FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                   Media Contact: Matt Johnson

March 23, 2023                                                       757-890-3306; Matt.Johnson@yorkcounty.gov

On Arpril 19th, the second set of finalists for the 2023 Start Peninsula was announced following an online Micro Pitch competition. The finalists were The B.O.B.O. Collective, FreeLife, and KeepUp. Ten pitchers participated in the Micro Pitch.

  • The B.O.B.O. Collective helps black-owned consumer packaged goods businesses scale up their production by providing access to the resources needed to supply, manufacture, ship, and distribute products through our Network of black-owned supply chain professionals.
  • FreeLife is a social recovery platform that embraces addiction recovery by making it accessible, acceptable, and fun with its accountability program, storytelling, and community engagement.
  • KeepUp is a Software as a Service that helps business professionals easily keep in touch with their close contacts on a personal level. The software will create client profiles keeping track of important dates, personal facts, and life events. KeepUp will have personalized automation that will let you automatically generate texts, emails, and letters that you can edit.

Each finalist will receive a $500 prize and is invited to participate in the Championship Pitch event, on November 8th where they will have a chance to win $5,000 to support their business growth and they will also have free access to local resources.

The next Start Peninsula micro pitch competition will be held on Wednesday, Sep 13th. Early stage businesses are invited to apply to participate. An additional micro pitch competition will be held on October 11th.

Judges for the first Micro Pitch included:

  • Erica McMannes, Co-founder Instant Teams
  • Carlton Campbell, Sr. Director of Engineering at Elevance Health
  • Chris Davidson, Founder and Lead Strategist at Orca

Start Peninsula 2023 is hosted by York County, in partnership with the Cities of Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg and Poquoson and James City County. Start Peninsula has been held annually in different Peninsula localities since 2012. For more information about Start Peninsula, please visit its website, or the FAQ page.

Download a copy of this press release here.