Manufacturing Growth Advocacy Network (MAGNET) officials have noticed a trend since launching its first Mspire pitch competition in 2016.

Put simply, the 80 entrepreneurs who applied for the ninth annual Mspire competition on—hoping to pitch their products and concepts in the annual manufacturing-focused contest—are more market-ready than they used to be.

“The biggest thing we’ve seen is more developed companies coming to our door, when it used to be an idea-on-a-napkin situation,” says Andrea Navratil, director of MAGNET’s New Ventures team, which connects early-stage enterprises with industry funding and engineering expertise. “We still get those applications, but it’s exciting to see the broader depth of maturity in these startups.”

MAGNET’s new headquartersThis year’s participants came with a range of commercially viable ideas—from sustainable energy solutions to health technology. Each finalist had 10 minutes to present their technology and business model, followed by a Q&A session with the judging panel.

After narrowing down the list of more than 80 applicants, and 27 semifinalists were selected. Ultimately, 11 finalists were chosen to pitch to the panel of judges on September 12 at MAGNET’s Hough headquarters. The judges represented the investment, manufacturing, and technology sectors.

Ideas were evaluated on innovation, scalability, impact, and the potential to address key manufacturing challenges.

Products and proposals were also exposed to outside investors, among them the Advanced Manufacturing Fund, a Northeast Ohio-based venture group that invests in high-potential manufacturing start-ups.

Ultimately, seven winners were awarded a collective $85,000 to further scale their businesses. Along with providing funding for product improvements, MAGNET also assists entrepreneurs in key growth areas such as sales, marketing, and operational development.

The 2024 winners are:

• Accelerate Wind ($20,000 Engineering Prize): Develops affordable wind turbines that capture wind energy from the edges of building roofs, complementing rooftop solar panels and helping buildings move towards net-zero energy​.
• Auxilium Health, Inc. ($5,000 Huntington Innovation Award): Revolutionizing wound care with next-generation diagnostics and therapeutics that reduce complications and improve outcomes​.
• Daisy Makes ($15,000 Engineering Prize): Transforms the art of cake popping with its 3D-printed molds, speeding up production while maintaining creativity and consistency in the process.
• Galvanix ($20,000 Engineering Prize): Commercializes an innovative metallization process that generates critical metals like neodymium, essential for industries such as electric vehicles and renewable energy​.
• Peaceful Fruits ($10,000 Operations Prize): Self-manufactures 100% fruit snacks that combine the fun, nostalgic feel of candy with the health benefits of fruit.
• Solar Sprout ($5,000 Huntington Innovation Award): Combines agriculture and renewable energy by allowing dual-use of land for farming and solar energy generation to increase yields while providing a sustainable energy source​.
• UGen ($10,000 Engineering Prize): Makes a smart medical device that uses sensor-based software to aid physical therapy patients with biomechanics correction, allowing for both clinical and remote rehabilitation​.

“It used to be consumer products, but now we’re getting agriculture, advanced materials, and other [product] areas,” she says. “Growing our New Ventures team is attracting a bigger range of companies, in terms of stage and industry. Our name is growing in the community, and our building attracts constant tours. How we can help is also better understood in the network.”

Here are two companies that are examples of the broader ranger Navratil speaks of.

Ugen procured a $10,000 engineering award for the continued manufacture of its high-tech platformSetting the standard

UGen, producer of a smart medical device for physical therapy patients, procured a $10,000 Engineering Prize for the continued manufacture of its high-tech platform. The device's sensor-based software precisely tracks patient movement during both remote and in-clinic rehabilitation sessions, says Ugen CEO Michael Hartakis.

“[The platform] shows if patients are doing their exercises correctly,” Hartakis says. “That’s a big problem-solver for physical therapists who are crunched for time. Our platform allows them to clear their schedules.”

Ugen's device is empowering patients to stick to their rehab regimes, with 35% of users achieving full compliance. Mspire funding will help the company expand beyond orthopedic rehabilitation in addressing Parkinson's disease and other neurological diseases, says Hartakis.

In addition to the financial award, Hartakis says the pitching experience and the presenting UGen to the public was a positive, rewarding experience.

“This kind of exposure is valuable for the business—saying we are an award-winning company can open a lot of doors,” says Hartakis. “The whole world of virtual medicine and physical therapy is growing. Our niche is best-in-class technology, and we hope to become the standard of remote physical therapy.”

3D-printed cake popping molds garnered Daisy Makes a $15,000 Mspire engineering awardGotta have my pops

Continuing the theme of ready-made products—albeit in a vastly different marketplace—is Amy Mucha’s cake pop production startup Daisy Makes. Mucha splits her business between treat creation and the 3D-printed cake popping molds that garnered her a $15,000 Engineering Prize.

A former high-school math teacher, Mucha started cake popping with her Daisy Pops as a side hustle, turning it into a full-time business during the pandemic. She opened a brick-and-mortar shop in downtown Kent last year, cranking out 2,500to 3,000 pops every week.

Considering the inefficiency of making thousands of sweets by hand, Mucha needed a much speedier solution.

“I said, let’s 3D-print cake pop shapes,” Mucha recalls. “Then a year ago, other cake pop makers asked if we were selling these tools, and that’s how we started. We had a couple hundred pre-orders during those first few weeks and saw we were onto something.”

Named after Mucha’s daughter, the confectionary startup sold 150,000 cake popping tools in 2023. Yet even a semi-established business needs funding, hence Mucha’s rather last-minute foray into the MAGNET pitch event.

“I filled out an application a week before, and was shocked about getting into the finals,” she says. “I thought I’d be denied, but then I had to figure out how to make a pitch deck.”

Mucha's patent-pending device ensures consistent cake pop shapes while speeding up production, she says. The startup founder will use her Mspire funding to create new tools via injection molding—an expensive process that involves heating plastic to a molten state, forcing it into a mold, and then cooling it.

“3D printing will still be part of the business, but injection molding will let us produce [the devices] on a much larger scale for cheaper,” says Mucha. “Then we can start approaching wholesalers and bigger stores. I’d love to see Daisy Makes on the shelves at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby.”

MAGNET executive Navratil says such eclectic innovations—no matter what the industry—are potential game-changers for Northeast Ohio’s economy.

“Startups can be those innovation engines,” Navratil says. “It’s about starting conversations with these companies, and where there might be synergies.”