2022 Render Competition Winners

We are excited to announce the winners of the 2022 Render Competition. Eight startups have each received a $100,000 investment award to help fund and grow their startups in Louisville and Southern Indiana.

“We were so impressed with the quality of applications we received this year. We also wouldn’t be able to put on this program without our generous sponsors and our expert judges. We are confident that this cohort will help our local startup ecosystem continue to flourish, and we look forward to seeing how each company puts these funds to use.”, Marigrace Ragsdale, Venture Platform Manager

On Thursday, September 22, during the Render Competition Pitch Event at Lynn Family Stadium, the eight winners were awarded an investment of $100,000. While three winners were local to Greater Louisville, the remaining five will relocate their headquarters to the area.

The 2022 Winners

Connect (Louisville, KY), Connect serves hyper-focused digital ad placements, associating geographic locations to digital devices and driving marketing messages to targeted individuals’ laptops, smartphones, tablets, and desktops.

Dreami (Redwood City, CA), Access to mentorship is not equitable and is often locked behind exclusive professional networks or luck. Dreami is breaking down the barriers to mentorship by providing a beautiful and scalable platform.

Fanluv (Los Angeles, CA), Fanluv is a blockchain-based social network that enables its users to monetize their content and earn revenue through the Fanluv token.

Gamerabble (Tampa, FL), Gamerabble is the first of its kind: a gamified esports coaching and training platform for gamers who want to improve in a fun, toxicity-free, and inclusive space.

PrepSharp (Louisville, KY), PrepSharp is a tutor-centered SaaS solution intended to propel the typical paper-and-pencil tutoring scenario into the 21st century.

SenseGrass (Fremont, CA), SenseGrass is a soil intelligence platform for fertilizer management, using AI-based recommendations and soil sensors to deliver real-time soil health analyses and help farmers grow more sustainably.

Smoove Creations (Highland Heights, KY), Smoove Creations gives corporations the ability to create customizable footwear in minutes through a 3D design studio, where customers select a shoe, upload artwork, create color schemes, and add custom text.

TitleWise (Clarksville, IN), TitleWise offers a powerful web-based tool for creating digital reports and databases designed for real estate title abstractors, completely customizable, with researchers producing typed reports in the field, remotely.

The Render Competition makes funding more accessible to early-stage startups in the Greater Louisville region, while also helping attract new entrepreneurs to the area. Over 230 applicants were evaluated by 50-plus volunteer judges, and the winners were selected by a final panel including Clint Kelly (Square), Elizabeth Rounsavall (Rounsavall Investments), Mario Mazzone (Keyhorse Capital), Katie Blakeley (PetFirst/MetLife), and Patrick Henshaw (Managing Director, Render Capital). The 2022 Render Competition was made possible with support from program sponsors Access Ventures, Endeavor, Louisville Forward, Techstars Startup Week Louisville, Venture First, Monroe Shine, Amplify Louisville, the UofL Health Equity Innovation Hub, and GLI.