KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A Knoxville start-up company got $50,000 after winning a pitch competition — the 2023 PYA Ballard Innovation Award Pitch Competition. It's the largest of its kind available to startups in the region.
The five finalist companies were Aro Technology, Captis Aire, Carbon Rivers, iO Urology and Trillium renewable Chemicals. iO Urology won the competition and the CEO said that just participating in the competition helped his business get off the ground.
"Us being a participant in that really allowed us to have a voice," said Britton Garrett, the CEO of the company. "We're an East Tennessee-founded company in the digital health arena. There's not a lot of us around."
The company creates a device meant to help patients keep better track of data than they would with a bladder diary. Users also use an app that gives users a chance to enter their fluid intake, helping physicians better tell what could be impacting a patient's bladder.