Cal Poly competition dishes out more than $216,000 to local startups. Here’s who won

Three local startups won more than $216,000 in the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Small Business Development Center’s seventh annual AngelCon pitch competition on Thursday.

Nexstera Tech, Mense and Little Feet Packaging Inc. were among six companies that competed for the $216,650 prize pool in front of an audience of 21 investors and 250 online attendees, according to a news release put out by the university.

“This year’s finalists were all very compelling,” center director Judy Mahan said in the release. “Not only are these entrepreneurs applying their engineering skills to develop brilliant high-tech solutions to real life problems, but they are also extremely mission-driven; it’s exciting to see that being fostered by our Central California business community.”

Nexstera Tech came in first, winning $165,000. Headed by CEO and Cal Poly alumna Penny Lane Case, Nexstera produces a radar detection system called the Pyrotrack, which is mounted on trash trucks to detect lithium-ion batteries left in trash, according to the company’s website.

The Pyrotrack is intended to prevent fires caused by the highly flammable batteries, which, according to Nexstera, result in $1.2 billion in annual damages in the United States and Canada.

In second place, Mense — a biomedical-tech company that produces menstrual products — won $50,000.

Mense produces period cups as an alternative to traditional menstrual products such as tampons or pads, according to CEO and Cal Poly biomedical engineering graduate student McCall Brinskele.

Finally, Little Feet Packaging won the Audience Choice Award, which came with a $1,560 prize.

Little Feet Packaging produces recycled bubble-wrap made from recycled paper, according to CEO and Founder Nicholas De Luca.