Nine entrepreneurs pitched their company to a series of investors on ski lifts at Taos Ski Valley Thursday and Parting Stone took home the $10,000 grand prize. Parting Stone creates solidified human and pet remains by turning the remains into decorative stones. Courtesy photo
BUSINESS News:
TAOS — CNM Ingenuity kicked off the Seventh Annual Ski Lift Pitch for entrepreneurs and investors.
Instead of an elevator pitch, nine entrepreneurs pitched their company to a series of investors on ski lifts at Taos Ski Valley Thursday. The pitches continued at lunch, and Parting Stone took home the $10,000 grand prize.
Parting Stone creates solidified human and pet remains by turning the remains into decorative stones. Parting Stone CEO Justin Crowe shared the company’s initial success. To date, the company is working with 350 funeral homes, sent Parting Stones to 3,000 families and received 300 handwritten letters from families.
“New Mexico is an excellent place for start-ups to launch and grow,” said TJ Cook, Fund Manager, ABQid Fund and Ingenuity Venture Fund. “The Ski Lift Pitch is a unique – New Mexico event that not only showcases the talent here, but also our amazing quality of life.”
Many of the previous Ski Lift Pitch winners have gone on to major success:
Taos Bakes was the inaugural winner of the Ski Lift Pitch. They have since gone on to land $220,000 in angel investments to fuel the company’s growth.
2016 Ski Lift Pitch winner, UbiQD, announced $7 million in Series A Funding to Scale Deployment of Quantum Dot Technology in Agriculture and Energy.
Third Ski Lift Pitch winner, EquiSeq signed an agreement with Center for Animal Genetics to be the exclusive testing center for their Equine Myopathy Panel in Europe.
2018 winner, Twistle announced the first of its COVID-19 vaccine administration pathways. Their technology is being used at two large health systems to deliver secure messages to staff as they administer vaccine delivery.
In 2021, Twistle joined the Health Catalyst family, marking one of New Mexico’s biggest startup successes of the year.
Medicheck is building a platform for digitization of medical information that has already partnered with over 10 of the biggest hospitals in Mexico, with plans to bring its unique approach to the United States over time.
And in 2019, Relativity6 is applying artificial intelligence solutions to the insurance industry to automate processing, automated underwriting, and risk monitoring.
This year’s start-up entrepreneurs included:
- FishSki Provisions – Eat For An Adventure!
- TruFit, LLC – Empowering People with Disabilities with Inclusive Fitness Solutions
- BuildMySOP.com – Procedures, Protection, Proficiency! Build your Standard Operating Procedures in 3 simple steps.
- EveryDay Contacts – Redeeming the doctor patient relationship with new contact lens distribution system.
- Electric Playhouse – Play More.
- WaveOn – Treating active people like pro athletes with a digital health and recovery platform.
- Parting Stone – providing solidified cremated remains that are comfortable to touch and hold.
- Aqua Research LLC – Providing Safe Water and Sanitation for Those Who Need It Most
- essGO Delivery Company – a marketplace for delivery & tasks
This year’s judges were:
- Pat Riley – GAN Ventures
- Sydnie Kettington – Kickstart Seed Fund
- Kirsten Suddath – Next Frontier Ventures
- Ritesh Agarwal – CerraCap
- Ryan Edwards – Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)
- Clay Gordon – Stout Street Capital
- Dan Brooks – Sun Mountain Capital
- Katie Rice – Epic VC
- Ruminder “Romi” Dillon – Sonoran Founders Fund
- Matthew Ongaro – Cottonwood Technology Fund
- McLain Southworth – Crosslink Capital
- Kelly O’Connell – 360 Venture Collective
This year’s event is sponsored by LANL Feynman Center for Innovation, Wells Fargo, Taos Ski Valley, Vela Wood, True Health New Mexico, Q Station, New Space NM, New Mexico Angels, Sunny505, Tramway Ventures, Audaz Capital, New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division, New Mexico Bio, UNM Rainforest Innovation and Peacock Law.
