PROVIDENCE – (Dec. 6, 2018) – A plan to promote electric vehicle use with an on-call, mobile charging system, proposed by Joey Asbel, of Newport, a Brown University undergraduate, won the annual Elevator Pitch Contest held last night by the Rhode Island Business Competition.

Asbel and nine other presenters (shown below) took home $1,000 in cash prizes.

Asbel's five-member team is working on Zap Technologies, which is partnering with the American Automobile Association to flesh out a system that will enable users to call an attendant to charge their electric vehicle anywhere.

“Congratulations to each of the 40 people for being willing to stand in front of an audience of strangers to pitch their business idea," said Co-chair Anthony Mangiarelli, partner at the accounting firm of KLR. "They and the standing-room-only audience learned a lot from the judges, who gave immediate feedback after each presentation.”

Presenters had 90 seconds to pitch their business idea at the thirteenth annual Rhode Island Elevator Pitch Contest, held at Tech Collective in Providence, which drew an audience of 120. Judging was based on the clarity and persuasiveness of the presentations.

Second place went to Ashton Stoop, a graduate biomedical engineering student at Brown University, for Clutch Prosthetics, a low-cost, mechanical knee joint.

Others winning cash prizes were:

• Rebecca Chernick, a Brown University student, who pitched C. Easy Test Kit, which enables doctors to more quickly identify hypervirulent bacterial strains to decrease the spread of infection.
• Ryan Dubay, a Brown University student, who pitched SonoSieve, a technology that can acoustically separate T-cells to be genetically engineered to fight against cancer.
• Madison Frye, who pitched Koi Prosthetics, a venture founded by Brown University students to design prosthetic devices for impoverished amputees in developing countries.
• Taegon Lee, of Providence, who pitched ToGoBOX, an online marketplace that cost effectively delivers lunch to corporate customers in a time-sensitive manner.
• Mindy Levine, of Sharon, Mass., who pitched The Party Elements, a science-themed birthday party company that brings hands-on, highly entertaining STEM activities to parties and other events.
• Natalia Moriel, a Brown University student, who pitched SutusMax, a biodegradable suture containing antibacterial and anti-inflammatory agents.
• John Round, of Providence, pitched Aleo BME, which is developing powerful fertilizer enhancers to address growing challenges facing farmers.
• Adriano Taglietti, a Brown University student, pitched Chitotec, an immunotherapy treatment that blocks the activity of an inflammatory protein implicated in a variety of cancers.

Judging the contest were:

• Todd Knapp, CEO, Envision Technology Advisors
• Ray Mathieu, CFO, InsureMyTrip
• Kelly Ramirez, CEO, Social Enterprise Greenhouse
• Sandra Tremblay, President, StormTree

Sponsors of the 2019 Rhode Island Business Competition

Lead sponsors of the 2019 Competition, which will culminate in May, are Bryant University, Cox Business, Envision Technology Advisors, Everhope Foundation, Hinckley Allen, Integrated Media Group, KLR, and Sprout Coworking.

Also sponsoring the 2019 Competition are Bank of America, Barlow, Josephs & Holmes, Ltd., Brown University Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship, Center for Women and Enterprise, Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, Hatch Entrepreneurial Center, Luminous, RevUp Capital, Social Enterprise Greenhouse, TD Bank, and Tech Collective.

Additional sponsors include Bank Rhode Island, The Beacon Mutual Insurance Company, Bristol County Savings Bank, Business Development Company, Cherrystone Angel Group, Delta Dental of Rhode Island, Dimeo Construction Company, Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses at CCRI, Hayes & Sherry Real Estate Services, The Idea Turbine, InsureMyTrip, Johnson & Wales University,Navigant Credit Union, Newport Biodiesel, Pawtucket Credit Union, Richard Carriere, StormTree, Teknor Apex, and The Washington Trust Company.

About the Competition

Established in 2000, the Rhode Island Business Competition has been recognized as one of the top 40 business plan competitions in the country. To date, it has awarded prizes valued at more than $2.6 million to developing companies across many industries. More information is available at www.ri-business.com.