Molson Coors has announced that it’s returning as a sponsor of the annual Summerfest Tech Pitch competition, co-hosted by the Young Enterprising Society.

On June 28, from 2 to 4 p.m., eight budding entrepreneurs will each pitch ideas to a panel of judges from Molson Coors and the community.

The event is part of Summerfest Tech, which takes place June 27-29 at Potawatomi Hotel and Casino.

The first-place winner will get $20,000 of the $50,000 prize pool that participants can win. In addition, this year there will be a Hometown Winner from the greater Milwaukee area, who will nab a $5,000 award.

According to Milwaukee World Festival, "Summerfest Tech began in 2018 with the goal of leveraging the Summerfest brand to showcase technology and provide a forum for attendees from the tech and business community to network, educate, and celebrate the evolution of technology.

"Summerfest Tech continues to champion the regional business community, while shining the spotlight on Wisconsin’s growing reputation as a tech hub, highlighting the growth and opportunity in the region. Programming from local, regional, and national speakers, as well as a cash-prize pitch competition, connects the tech community around relevant topics."

Admission is free and the event is available virtually.

This year’s competition drew 70 percent more applications over previous years, with applicants from more than 12 states and 20 countries.

The finalists who have earned a chance to pitch (with descriptions provided) are:

• Wellacy Health (Milwaukee): Founded in 2020, Wellacy Health helps providers better engage, monitor and treat patients’ physical and mental health care needs, eliminating disparities in access to quality care and redesigning the way people with chronic diseases interact with and consume health and care.
• Cookie Langs, Inc. (New York): Cookie Langs is a first-of-its-kind language learning platform built upon proprietary speech and emotion recognition AI technology. Cookie Langs helps users attain conversational fluency in a highly engaging way through partnerships with popular content creators and celebrities.
• AppEase LLC (Green Bay): AppEase automatically transfers medical data between insurance companies and medical facilities for the purpose of underwriting life, disability and long-term care insurance applications through the use of APIs into electronic medical record systems. AppEase eliminates the need for faxes and snail mail, reduces associated expenses and improves attrition rates for insurance companies requesting medical records.
• Leantime (Charlotte, N.C.): Started by a nurse-turned-product manager, Leantime is an open-source innovation and project management system. Leantime offers solutions for those with ADHD, ADD and dyslexia as well as small business owners and cross-functional teams.
• CrossKudi (Wauwatosa): CrossKudi continues to revolutionize the way people send money, eliminating burdensome fees while allowing users to send money to individuals and merchants all over the world with blockchain technology.
• RedFox AI (Madison): RedFox AI is the creator of the RedFox Digital Guide, a smartphone-accessible conversational artificial intelligence that can learn and facilitate any instruction-based process, including troubleshooting, while simultaneously providing a new level of on-demand customer support. RedFox is serving the growing BioHealth market allowing providers to be there at the point-of-care for patients.
• Lavni Inc. (Atlanta): Lavni is on a mission to provide mental health care for the BIPOC community by connecting them to therapists. Their focus is to serve underserved communities by providing affordable, confidential, and convenient mental health sessions.
• AfroCharts (Milwaukee): AfroCharts is a free global music platform created to connect music lovers with the colorful sounds of African music by allowing them to stream, download and share high-quality African music for free through the AfroCharts website and mobile app.

“Molson Coors is proud to sponsor the Summerfest Tech Pitch Competition, giving local and national entrepreneurs an opportunity to share their ideas on a larger stage,” said Jonah Turner, senior manager of emerging technologies, Molson Coors, and one of the competition judges.

“This competition challenges entrepreneurs to solve some of today’s most critical problems with emerging tech, creating a business opportunity for them globally and right here in our hometown.”

To learn more about and register for Summerfest Tech, visit Summerfest-Tech.com.