A new group of Wisconsin entrepreneurs took to the ‘Project Pitch It’ stage this week to win their share of cash prizes and mentorship opportunities.
Taking homes this week’s Peg Ann & David Gruber Project Pitch It Award, worth $10,000, were entrepreneurs
Arek Schmocker and
Amadeus Benitez. Their startup is Germantown-based
Chocolate Rescue for Dogs.
Chocolate Rescue for Dogs has created a dog treat that can encapsulate the toxins found in chocolate if a dog were to accidentally eat some. The startup was the winner of last year’s Bright New Idea Award at the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest.
The treat physically attracts and encapsulates caffeine and theobromine – the two toxins in chocolate – while remaining unreactive to other molecules.
“The leading pet poison hotline reports that their number one call each year is for dogs who’ve just eaten chocolate,” said Benitez. “Chocolate poisoning is more common than the next five household toxins combined.”
Chocolate Rescue For Dogs wants to refine its go-to-market strategy and develop a stronger marketing campaign for its products.
The winner of this week’s Jerry Jendusa BREAKTHRU/UW-Milwaukee Award, worth $5,000, was Cudahy-based
Atomix Logistics.
The startup is a third-party e-commerce fulfillment company that works with emerging consumer brands. Atomix Logistics’ Cudahy facility uses a “warehouse in a warehouse” layout. This means dedicated teams of employees are assigned to individual pods, or “micro-warehouses."
This process leads to shortened processing times, heightened accuracy, and more flexibility to cater to the specific requirements of each client.
“Atomix was born to combine what is great about the customer (service) of the mom-and-pop third-party companies and the technology and software of venture capital backed companies,” said
Austin Kreinz, founder and CEO of Atomix Logistics. “Our mission from day one has been to change how online businesses launch, grow and scale by creating a hyper personalized service provider.”
Over the past year, Atomix Logistics has grown 6,000%. The company is on track to achieve $6.5 million in revenue this year. The company is slated to open its first West Coast fulfillment facility in Phoenix in the next few months to keep up with continuing demand.
Madison-based subscription box service
Nommli and founder
Padmini Chintakayala won the We Energies /Milwaukee Admirals Award prize, worth $1,500, this week.
Each Nommli box offers customers exposure to different regions of the world through customized recipes, cultural activities, playlists of music and movies from that region, and more. The startup launched in beta mode last year, and fully launched at the start of this year.
Chintakayala and her husband have a deep love for food. They would often take trips to large cities like Chicago to expose themselves to different cultures. Then, the pandemic shut the entire restaurant industry down. This, coupled with her son’s natural curiosity surrounding the different foods his friends would eat at school, led Chintakayala to question why food experiences couldn’t be sent directly to consumers.
Nommli partners with several restaurants to curate the meals sent out each month.
“We’re building culturally immersive experiences that transform dinner times by making them fun and unique for families around the country,” said Chintakayala.
“Project Pitch It” airs on WISN-TV 12 in Milwaukee and on TV stations throughout Wisconsin. Those stations include Green Bay (WBAY-TV 2), Madison (WKOW-TV 27), La Crosse (WKBT-TV 8), and Wausau (WSAW/WYOW TV 7). BizTimes Milwaukee is a media partner for “Project Pitch It.”
