Marks a record breaking year for MIX winners and participants!

Santa Fe, NM–From March to September 2017, 17 teams competed in two pitch contests, three mentor nights, and submitted a final business plan and presented to a panel of expert judges. The result? The biggest group of winners bizMIX has seen in its six years of iterations and improvements for all eager entrepreneurial participants.

In our most diverse pool of candidates by idea and entrepreneurial chops, bizMIX awarded over $55,000 in cash and prizes. Our first big winner of not one, but two pitch contests, was THE Truck–taking home $1000 in pitch contest winnings.  Entrepreneur Victoria Bruneni learned how to work the crowd and wowed everyone with amazing THE Truck food truck eats.

BIGGEST WINNER!

Paleteria OASIS (Erika Castaneda) a food cart carrying delectables from a traditional Mexican ice cream shop with authentic flavors, including “botanas” a Mexican snackbar tradition.

Winnings: over $3,200 in in-kind prizes with ads from Slazer Technologies, a Santa Fe Green Chamber Membership and a digital media consulting session with Downstream Media Maven AND $7,000 as the Grand Prize Winner of the bizMIX Business Plan Competition

BIG $$ WINNERS + ADDITIONAL CASH PRIZES

Length Width Height (Robert Nachman) is an E-commerce site for customized furniture and home decor allowing consumers to get the quality and specificity previously available only through professional interior designers.

Winnings:  PNM awarded you $1,500 for your feats in Innovation and $500 in-kind coffee date with Alan Webber

Mud Hub (Rod Gesten) is a manufacturer and seller of the raised bed style-driven Enchanted Greenhouses designed for gardeners to grow outdoors all year long with physical ease and comfort, without dealing with hand watering, poor soil, intense sunlight and wind and garden pests that devour crops.

Winnings: Five & Dime has awarded you $1,000 as a favorite for future growth + Green Chamber Membership

Santa Fe Lobo Cheer (Cynthia Hale) a nonprofit, year round, youth cheerleading organization serving all genders, household incomes and athletic abilities in the Santa Fe community.

Winnings: $1,000 as a Cash Prize Winner and In-kind prizes worth over $3,000 with the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce Membership and one package of 15-second ads for 3 months with Slazer Technologies.

OneForNeptune (Nick Mendoza) is developing tasty, high-protein snack foods from dried seafood products. Using centuries-old techniques, innovative recipes and strict sustainability standards, OneForNeptune offers jerkies and bars that are healthier and more environmentally friendly than beef or other animal jerky alternatives.

Winnings: Santa Fe Green Chamber membership and $1,500 as a Cash Prize Winner

Madre Foods (Katelyn Hilburn) delivers fully prepared meals to the doorsteps of postpartum mothers, babies, and toddlers with all of their specific nutritional needs in mind. Our service allows family and loved ones to know a new and growing family is being taken care of without the extra stress or errands.

Winnings: bizMIX judges awarded a Cash Prize and MIX team awarded a (mi)X Factor Award, totaling $5,000 cash and a Santa Fe Green Chamber Membership.

Laser Loot (Randy Castillo) uses laser technology to help artists make their creations jump off the page, bringing art to life using fresh materials and a new perspective.

Winnings: bizMIX judges have awarded $3,000 and $1,200 toward in the Santa Fe Business Incubator Manufacturing Business Building Program

Click Clogs (Lily Love) – a clog shoe for people in healthcare or anyone who likes to wear clogs – with interchangeable tops for individual preferences in style. They take up less space and allow for people to have the same base of the shoe for total customization.

Winnings $4,000 as a Cash Prize Winner + $5,000 in a manufacturing ideation session with Meow Wolf

IN-KIND PRIZE WINNERS

Root 66 (Jackie Shane, JC Corcoran, Dave Holland) is first entirely plant-based food truck in Santa Fe.  We aim to serve delicious healthy food, devoid of factory-farmed animals and their bi-products.  Great food, that just happens to be vegan.

Winnings: in-kind prizes worth $175! Santa Fe Green Chamber Membership

1905 Magazine (Mariah Thomas & Darnell Romero) is a quarterly publication that promotes style as self love.

Winnings: in-kind prizes worth $375! Santa Fe Green Chamber Membership & Marketing Consultation and Support with Downstream Media Maven

Santa Fe Pub Crawls (Julia Abbiss) aims to change Santa Fe’s tourism narrative from family-friendly to fun for everyone.  By partnering with local nightlife, Santa Fe Pub Crawls can highlight how ideal a destination City Different is for millennial travelers.

Winnings: in-kind prizes worth $650 – accounting/bookkeeping consultation with Barraclough and Associates and Membership with the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce

Vintage Airstream Renovations (Patrick Collingwood) starts the journey to the edge of the Earth through new designs and renovations for Airstreams.  Vintage Airstream Renovations creates high-tech, functional and memorable exploration into the wilderness for a multitude of purposes, including food stalls, bars, pop-up boutiques, yoga studios, office spaces, and tiny homes.

Winnings: in-kind prize worth $675! Alan Webber Coffee Date & Santa Fe Green Chamber Membership

Fun Times in the Chickenhouse (Andy Primm, Karina Wilson) is a Santa Fe-based variety show that works in a variety of media, including overseeing and coordinating production.

Winnings: in-kind prize worth $1,000 with Hutton Broadcasting on the radio

The Guerrilla Filmmakers Guild (Bevin Carnes) is a streaming service and filmmaking community that provides support, education, and exposure to “no-budget” filmmakers- those who utilize newly available, low-cost technology to make high-quality films on shoestring budgets. Upstream will help film students, budding indie filmmakers, and anyone with big talent, but small resources to become a new generation of truly independent filmmakers.

Winnings: $1,200 in-kind prize! Santa Fe Business Incubator’s Technology Business Building Program

THE truck (Victoria Brunei) food truck and catering company will provide good food at an affordable price for catered and special events. THE “giving” truck will donate a portion of all proceeds to local non-profits, surplus food to local shelters and food banks, and support youth with internships, and educational programs.

Winnings: in-kind prize worth $1,000 with Hutton Broadcasting radio and a Santa Fe Green Chamber Membership and winner of both MIX pitch contests – unprecedented $1000 winner!

EyeAm (Aaron Johnston) is digital photography with a global purpose: designed to support professionals, inspire amateurs, and engage every Instagram user with a new way to compete, contribute, and change the world one image at a time.

Winnings: in-kind prize worth $500! Alan Webber Coffee Date and $1,200 in-kind prize! Santa Fe Business Incubator’s Technology Business Building Program

Dandelion Guild (Calixte Raifsnider) is a curated, collaborative retail space committed to forwarding the interests of talented local vendors and makers in Santa Fe combining resources to create a unique retail environment featuring vintage and handmade clothing, jewelry, books and other forms of accessible art.

Winnings: in-kind prizes worth over $3,400 – package of ads with Slazer Technologies, Santa Fe Green Chamber Membership, and Digital Communications Planning Session with Downstream Media Maven

A massive thanks to our fiscal sponsors: LANL Feynman Center for Innovation – Venture Acceleration Fund, Five & Dime General Store, Thornburg Investment Management, Los Alamos National Bank, Gemini Rosemont Realty (Garfield Street Foundation), Santa Fe County, Santa Fe Community Foundation, Meow Wolf, Positive Energy Solar, Century Bank, Christus St. Vincent, New Mexico Bank and Trust, Nusenda, and the PNM – Century of Service grant.

Thank you, Santa Fe, for our most grandiose year yet, helping these new businesses thrive. We cannot wait to see how they continue to transform our City!

bizMIX News, MIX Pays | March 5th 2018

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