This year\u2019s finalists in Maine Community Bank\u2019s annual competition nclude businesses in advanced manufacturing, canned water, parking technology, plant-based foods and in-home veterinary care.<\/p>\n
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\n\tMaine Community Bank is putting $75,000 on the line in this year\u2019s LaunchPad business pitch contest, with five innovative companies competing for the biggest prize in the competition\u2019s 13-year history.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s finalists, announced Friday, include businesses in advanced manufacturing, canned water, parking technology, plant-based foods and in-home veterinary care. They’ll make their pitches live on stage Tuesday, Oct. 20, in Portland.<\/p>\n
Finalists include mainelove, a returning finalist from 2025, led by co-founder and CEO Jen Millard, who was honored as a Mainebiz Business Leader of the Year in 2026. (Scroll down for the full list.)<\/p>\n
Five additional companies will compete for a separate Emerging Business Award, which includes a $15,000 grant from the bank and $10,000 worth of in-kind business and marketing services.<\/p>\n
Maine Community Bank increased the top grant from $50,000 to $75,000 this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese businesses are proof that innovation can take root and thrive right here in Maine,\u201d said Steve deCastro, president and CEO of Maine Community Bank. \u201cBy increasing the grant, we\u2019re making a bigger investment in the talent that\u2019s driving Maine\u2019s entrepreneurial community forward. LaunchPad helps give these founders visibility and capital to turn ambition into action.\u201d
\nFinalists in the running for $75K<\/p>\n
Evergreen Additive, Brunswick<\/p>\n
Mainelove, Westbrook<\/p>\n
Park Thrive, Portland<\/p>\n
Veggie Life, Wells<\/p>\n
Vet at Your Door, Brunswick<\/p>\n
Each finalist will deliver a live pitch and answer questions from judges Kristine Delano, board director and author; Kate McAleer of Bixby Chocolate; and Peter DelGreco of Maine & Co.
\nEmerging Business Award finalists<\/p>\n
Knotless Gear, Portland<\/p>\n
Kind Mind, Falmouth<\/p>\n
Latis Materials, Saco<\/p>\n
Savvyn, Cumberland<\/p>\n
Tubender, Portland<\/p>\n
The Emerging Business Award winner will be announced at the live event before the $75,000 grant recipient.
\nEvent information<\/p>\n
LaunchPad will take place Tuesday, Oct. 20, at the University of New England\u2019s Innovation Hall in Portland. Networking begins at 4 p.m., followed by the competition at 5:15 p.m. Find out more and register at maine.bank\/launchpad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year\u2019s finalists in Maine Community Bank\u2019s annual competition nclude businesses in advanced manufacturing, canned water, parking technology,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":909580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[64,63,99,198],"class_list":["post-909579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-entrepreneurship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}