Congratulations to the Winners of Our 2016 Grant Awards!
Wellinks, Ellen Su, CEO - 1st Prize - $20,000
HugoPhr, Leslie Krumholz, CEO - 2nd Prize - $15,000
Freedible, Cheryl Viirand, CEO - Audience Award - $2,000
Event Recap
Nearly 200 people showed up to celebrate The Refinery's Two Year Anniversary on April 27th at The Stamford Innovation Center. It was a fun and inspiring night with 26 Refinery Alumni companies showcasing their impressive progress of the past two years. Partners and sponsors, including A100, AIF, CURE, CVG, Darien Rowatyn Bank, iCoastCT, and The Westport Library, also joined in showcasing their offerings. Delicious food was provided for the evening by cool new startup,Thaithentic, founded by Refinery mentor and core team member, North Shutshiwaran.
Steve Obsitnik, Imagine Connecticut, who helped in creating The Refinery, provided a call to action for innovation and change. Exciting 5 minute presentations by the Refinery IV Cohort followed Steve's talk.
Special Guest Fran Pastore, CEO, WBDC, provided statistics on women as economic engines, and Ed Goodwin, President, Angel Investor Forum talked about the excitement of the ever growing Refinery community - "at every event, I meet new people that are joining the ecosystem."
After a lengthy judging discussion, Awards were decided and $37,000 of non-dilutive grants were given out.
The evening concluded with a Special Announcement by Matt McCooe, CEO of Connecticut Innovations. VentureClash, a $5 million global venture challenge was launched!
Tell a friend, Click to Tweet the winners!
Cohosted by The Stamford Innovation Center and Crossroads Venture Group
The Refinery continues to close the funding gap and fuel the growth of companies with diverse teams.