A handful of Maine businesses won a total of $150,000 in funding and services in the Juice conference’s business-plan pitch contest on Saturday.
About 65 companies entered the competition, which included one contest for scalable business models to win $100,000 in convertible debt, and a second contest offering $25,000 in flexible debt financed by Coastal Enterprises Inc. The funding went to the following companies:
- $100,000 convertible note: Newfield Design Inc. of Newfield, for software to facilitate two-way radio communication;
- $25,000 flexible debt: A tie between Evergreen Home Performance of Rockland for home energy-efficiency solutions, and Alternative Rock of Union, which makes concrete kitchen and bath tabletops with unique inlays. CEI agreed to provide financing to both.
Five winners each were awarded $5,000 cash/in-kind services:
- Cerahelix of Orono, for DNA coating for ceramic water-filtration systems;
- Atayne of Brunswick, for non-toxic exercise apparel;
- Marshall Wharf Brewing Co. of Belfast, for microbrewed canned beer;
- Turtle Love Co. of Portland, maker of artisanal jewelry;
- Everyman Repertory Theatre of Rockport, a nonprofit professional theater company.
