Witching Hour takes home top prize at 865 Fest Startup Pitch Competition!
The Crowd Favorite Award was granted to Joel Smith with TeachCraft!
In the first-ever full-day 865 Fest, formerly known as Knoxville’s Startup Day, about 300 people gathered inside Bridgewater Place in West Knoxville. The day-long programming included conversations about the collaborative efforts on the Covenant Health Park stadium downtown, keynotes from Mark Pancratz and Jordan Harper, and breakout sessions on valuation, relational equity, and more.
But perhaps the most anticipated event of the day was the Startup Pitch Competition, which featured six of Knoxville’s fastest-growing companies.
The founders included Simba Jonga from Laborup, Joel Smith from Teachcraft, Kimberly O’Neal from Modern Working Moms, Lance Adler from Witching Hour, Brian Washington from Aluminairy, and Dustin Bainbridge from Unified Track.
Witching Hour secured the Judges’ Choice Award and took home the top prize of $10,000. Adler is a current fellow in the Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is also a graduate of the Spark Cleantech Accelerator and the Techstars Industries of the Future Accelerator, which was previously hosted in Knoxville.
Witching Hour prevents power companies from starting wildfires by insulating live power lines using advanced materials and robotics. Roughly 50 percent of the wildfire destruction in the U.S. comes from power companies – mostly from overhead wires touching trees.
Power companies desperately want to reduce their wildfire risk because they are financially responsible for the fires they start (sometimes paying tens of billions in damages). Existing methods to lower wildfire risk include (1) burying power lines and (2) rebuilding infrastructure with heavily insulated wire – these cost millions per mile and take years to implement.
Witching Hour uses a robotic system to install an advanced material over existing power lines, eliminating the costly rebuild process. Its service is up to 95 percent cheaper and 100x faster than putting power lines underground.
Read more about Witching Hour here.
TeachCraft, in its second major pitch competition win of the year (the first being the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center’s What’s the Big Idea (WTBI)), took home $5,000 as the winner of the Crowd Favorite Award.
TeachCraft uses the latest technologies to elevate the craft of teaching. The platform partners with educators to design learning experiences that are locally relevant, standards-aligned, and deeply engaging. Built in close collaboration with teachers, TeachCraft honors the human artistry of education while breaking down the barriers to high-quality project-based instruction.
TeachCraft believes that when educators have the right tools and support, they can spark transformative change by igniting student curiosity, strengthening communities, and renewing their passion for the profession.
Read more about Teachcraft here.
The judging panel for the pitch contest was Matt Park, with Cirrus Aircraft, Jim Holleman with Avison Young, and Ramsey Cohen with Clayton Homes.
Check out more photos from the pitch competition below.
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