LaunchPad now accepting applications for 2018 competition
Courtesy / Gorham Savings Bank
Good To-Go won the LaunchPad grant prize in 2017. Pictured from left to right at last year's event are: Chris Emmons, president and CEO, Gorham Savings Bank; Melissa Smith, president and CEO, WEX Inc.; Steve Campbell, founder and CEO, Pro-voke; Jennifer Scism, co-founder and head chef, Good To-Go; David Koorits, co-founder, Good To-Go; Michelle Neujahr, director, SMCC Entrepreneurial Center; and Chris Claudio, CEO and co-founder, Winxnet.
Gorham Savings Bank is now accepting applications for its sixth annual LaunchPad small business competition in which small businesses compete for a $50,000 grant prize from the bank.
The entry period opened today and closes on Sunday, April 15, at 5 p.m. Entrepreneurs, startups and established companies are welcome to enter by submitting an online application.
No formal business proposals or supporting documents are required.
Five finalists will be invited to compete at a live pitch event on Tuesday, June 5, at the University of Southern Maine’s Hannaford Hall in Portland, when the winner will be announced.
As the competition has grown, so have past winners. They include 2017 honoree Good To-Go, a Kittery-based maker of natural dehydrated meals for active people, which has secured major outdoor retailer REI as a customer.
Part of LaunchPad’s growth includes the Emerging Idea Award, which consists of a $10,000 grant and $10,000 of in-kind business services. Last year’s winner was Thomaston-based American Unagi, which grows locally harvested glass eels to market size in a land-based aquaculture system.
Nearly 200 businesses applied to LaunchPad in 2017.
“We’ve seen incredible ideas from Maine’s entrepreneurs over the last five years, from healthy food options to renewable energy storage to outdoor gear made from retired sale cloth,” said Chris Emmons, president and CEO of Gorham Savings Bank, in a statement.
He added that the sixth annual LaunchPad event this year “gives us the opportunity to shine a bright light on Maine’s entrepreneurial community and demonstrates Gorham Savings Bank believes in the future of Maine business.”
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