Entrepreneurial booster CTNext last week awarded $54,000 in grants to five startups during the latest Entrepreneur Innovation Awards (EIA).
The Rocky Hill-based organization, a subsidiary of the state’s venture arm, Connecticut Innovations (CI), said five of the top 10 finalists, including a Hartford startup, were each granted $10,000 to help them grow their business. The event was held at the Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station in Haddam.
WAVE Drowning Detection Systems, of Westport, which created a device that detects drowning at the first sign of danger, won the $2,000 Crowd Favorite award. Ridgefield-based Target Arm, which says it offers the world’s first launch and recovery platform for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), won the $2,000 Judges’ Favorite prize.
Those two startups also took home the $10,000 grants.
The three remaining $10,000 winners included:
- WealthConductor (Hartford): Provides financial technology, software and strategies to help brokers and clients with retirement planning.
- Obsidian Advanced Manufacturing (New Haven): Offers an industrial metallic 3-D printer.
- SkySqueegee (Stamford): Provides vertical plane robots designed to wash windows for commercial buildings/skyscrapers.
CTNext, founded in 2012, currently has more than 2,500 members.
