Auburn and Birmingham startups take home top honors at latest Alabama Launchpad finale

Two startup companies emerged from a field of 10 finalists to earn a combined $75,000 in non-dilutive funding in the Alabama Launchpad, Cycle 3 2023, competition.

Auburn-based Autonoma, founded by Will Bryan, claimed $50,000, winning the early-seed stage competition. Autonoma creates autonomous vehicle (AV) simulation and validation tools. Combining an AV simulator with high-bandwidth, low-latency wireless communications, the technology allows a real vehicle to “see” a virtual environment around it. This allows for a safer transition from simulation to on-road operation and is much cheaper and more efficient than current validation methods.

“I think the real value I’ve gotten is the advice and mentorship I’ve gotten from the Launch advisors throughout this process,” Bryan said. “Their decades of experience will provide even more than a check does, and winning Alabama Launchpad really will help us accelerate our next stage of growth.”

DevClarity, based in Birmingham and co-founded by Will Blackburn and Peter Inge, won the concept-stage prize of $25,000. The company is an AI-powered platform for proactive developer management. With DevClarity, developers are able to maximize and streamline operations while optimizing resource allocation.

“We started this company because we’ve led development teams before, and we’ve seen the difficulties in doing so,” Blackburn said.

“We’ve seen developers leave Birmingham, and Alabama in general, and we’ve seen tech layoffs recently,” Blackburn added. “We truly believe DevClarity can play a role in creating better, more attractive teams, keeping talent here, and avoiding layoffs in the future. This capital gives us a full quarter of runway, with developer help, so that we can mature the platform while we raise seed capital.”

A program of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama (EDPA), Alabama Launchpad partnered with Innovate Alabama to host last week’s finale at Birmingham’s Innovation Depot.

During the Launchpad cycle, all 10 finalist companies received two months of intensive mentorship, through both one-on-one and group session training, with startup founders and business experts in preparation for the final judging panels.

The early-seed stage companies were evaluated by three judges: Taylor Peake, founder and president of MotionMobs; Maayan Gordon, managing partner at RTG Group Inc. and founder of Maayan Gordon Media; and Ben Wallerstein, CEO and co-founder of Whiteboard Advisors.

“It’s incredibly difficult, looking at these amazing companies coming through Alabama Launchpad who have been vetted and mentored,” Peake said. “To rip off one of the other judge’s statements, in full agreement, I feel like this decision was harder than the selection committee for the College Football Playoffs.”

The three judges evaluating the concept-stage competition were: J. Wesley Legg, president and COO at Founders Advisors; Martha Underwood, founder of Prismm; and Bryan Stewart, founder and CEO of HDO Health.

“To have a front seat to the innovative companies that are in Alabama doing amazing things is rewarding and proof and evidence that Alabama’s open for business,” Underwood said.

“There is a talent pipeline here, and larger companies can come here to access people and resources to scale. People think Alabama is not the place to come to because of the history here, but when they come here and see programs like Alabama Launchpad and high-tech companies, like DevClarity and Autonoma, they realize their perception was wrong. Alabama is the place to build,” Underwood said.

Alabama Launchpad, the state’s longest-running pitch competition, has now funded 117 Alabama startups since its inception in 2006. Over the past 16 years, Launchpad has awarded more than $6 million in non-dilutive funding to the winning companies, which today have an estimated combined post-money valuation of more than $1 billion and employ more than 1,300 people. They include growing companies like TaxxWiz, CHONEX, Vulcan Line Tools, Immediate, and more.

Alabama Launchpad is conducted in partnership with Innovate Alabama, which implements programs and policies that support Alabama’s innovation ecosystem. Through these efforts, Innovate Alabama empowers entrepreneurs, business owners and students to build a business, a career and a life in Alabama.

Launchpad is also funded in part by grants from the Alabama Department of Commerce and Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, as well as private foundations, including Truist, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama’s Caring Foundation, and Wells Fargo.

Launchpad is a program of EDPA, a private, nonprofit organization that supports business recruitment and expansion efforts in Alabama. Launchpad Cycle 1 2024 applications will open on Jan. 2. To learn more, click here.

Innovate Alabama is Alabama’s first statewide public-private partnership focused on entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation with a mission to help innovators grow roots in Alabama. Innovate Alabama was established to implement the initiatives and recommendations set forth by the Alabama Innovation Commission to help create in Alabama a more resilient, inclusive and robust economy to remain competitive in a 21st-century world. Learn more about Innovate Alabama at innovatealabama.org.

A version of this story originally appeared on the Alabama Launchpad website.

Republished with the permission of The Alabama News Center.