NASHVILLE – Aug. 27, 2020 – Launch Tennessee (LaunchTN), a public-private partnership guided by a vision of making Tennessee the most startup-friendly state in the nation, today announced that SecondKeys has won the LaunchTN Pitch Competition and ARMS Cyber has been awarded first place in the 36|86: Student Edition Pitch Competition.
The winning companies were named this week at 36|86 Festival, LaunchTN’s entrepreneur-focused event taking place digitally Aug. 17-28.
LaunchTN Pitch Competition Winner – SecondKeys
Finalists for the LaunchTN Pitch Competition were Tennessee-founded companies CPRWrap, eva, Filterjoy, Glanris, SecondKeys, and Winter Innovations. The prize was an investment from LaunchTN’s Impact Fund, which makes $50,000 to $150,000 co-investments in seed-stage companies. SecondKeys was ultimately awarded the maximum $150,000 investment. Additionally, FilterJoy was voted as this year’s “Crowd Favorite,” winning the $10,000 prize.
Founded by Amber Hayes, SecondKeys is redefining property management by bridging the gaps between property owners/managers and tenants – building better relationships and transparency through mobile communication. The proactive management platform automates schedules for preventive maintenance, monitoring each service request from start to finish.
36|86: Student Edition Winner – ARMS Cyber
Finalists for the Student Edition Pitch Competition from Tennessee colleges and universities were:
- ARMS Cyber, Vanderbilt University
- BrantleyMarie Medical Devices Inc., Tennessee Technological University
- Metris, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- Shades, Vanderbilt University
- The Beachy Clean, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- veva.ai, University of Memphis
- WhatNxt, Vanderbilt University
- Working Women Design Co., Tennessee Technological University
As winner of the competition, ARMS Cyber was awarded $20,000. Runners up were:
- 2nd place – BrantleyMarie Medical Devices, $10,000 prize
- 3rd place – WhatNxt, $5,000 prize
Founded by Patrick Musau, Brad Potteiger and Tim Potteiger, ARMS Cyber has created a new, more economical approach to cybersecurity for small- to medium-sized businesses and government agencies. Traditionally, costly and cumbersome cybersecurity solutions focus on discovering vulnerabilities in software reactively, monitoring for attack indicators and patching systems. ARMS Cyber focuses on prevention and reconfiguration – fixing the root problem of a system before any cyberattacks occur. The company has already engaged with numerous Fortune 500 companies and government agencies.
“The current pandemic is encouraging companies to be more innovative and Tennessee’s startup community is a perfect representation of how entrepreneurs are coming out on top,” said Van Tucker, interim CEO, LaunchTN. “We are honored to have had so many wonderful startup and student groups present their innovative ideas and visions digitally these past few months, it is what 36|86 is all about. On behalf of LaunchTN, I congratulate SecondKeys and ARMS Cyber on their wins and look forward to cheering on their continued successes.”
About LaunchTN
LaunchTN is a public-private partnership with a vision to make Tennessee the most startup-friendly state in the nation. Our mission is to empower a high-functioning network of resources focused on core priorities that support Tennessee’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Through our network of Entrepreneur Centers and partner organizations across the state, LaunchTN fosters collaboration among entrepreneurs, the private sector, capital sources, institutions, and government to offer entrepreneurs what they need to succeed and stay in Tennessee to build companies and create jobs.
