Donna Paddon from Roshell Industries got a $10,000 cheque Thursday for an event organized by Memorial University’s Genesis Centre.
The female entrepreneur event took place in January, but the winners were officially announced Thursday in St. John’s.
The total prize package, including Paddon’s, was $40,000 to benefit six female-led technology companies.
Other winners were Emily Bland from Sucseed, Ivana Drcec from Zero Worx, Stefana Egli from Intelligent Materials and Monitoring Inc., Chrissy Rossiter from Peachy, and Kelly Strickland from HashtagTutors.
In late January, Genesis partnered with the YMCA and the Big Raise to host a poker tournament — the Big Raise All-In for Women.
At the sold-out event, more than 100 female business leaders came together to play poker in support of female technology entrepreneurs in Newfoundland and Labrador, according to the Genesis Centre.
Thursday’s Pitch and Pick event was the culmination of eight weeks of intensive Genesis Centre evolution workshops. The program is for early stage technology-based start-ups and is designed to help entrepreneurs identify their markets and validate their idea, the Genesis Centre said.
Thursday, the top eight from the program were to pitch to academia, funding agencies, entrepreneurs and the local technology community, with the audience picking the winners. First place took home a cash prize of $500, while second place received $300 and third place $200.
