarket goods to align with West Virginia’s out of doors financial system target and the recently-released Ascend WV distant employee plan.

The $7,500 seed funding will allow for them to grow their crew so that they can carry on to scale their business enterprise.

“We are actively searching for a recent engineering graduate from WVU to add to our style and fabricating workforce,” Reynolds mentioned. “The prize dollars will aid their pay whilst we are schooling them until they can create solutions on their have.”

Next area ($5,000 winner): Parthian Battery Remedies is a Morgantown-centered business enterprise producing minimal-value, eco-pleasant electricity storage alternatives for electrical motor vehicle batteries. Samuel Chico and Kyle Seese received the 2020 WV Collegiate Statewide Small business Plan Level of competition as Statler Faculty of Engineering and Mineral Methods college students, and they’ve targeted on scaling their notion above the very last year to the future period of development.

The price of the Seed WV initiative for the finalists was not only fiscal. The sense of group and entrepreneurial network of support gained was also empowering.

“It was refreshing to see West Virginians performing to bring new lifetime into our economy,” Chico mentioned. “My best takeaway is the newfound group I constructed from it. Beginning a new organization is really hard, and it can be a lonely course of action. Getting a community of like-minded people today to support 1 a different can be the big difference between a firm succeeding or failing.”

Chico credited the network of entrepreneurial assistance sources in the Chambers College or university innovation ecosystem for propelling his business to new heights.

“There would be no Parthian Battery Methods if I hadn’t participated in the Enterprise Prepare Competition I would have accepted a task exterior of the point out right after I graduated,” Chico claimed. “That knowledge authorized me to sort the foundation of my organization and gave me my very first working experience of pitching through a virtual platform, and heading by Seed WV authorized me to apply what I had learned by that process.”

3rd place ($2,500 winner): Appalachian Botanical is concentrated on expanding lavender on reclaimed coal mine land in Foster. The business is owned by Marina Sawyer.

Group favourite ($500): Chia Chews is primarily based in Wheeling. Owner Julian Figaretti produced a beet root powder, honey and chia seed foodstuff product or service that received in excess of the judges.

Assistant professor and James T. Coffman Fellow of Entrepreneurship Ryan Angus was the winner for these efforts to propel innovation in the state from funds generously presented by way of the James Clark Coffman Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies.

“West Virginia wins when we give business owners the possibility to seed their revolutionary strategies and expand them. This is the catalyst for occupation generation and transforming our state into an innovation economic system,” Angus reported. “It is amazingly fulfilling to drive financial effects by aiding established and devoted entrepreneurs develop.”

Seed WV is component of Bridging Innovation week, a series of innovation competitions from across the point out that is marketing and fostering entrepreneurship in West Virginia. The competitions vary from supporting elementary to college or university learners and community users in their pursuit of turning into entrepreneurs, and making extra entrepreneurial possibilities in West Virginia.