Similar to the show, “Shark Tank,” several ambitious entrepreneurs made their most compelling pitches to a panel of judges to receive start-up funding for their businesses during Montgomery County Community College’s (MCCC) annual Karen A. Stout Start-Up Accelerator Fund Competition.

After hearing their persuasive presentations and evaluating their applications, the panel of judges recently selected five entrepreneurs to receive $5,000 each of the total award of $25,000 from the Accelerator Fund.

“The entrepreneurs were well-prepared and made strong cases for their businesses,” said MCCC Dean of Business and Entrepreneurial Initiatives Gaetan Giannini, who served on the panel of judges. “We evaluated the presentations, business plans and the overall positive impact each business would have in Montgomery County and the region as we selected the five recipients.”

 The grant recipients are:

 Carvertise, based in Wilmington, DE, (Greg Star, Founding Partner) – Carvertise manages advertising campaigns on consumers’ personal vehicles and uses proprietary technology to track and provide analytics.

 Eoko, Inc., Plymouth Meeting, PA, (Jeremiah DeLeon, Founder/CEO) – Eoko developed a mobile app that will increase engagement with companies’ employees to build community.

Mighty Writers, based in Philadelphia, PA, (Naomi Levecchia, Director of Development) – Mighty Writers is a non-profit that teaches writing and communication skills to youth ages 7 to 17 in the region.

SmarTECHS LLC, Conshohocken, PA, (Remy De Vlieghere, Founder/CEO) – SmarTECHS provide software as a service for rapid deployment of work and safety processes to technicians in the field.

Trisonus, based in Philadelphia, PA, (Stellie Ford, CEO) – Trisonus is a hardware manufacturer for consumer-focused biotechnology and offers innovative devices that bring modern capability to researches at all levels.

The six finalists were selected from 29 applicants, the most number of entrepreneurs to apply for the competition since it started in 2016.

“We were impressed with the number of applicants and their innovative business plans,” said Giannini. “The College is pleased to be able to assist entrepreneurs with launching and growing their businesses to further strengthen the local and regional economy.”

The panel of judges included Bob Rosenthal, founding partner of Envision Land Use; Liz Weir, founder of Lightbox Labs; Charles Sacco, Assistant Dean of Strategic Initiatives of the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship at Drexel University; Josh Hoffman, CEO of Game Plan, a 2017 Accelerator Fund recipient; Paul Johnson, MCCC Marketing/Management Assistant Professor; Arline Stephan, MCCC Vice President for Institutional Advancement; and Gaetan Giannini, MCCC Dean of Business and Entrepreneurial Initiatives.

Established in the name of MCCC President Emeritus Karen A. Stout, the Fund provides grants ranging from $1,000 to $20,000 to promising business ventures. Grant recipients work with the College’s Center for Entrepreneurial Studies to set key milestones and deliverables in the start-up of their businesses and to monitor their progress and outcomes. In its third year, the Accelerator Fund provides fledging businesses with capital to help take them to the next level in their business development. The Montgomery County Community College Foundation and the College’s Division of Business and Entrepreneurial Initiatives oversee the Accelerator Fund.