After helping start more than 100 companies now worth over $1 billion combined, the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama (EDPA) wrapped up the second cycle of their 2023 Alabama Launchpad competition last night.

The 17-year-old business competition added two more startups to the winner’s circle: Birmingham based employment app Croux, who were awarded $50,000 and Auburn based biotech company VivoSphere, LLC, who were awarded $25,000.

Each year since 2006 the EDPA has run three cycles of the Alabama Launchpad competition, where the state’s best and brightest entrepreneurs can compete for a chance to win a combined $75,000 in funding.

The competition is separated into two different divisions: companies that are in the concept stage and companies that are in the seed stage, meaning they have a newly established business and are looking for funding to grow it further.

One winning company from the concept stage division is awarded $25,000 and one company in the seed stage division is awarded $50,000 at the Launchpad finale. The competition begins when budding companies are selected from an application pool by a panel of industry experts. They are then coached on how to improve their business ideas before they move on to the finale where they first pitch it to a panel of judges behind closed doors and then finally present a trimmed down 90-second pitch to a live audience according to competition rules.

The Croux app, which won this cycle’s seed stage division, was founded by hospitality veterans Jennifer Ryan, Lindsey Noto, Stewart Price, Brett Ables, and Kenny Kung in 2021 as a way to “connect talent to opportunity in the workspace” according to their website.

“Thank you, Alabama Launchpad, for another amazing year!” the company posted last night on their Instagram account. “We are so grateful for the mentorships, the opportunities, and the $50,000 that is going to help take this little start up to the next level.”

The company previously won $25,000 in the concept stage division for the first cycle of Alabama Launchpad 2022.

VivoSphere, this cycle’s concept stage winner, was founded earlier this year by Auburn University PhD student Yuan Tian and his advisor Dr. Elizabeth Lipke.

With VivoSphere technology, researchers can produce human-like tissue for the purpose of testing drug responses which can help avoid false positive drug tests before they reach clinical practice.

VivoSphere does not currently have any social media or public contact information listed.

To date the EDPA has invested $5.9 million in 110 startups through Alabama Launchpad, according to their website. When a company wins launchpad they also receive continued mentoring along with the prize money.

Winners in recent years include Birmingham-based company Vulcan Line Tools, training platform consultant company CAVU, which started in Montgomery but are now based in Birmingham, and most recently Trussville’s Cahaba Fire Company, which makes equipment for firefighters.

The Birmingham metro area has produced the largest group of competitors and winners over the competition’s history due to its “mature ecosystem” according to EDPA President Greg Barker.

“It just has a more mature and coordinated ecosystem,” Barker said previously. “I mean, like UAB is such a such a key driver. But then you also have a great ecosystem. I mean you have Southern Research, you have Innovation Depot, and you have a lot of efforts to support emerging companies and entrepreneurs in Alabama. You have more serial entrepreneurs in Birmingham than a lot of places around Alabama.”

All of Launchpad’s previous winners now own companies that are valued at over $1 billion combined, according to the EDPA site. Barker said this is proof that the program works.

“It’s a long-term investment because those companies are seed stage and concept stage,” he told the Lede previously. “But it’s clear that if you stick with it, and you have patience, and if you look at economics even beyond election cycles you can enjoy success with that aspect of economic development. And Alabama Launchpad proves it.”

Applications for Cycle 3 are open now and close on Sept. 7. To apply visit the EDPA website at Apply – Alabama Launchpad.