Pitch Perfect 3 kicked off at the Launchbox at 1:00 pm on Friday, March 22nd. Eight finalists pitched their current business or business idea competing for $5,000 in prizes. Each pitch presentation was a strict five minutes followed by a five minute question period by the judges. Travelling from Toronto, Nicholas Hill joined us from DMZ to judge, along with local judges Reilley Perrins of Ignite Atlantic, Sreejata Chatterjee from Foundry, Paul Richards of Invest Nova Scotia, and Stephen Shaw from CBDC Hants Kings.

The audience favourite was awarded to Alex Dulay, founder of Touching Hearts, for receiving the most votes from the audience. Two pre-determined Entrepreneurship Awards each valued at $1,000 were awarded to Bruce & Dawn Armstrong, founders of Northern Sweet Tea, and Luke Mainwaring & Luke Wagner, co-founders of DAHLIA. The grand prize of $2,500 was determined by the panel of five judges at the competition and was awarded to Luke Mainwaring, Luke Wagner and their AI personal assistant DAHLIA.  

‍

The first pitch of the afternoon was by spouses and co-founders of Northern Sweet Tea, Bruce and Dawn Armstrong. Dawn is pursuing her Master's in Education while starting the sweet tea business. They plan to can their family's southern-style recipe to bring sweet tea to the Maritimes. Dawn leverages her background in medicine to ensure that they accurately promote the health benefits of their beverage. With their winnings, they plan to cover the initial costs of bottlings and purchasing tables at farmers’ markets.  

‍

Next, Luke Mainwaring and Luke Wagner co-founders of DAHLIA and winners of the first Pitch Perfect in March 2023 pitched their personal AI assistant. Unlike other AI applications, DAHLIA is programmed with human-like interaction and emotion, anthropomorphic awareness, infinite memory, and dynamic learning and adaptation. Currently, DAHLIA is integrated into IOS and can be used in Calendar, Mail, and Reminders applications. Luke and Luke plan to use their prize money to continue the development of DAHLIA and the launch of the app.

‍

‍

Then, Alex Dulay, founder of Touching Hearts pitched her social enterprise dedicated to empowering underprivileged Southeast Asian communities through fair trade practices. She is a 3^rd year BBA student majoring in Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Through her e-commerce platform, she showcases and sells high-quality handmade jewelry, knives, carvings, and other artisanal treasures from her home country of the Philippines and another neighbouring Southeast Asian countries. With her winnings, she plans to invest further in her business.  

Up next, Seth Gledhill, a 1^st year Engineering student pitched his business plan EngInNeed. Seth was inspired to create this platform for engineers, engineering companies, and engineering students to network and collaborate on projects when he noticed a lack of hands-on experience opportunities during his undergraduate degree. He is in the process of creating his platform and gaining clients.

‍

Ben Tompkins, founder of Collared Connections and 3^rd year BBA student majoring in Entrepreneurship and Innovation pitched his startup.  Collared Connections is a contractor-rating platform allowing contractors to advertise their services to clients and for clients to evaluate the performance of contractors. Ben is in the process of creating a fully functioning website and gaining clients. Catch him at the Wolfville Farmer’s Market every Saturday this summer promoting Collared Connections and getting customer feedback.

Next, Brandon Snyder, a 5^th year BBA student majoring in Entrepreneurship & Innovation and owner of Wolfville E-scooters, pitched his environmentally friendly, modern, and cost-effective transportation model to the judges. Wolfville E-scooters is set to launch in April of this year with 25 scooters in Wolfville. Brandon has been meeting with Town Council, Wolfville RCMP, and Acadia’s Safety & Security to prepare for his upcoming pilot.  

‍

Duo Tyler Kennedy and Patrick Stanbrook, 3^rd year Computer Science and 4^th year Environmental Science students, respectively, pitched their idea Nature’s Neighbours. They are working to provide a service which introduces beneficial plants into agricultural fields to reduce farmers need for pesticides and fertilizers. A week prior to Pitch Perfect, Tyler and Patrick won the Orchard Innovation Challenge presenting this same idea to benefit Nova Scotian Apple Growers.

The last pitch was given by, Shishya Agrawal, 2^nd year Computer Science student pitched his idea, PropertyHub. His startup idea is to connect property management companies with service providers. Shisya was inspired to create a solution from his personal experiences renting.  

After the pitches, judges convened to select the grand prize winner of Pitch Perfect 3. Following the deliberation, awards were distributed to winners, accompanied by the judge’s congratulations to all participants. We would like to recognize all the hard work students put into preparing and participating in the pitch competition, we appreciate you sharing your innovative ideas with the Acadia Community. Additionally, we express our gratitude to our esteemed judges for their invaluable contribution in making this event a success. Thank you for your time and commitment.

‍