The Brandywine LaunchBox held its first Women Founders Pitch Competition on March 26.
MEDIA, Pa. — The Brandywine LaunchBox held its first Women Founders Pitch Competition on March 26. The event, which was held at Penn State Brandywine, is part of a series called "Road to LionCage," which features six small-scale pitch competitions that lead up to LionCage, a large-scale pitch competition held annually at Penn State Great Valley. The Women Founder Pitch Competition featured seven startup entrepreneurs pitching their business ideas, as well as a panel discussion.
The winner of the Women Founders Pitch Competition, Caitlin West, won for her startup Alivio Technologies Inc., a company that revolves around medical care for those with chronic pain. West won automatic entry into the LionCage Pitch Competition, which is slated for Nov. 14. Second place was awarded to Ginny Palmieri for her startup myNextory, a career-path management platform.
Tony Mattei, director of entrepreneurship and digital marketing at Penn State Brandywine, mentioned how happy he is to see how LionCage has impacted entrepreneurs in the area.
“Our goal is to really uplift entrepreneurs in the area with different pitch competitions, located all throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania,” he said at the event.
“In November, we held our first LionCage Competition and had 63 applicants, heard 30 pitches and awarded $35,000 in prize money. We have a few of those winners in the audience, and it’s great to see how our pitch competitions positively impact startup entrepreneurs.”
Regional Chancellor Marilyn J. Wells gave opening remarks and reflected on how far the Brandywine LaunchBox has come since she started at Brandywine five years ago.
“I, personally, am so excited to see everyone gathered here today. When I look back five years ago, the Brandywine LaunchBox was just a vision. Now, today at the Women Founders Pitch Competition, we have a room full of students, community members, partners, alumni and sponsors. It’s very impressive,” she said.
The Brandywine LaunchBox held its first Women Founders Pitch Competition on March 26.
Tony Mattei, director of entrepreneurship and digital marketing, gave opening remarks at the Women Founders Pitch Competition.
Regional Chancellor Marilyn J. Wells gave opening remarks at the Women Founders Pitch Competition.
(l-r) Julianne Gardner, Yasmin George and Susan Springsteen speaking on a panel at the Women Founders Pitch Competition.
Jaclyn Gallo moderated the panel.
Kamna Giare-Patel pitched her company, Cerespectus LLC, a company that creates catheters used to aid gene therapy.
Jaclyn Gallo gave feedback to the pitch contestants as a judge.
Yasmin George gave her thoughts to contestants as a judge at the pitch competition.
Susan Springsteen asked contestants questions as a judge.
Ted Kardon giving his feedback as a judge at the pitch competition.
Tiara Orange pitching her company, The Royal Orange, a made-to-order clothing company.
Ginny Palmieri pitching her company, myNextory, which won second place.
Lauren Penrose pitching her company, Senior Stewards LLC, a company aimed to help people with aging parents and grandparents.
Kristine Mascione pitching her company, Vondern, a platform aimed at showing people activity recommendations.
Caitlin West pitching her company, Alivio Technologies, Inc., which won first place.
Meredith Tretiak pitching her company, RYLA, a social media app with no targeted advertising.
(l-r) Ginny Palmieri and Caitlin West with their certificates after receiving awards at the Women Founders Pitch Competition.
Judges for the pitch competition were Yasmin George, CEO of Trend Lab; Susan Springsteen, president of H2O Connected LLC; Ted Kardon, CEO of Epic Food Bites LLC; and Jaclyn Gallo, host of the Spark Your Light podcast. Gallo also moderated a panel that featured George, Springsteen and Julianne Gardner, founder of Bottimals, a startup company that won at LionCage in 2024.
Brandywine LaunchBox is a signature program of Invent Penn State, a commonwealth-wide initiative to spur economic development, job creation and student career success. As one of the University’s 21 innovation hubs across Pennsylvania, the Brandywine LaunchBox provides programs and resources for early-stage entrepreneurs.
The next pitch competition in the Road to LionCage series, the Open Category, will be held on Wednesday, May 21. Epic Food Bites LLC is the sponsor for the 2025 Road to LionCage series of pitch events.
