Over $300K awarded at Flywheel Investment Conference

WENATCHEE – The 2023 Flywheel Investment Conference, held April 20, awarded over $300,000, bringing the total to over $1.3 million that has been awarded to Washington based companies through the annual event.

The Flywheel Investment Conference is held annually in Wenatchee and generates exposure and resources for early-stage companies by bringing entrepreneurs, investors, and professionals together. The 2023 Flywheel Investment Conference broke all past records with the largest number of applicants to date, an expanded three-day schedule, and the highest-attended conference since its inception.

Over 300 attendees participated in Flywheel Conference events from April 19-21. Flywheel offered a Latina/o/x Founder Journey Workshop, networking pub crawl, entrepreneur and investor panels, keynote presentations, exhibitor booths, and a networking lunch.

The keystone of the conference was the investment competition, followed by an Awards Party at Pybus Public Market where GemaTEG was named the winner of the 2023 Flywheel Conference and received a $150,000 investment award from the Flywheel Angel Network. During the last day of the conference, attendees had the chance to participate in a pitch workshop and enjoy free skiing at Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort.

A total of 82 companies applied for the chance to compete at this year’s Flywheel Conference. Through careful deliberation, the applications were narrowed down by the Flywheel Angel Network to just six who competed live during the conference: Alphi, Seattle; Citizen Mint, Bellevue; GemaTEG, Bellevue; Novuson Surgical, Bothell; Pure Blue Tech Inc., Anacortes; and SheFly Apparel, Seattle.

GemaTEG develops innovative thermal management solutions for high-performance microprocessors (CPUs and GPUs) in data centers. The company was founded in 2019 in Seattle with its R&D center in Italy. DaTEG is the latest product in the company's portfolio of sustainable systems. Specifically designed for HPC and high-demanding applications, DaTEG is an active thermal management system with advanced thermoelectric technology. The system allows close control of microprocessor temperature, resulting in a substantial increase in computing power, reduction in power consumption, and noise. The product aligns with GemaTEG’s vision, where sustainability and high-performance meet.

During the conference, Alphi and SheFly also received $50,000 investment awards each from the Flywheel Angel Network. Citizen Mint received a $50,000 relocation offer from NCW Tech Alliance if they choose to relocate their business to Chelan or Douglas counties. In addition, SheFly was awarded the $5,000 Audience Favorite cash prize.

SheFly is an outdoor apparel company on a mission to make the outdoors better for all people through innovative clothing design. Their award-winning pants and leggings feature their patented zipper technology, which empowers everyone to answer nature's call and relieve themselves outside without removing any clothing. They design durable, innovative, and functional clothing so that everyone can explore as they are.

Alphi is the first community-powered NFT database built to bring accessibility and transparency to the world of digital collectibles, enabling everyone to make well-informed decisions about the projects they get involved with. Their purpose is to make the digital collectible space accessible.

Citizen Mint provides wealth advisors a trusted, easy-to-use platform to access private market impact investments. With minimums starting at $10k and a curated list of exclusive opportunities, wealth managers are able to leverage Citizen Mint to help attract younger clients, diversify portfolios, reduce client performance volatility, and minimize their own revenue volatility.

The 2023 Flywheel Investment Conference was presented by Moss Adams, Ogden Murphy Wallace, Confluence Health, and Microsoft. Plans are underway for the annual Flywheel Conference to return in the Spring of 2024 in Wenatchee.