Codefi, the digital economy cooperative headquartered in Cape Girardeau, announced winners of its 2021 1ST50K startup competition last week, adding four more companies to the list of entrepreneurial firms that have received funding through the annual competition.

Nearly 200 firms from across the country and around the world entered this year's competition. It was the largest field of entries to participate in 1ST50K since it began several years ago.

Four companies were selected to each receive $50,000 in non-dilutive startup grants. Three of the firms will be relocating their operations to Cape Girardeau, as required of all 1ST50K winners, while the fourth firm is already based in Cape Girardeau.

All of the finalists came to Cape Girardeau earlier this summer to make "pitches" about their business concepts to a panel of entrepreneurs, business executives and technology specialists. The panel, in turn, made recommendations to the competition's directors about who should win this year.

"in smaller cities, one of the challenges is creating density of companies to grow the digital economy, where there is a critical mass of founders, mentors, talent, investors and community support for startups to thrive," said Codefi co-founder James Stapleton, who helped start the 1ST50K program in 2015.

"1ST50K helps inject new companies immediately into the community, to work alongside local entrepreneurs," he said.

The four companies chosen to receive $50,000 each in startup funding and will be up and running in Cape Girardeau by Oct. 1 are:

• Food Haven, from San Francisco, connecting restaurants with customers interested in purchasing freshly prepared meals made from surplus ingredients and sold at discounted prices.
• RentHub, from New York, New York, a data platform designed for use by the multitrillion-dollar rental housing industry to help industry stakeholders make intelligent, data-driven business decisions.
• STOCKHAUS, from Cape Girardeau, which is a digital wholesaler for small businesses and organizations, allowing them to purchase larger quantities of products directly from manufacturers by combining their buying power to avail themselves of lower wholesale prices.
• WATT, from Los Angeles, which is a community engagement platform described as "Fitbit for a cause" for use in virtual charity walks and running events.

Since 2019, 1ST50K awardees have created nearly 40 jobs and generated an economic impact of more than $2 million in Cape Girardeau, according to a recent economic modeling study.

"Those numbers only encompass the six most recent awardees," according to Sarah Gant, the 1ST50K competition's program director. "We continue to attract highly innovative sets of startup founders to work with the talented group of local entrepreneurs on the competition committee."

Funding for the program is provided by sponsorships from several public and private entities — Codefi, the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, the City of Cape Girardeau, the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Development Authority, The Bank of Missouri, Banterra Bank, Commerce Bank, Montgomery Bank, MRV Banks and Sterling Bank.

A short video about this year's 1st50K competition and winning entries can be viewed online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96a0SzB3PqM.

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