The Launch Place received 115 applications for its 9th IdeaFest Pitch Competition from various start-up companies located in the US and abroad. The top competitors took the stage to present their innovative business ideas at 2 Witches Winery and Brewing Company in Danville, VA today.

The winner of this year’s competition was Mas Refund, who was awarded a $5,000 cash prize. MasRefund is a bilingual Spanish English tax filing app that takes the fear and complexity out of filing taxes by making tax filing as easy as uno, dos, tres.

Second place and a $3,000 cash award went to Social Cascade. Social Cascade is an AI-powered platform reducing health disparities with strategic patient engagement & education.

OsRostrum, Inc. took home third place with a $2,000 cash prize. OsRostrum, Inc. is a PhIT (Phenomic Inference Technology) platform that combines patented 3D scanning, computer vision, and machine learning algorithms to help cattle farmers identify novel physical indicators of health and resilience in their cows.

The Dominion Energy Innovation Center $5,000 Clean Bonus Prize was awarded to Scale Materials. Scale transforms industries with better materials.

The Launch Place, located in the River District of Danville, assists with business formation, job creation and retention through its business consulting services and investment funding, while having a dual responsibility to recruit and retain entrepreneurs to the Dan River Region. The IdeaFest competition exposes The Launch Place’s services and funds to start-up companies that are ready to launch, or are seeking early stage capital. The Launch Place could potentially invest in an IdeaFest finalist company from its Seed and Pre-Seed Funds that were established from a grant awarded by the Danville Region Foundation.