On Sept. 2, Utah Business held its annual Innovation Awards Summit. A highlight of the event was the Speed Pitch Competition, sponsored by the Great Salt Lake Alliance. Eight founders pitched their innovations to a panel of expert judges: Kristin Wihera of the Nucleus Institute, Matthew Holman of Commerce Catalyst, Devin Despain of Philo Ventures, Andy Robertson of BioHive, Kapil Sharma of Altitude Lab and Todd Reece of Holland & Hart.
Competing for a $3,000 prize, the judges evaluated the founders based on the feasibility, market potential, innovation and presentation skills. Here’s how the competition stacked up:
Speed Pitch Winner: FrostByte Defense Technologies
Founders: Jakob Travis, Scott McIntosh & Jacob George
Industry: Consumer Products & Lifestyle
FrostByte Defense Technologies won the speed pitch competition with its innovative autonomous heated glove liners. These liners are designed to “defend against frostbite and protect dexterity in the extreme cold,” co-founder Jakob Travis says. Designed specifically for mechanics, army medics and oil workers facing the extreme cold, the liners continuously monitor tissue temperature and automatically deploy heat to defend against frostbite while protecting dexterity.
On winning, co-founder Travis is excited to continue to develop and iterate on the momentum his innovation is driving. “It’s just a huge confidence booster,” Travis says. “It’s going to propel us forward to be able to do some more R&D, go back to Alaska this coming winter and give us a lot of momentum for additional grants and undiluted funding.”
J’Neura Knee Pain Patch
Founder: Simerdeep Singh Gupta
Industry: Biotech & Therapeutics
Addressing a $4 billion market for pain remedies, Gupta of Anziva Pharmaceuticals pitched a pain patch that is molded specifically for knee pain and mobility. Current remedies often involve messy creams, invasive injections or generalized patches that fail to adhere to a moving joint. Using lidocaine, an active ingredient commonly used in dental operations, the J’Neura Pain Patch is stronger than current options and designed specifically for the knee.
Wiley Buddy
Founders: Chris Livingston & Bailey Dalton
Industry: Consumer Products & Lifestyle
The Wiley Buddy is a Wi-Fi-powered home phone designed to be a safe alternative to cell phones for families and children. With traditional landlines becoming obsolete and expensive and smartphones negatively impacting childhoods, Wiley Buddy offers a logistical solution with built-in parental controls. Providing children with independence and parents with peace of mind, the platform is already processing over 1,000 phone calls a day.
HopeDx
Founder: Raushan Singh
Industry: Medtech Devices & Diagnostics
After losing his mother to an undiagnosed illness in India, Light-Hope Diagnostics founder Singh wanted to solve a major global crisis. “Too many women are diagnosed with breast cancer too late to save their lives,” Singh says. By combining three innovations — serum mRNA biomarkers, cold-chain-free PCR formulation and AI prediction — HopeDx eliminates the need for expensive refrigeration logistics. This makes early cancer screening both accessible and affordable, especially in places with less healthcare infrastructure in place.
Blazzi
Founder: Rebecca Reese
Industry: AI & Software Platforms
Blazzi is a specialized beauty marketplace and search platform solving the discoverability problem for independent nail techs and beauty experts. Typically, nail techs spend up to a year building a full clientele using social media and inefficient booking systems. The platform allows clients to search in their own words for highly specific beauty requests based on time, location and price. Blazzi is currently onboarding beauty school students in four states, using the country’s market of 200,000 certified nail techs as a launchpad into the broader beauty industry.
Fleuryx
Founders: Caleb Madsen & Brynn Madsen
Industry: Consumer Products & Lifestyle
Through Fleuryx, founder Madsen hopes to “bring the beauty from the wildflowers on the mountains to your home.” Fleuryx takes commercial-grade seed technology used by the Forest Service and mining industries and packages it for consumer backyards. This technology creates a drought-tolerant native wildflower mix that overcomes the traditional difficulties of planting tiny wildflower seeds that require highly specific conditions to bloom.
Simon the Siding Robot
Founders: Joshua Matheson & Vin Jones
Industry: Industrial Manufacturing, Materials & Construction Tech
Pitched by Haven Robotics co-founder Vin Jones, “Simon” is an automated siding robot designed to “obliterate the cutting bottleneck in the construction industry.” With some contractors overspending manhours and materials on measuring and cutting, this innovation allows installer teams to work up to 40% faster. This reduces material waste and helps contractors retain massive savings by automating one of the most tedious parts of the installation process.
VAETHRYN (previously SureHire)
Founder: Sileon Murray Sr.
Industry: AI & Software Platforms
VAETHRYN bridges the gap between overlooked talent and companies struggling to find skilled workers in the manufacturing, construction and travel industries. A new innovation from SURV7X, the motto is “always on, always serving,” Murray says. Vaethryn is an AI recruiting platform that acts as the perfect 24/7 recruiter, aiming to ensure that workers never have to worry about AI displacement and use the technology to empower them with opportunities to provide for themselves and their families.
