RALEIGH – From environmentally friendly pet cremation to smart lighting solutions, the full scope of Internet of Things (IoT) applications was on display at RIoT’s second RAP Pitch Night on Wednesday night.

Six early-stage startups took part in the event. But in the end, judges could only select one for the ultimate prize.

Their choice: Green Stream Technologies, a startup that relocated from Norfolk, Virginia to the Triangle offering real-time flood monitoring for better decision-making and risk management.

“We’re just thrilled,” said Karen Lindquist, Green Stream’s co-founder chief operating officer who hoisted the RIoT championship belt above her head as soon as she got on stage. “[It’s] been an eye-opening experience.”

RAP Pitch Night … L-R: Tom Snyder,
Rachael Meleney, Karen Lindquist and Jim Gray.

More than 150 people crammed into the Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh to check out the latest on offer, and they also got to have their say.

For the popular vote, the audience selected Safe Zone — a gunshot detection device developed by Florida-based AVidea Group that uses a network of acoustic and infrared sensors to identify gunshots and dispatch first responders.

“One of the big things we wanted to get from this event is awareness, and get in front of people and get those valuable connections and good feedback,” said Safe Zone’s co-founder John Anderson. “This is another step in the right direction.”

12-week accelerator program

The competition was the culmination of a 12-week accelerator program facilitated by RiOT that aims to support IoT companies by partnering them with more than 85 companies across the value chain.

Final participants were selected from a pool of applicants from around the country.

The endgame: to bring products to market and create jobs, said Tom Snyder, executive director of NC RIoT.

Tom Snyder, Rachael Meleney and John Anderson.

“That’s our goal and mission,” he said. “[After tonight], I hope people will understand how emerging technology is affecting industries that people might not have even realized were industries.”

The program is funded by a variety of grants, including $500,000 from the federal government, and has support from the NC IDEA Foundation.

Since its launch in 2018, Snyder said there is growing evidence that the Triangle is quickly emerging as an IoT hub.

“We’re seeing more companies relocate to the area to actually have their businesses grow here. Our winner from two or three cycles ago, BruVue, moved from Ohio to be here. We’re seeing a lot of that traction.

“We’re getting more and more notoriety,” he added. “We’ve got 85 corporate partners now, and most of them are multi-national companies. So we’re not just funded by folks that are in this area. We’re funded by people all over the world who see strength in this area.”