Inland Southern California startups competed for grants and mentorship at the SoCal OASIS Pitch Finals, hosted by UC Riverside’s Office of Technology Partnerships on Dec. 6.
More than 180 people attended and six startups competed for $100,000 in grants and expert mentorship from the UCR EPIC Small Business Development Center (EPIC SBDC) for product and market development. The audience also participated in voting to select one of the startups to receive an additional $5,000 award.
The university's innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives focus on four key areas of support: entrepreneurial education, dedicated mentorship provided by experienced entrepreneurs in residence, access to capital, and access to incubator space.
The pitch competition was sponsored by The James Irvine Foundation and US Bank and is part of the SoCal OASIS, or Opportunities to Advance Sustainability, Social Inclusion, and Innovation, initiative. The initiative is led by UCR and is dedicated to fostering the expansion of inclusive economic development in Inland Southern California.
Prizes were awarded to the following start-ups: From the Land, focused on increasing food security using modern and ancient technologies to establish a sustainable circular food production system; Indrio Technologies, which proposes to use modern laser-based spectroscopy for widespread applications in the mass market; and Laundry to Landscaping, which seeks to address the challenges of water scarcity.
Read more about the event here.
