BCIC Recognizes Top Startups in Brownsville

By:

BCIC Recognizes Top Startups in Brownsville

Community e-Brief Features Featured News Comments
Valley Tire Recycling of Brownsville wins the grand prize at BCIC’s recent Pitch Summit. (Courtesy)
Valley Tire Recycling of Brownsville wins the grand prize at BCIC’s recent Pitch Summit. (Courtesy)

The Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation hosted its third annual StartUp Texas Pitch Summit on June 16 and selected one grand prize winner among nine competitors. 

Valley Tire Recycling took home the top honors and $25,000 in seed funding for their new venture in Brownsville. The other eight candidates will each receive six months of incubation and business support services from the BCIC. By design, the Pitch Summit recognizes emerging startup companies in Brownsville who show to have promise and the possibility of scaling up operations.

A Brownsville entrepreneur makes his pitch to judges during BCIC's recent StartUp Summit. (Courtesy)
A Brownsville entrepreneur makes his pitch to judges during BCIC’s recent StartUp Summit. (Courtesy)

Each of the nine competitors gave a live presentation to a panel of judges on June 16 in highlighting their products and services. They were then asked questions by the judges about their operations and products and the markets they are attempting to reach. The judges included Keesi Caballero, a physicist and entrepreneur, the co-founder of Permittivity, and last year’s Pitch Summit winner. The other judges were David Ortiz, executive director for the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center; Rolando Gonzalez, owner of Team Logic IT; and Griselda Munoz, human resources manager from Creative Liquid Holdings. 

An Evolving Competition

The June 16 event was the first in-person Pitch Summit and took place on Texas Southmost College’s campus. Nathan Burkhart, the BCIC’s small business development director, said this year’s Pitch Summit featured technology and manufacturing companies, which was in contrast to the food-centric summit in 2021.

“Technology companies are looking to scale up and it’s easier for them to do so,” Burkhart said. “It’s also a good fit for the programs we offer.”

The other finalists for the 2022 Pitch Summit grand prize were Aetherworks, Eido Innova, Embedded, iAG Technologies, iBed by APYCO, SilverWarp, TXQ Rubs and WITBA. All of the nine finalists are located in Brownsville or have plans to expand their business operations to the city. 

The BCIC plans to add two “demo days” a year, Burkhart said. This will further highlight the entrepreneurial work going on in Brownsville. 

“We want to polish the best of the best we have here,” he said. 

A panel of judges make the call among nine contestants at the recent StartUp Texas Pitch Summit in Brownsville. (Courtesy)
A panel of judges make the call among nine contestants at the recent StartUp Texas Pitch Summit in Brownsville. (Courtesy)

Ricardo D. Cavazos is a Rio Grande Valley native and journalist who has worked as a reporter, editor and publisher at Texas newspapers. Cavazos formerly worked as a reporter and editorial writer at The Brownsville Herald, Dallas Times Herald, Corpus Christi Caller-Times and San Antonio Light. He served as editor of The Monitor in McAllen from 1991-1998 and from there served for 15 years as publisher at The Herald in Brownsville. Cavazos has been providing content for the Valley Business Report since 2018.

Comments