"Wildly Possible" Virtual Contest Winners Announced!
The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship hosted the "Wildly Possible" Virtual Startup Contest on July 20, 2020, in which only the Top 5 finalists were selected out of over 150 applicants. These top finalists were teams GreekTrack, Synaptek, Quench & Temper, Sol Kendamas, and TalPort. We're proud to announce the rank of these top five teams, and look forward to keeping up with the progress of their companies. We'd like to thank the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise for sponsoring these awards. Congratulations to these startups on all your hard work!
1st place - $5,000 - Synaptek
Synaptek streamlines concussion testing and data management for any athletic department, teams, or clinics. Their platform enables the clinician to directly enter SCAT5 data into a HIPAA compliant cloud database for quick, reliable, and safe electronic storage of athlete data. The Co-founders of Synaptek are University of Kentucky employees Kate Van Pelt and Doug Van Pelt, along with University of Kentucky Alumnus James McCollum. Click here to view Synaptek's company website.
2nd place - $4,000 - Quench & Temper
Quench & Temper has developed a martial arts board holder that removes the need for another human being to hold the board during a strike, which allows customers to reach their maximum kicking and punching force with increased control. April Castle is the Founder of Quench & Temper, with a black belt in Taekwondo, and Alumnus from the University of Kentucky’s College of Engineering. She has direct experience in R&D and manufacturing, with over 10 years of experience in various manufacturing industries.
3rd place - $3,000 - GreekTrack
GreekTrack helps national fraternities and sororities consolidate their various systems into a single platform used to track active and alumni membership activity, collect membership dues and foundation donations, as well as streamline internal communication to get your message to the right members. Tony Schmidt is the Founder and CEO of GreekTrack, and is also an Alumnus from the University of Kentucky's College of Engineering. Click here to view GreekTrack's company website.
4th place - $2,000 - TalPort
TalPort seeks to develop an online platform to increase a sense of career-readiness in local students and enable Kentucky to retain its top talent post-graduation allowing further economic growth for the region. TalPort is led by Berea College co-founders Jennifer Lance, Azis Toktobaev, Shageldi Ovezov, Hila Manalai, and Eleni Lazaridou
5th place - $1,000 - Sol Kendamas
Sol Kendamas develops lifestyle products to those who haven't had the privilege of learning about kendama. The company is led by University of Kentucky Gatton alumnus and graduate from the Gatton College of Business and Economics, Shelton Covington, along with his brother and co-founder, Chad Covington. Following their company’s vision, their two primary goals as a kendama company are (1) to teach, show, and share the joy of kendama, and (2) to provide a way for existing relationships in kendama to continue to thrive. Click here to view Sol Kendamas’ company website.
