The winners of the 18th annual John Pappajohn Iowa Entrepreneurial Venture Competition were announced at an awards luncheon on Friday.

From a pool of more than 50 submissions, 13 teams advanced to the final presentation round. Following the presentations, a panel of judges consisting of representatives from the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Centers, the Small Business Development Center, VentureNet Iowa and the Entrepreneurial Development Center deliberated over the top three award recipients. The top three winners are:

• First place: Dhakai – $40,000. Founder Russell Karim. Dhakai enables e-commerce and promotional apparel brands to move from idea to final delivered products ethically, sustainably and cost-effectively through a single technology platform. Dhakai streamlines the apparel sourcing process by automating design, sampling, quotations, production matchmaking, communication, auditing, approvals, payment processing, production tracking and logistics.
• Second place: Classroom Clinic – $25,000. Founder Sue Gehling, CEO Allen Bierbaum. Classroom Clinic provides school districts with timely and convenient access to children’s mental health services using telehealth and related technologies. Classroom Clinic utilizes a proprietary technology platform that not only allows mental health providers to efficiently deliver care right where the students are located, but also allows mental health providers to connect, communicate and collaborate with educators on behalf of students in need.
• Third place: Enciente Health – $15,000. President and founder Andrew Guillemette. Enceinte Health has developed a total hardware/software solution to automate the body weight, bowel and bladder charting process of resident data in nursing homes after every toileting event. Direct care staff have real-time data access to monitor and address health changes early and prevent unnecessary hospitalizations. The universal retrofit kit easily attaches to commodes that nursing homes already own, charts three essential health indicators, and collects data both in the bathroom and bedside.

Five companies also received honorable mentions and $4,000 each. The competition typically advances eight companies to the finals, but accepted 13 this year because of the quality of companies applying, Judi Eyles, director of the Iowa State University Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship, said in a news release.

The honorable mention award recipients are: AugmENT (Michelle Higgins), Easy2Show (Jill Ihrke), PVpallet (Philip Schwarz), Repaint Studios (Billie Kay Asmus) and Stock Cropper Inc. (Zack Smith).

The John Pappajohn Iowa Entrepreneurial Venture Competition, along with support from the Iowa Economic Development Authority, has invested $1.2 million into participating businesses since 2006.

The next John Pappajohn Iowa Entrepreneurial Venture Competition will be announced in February 2024. For additional information about the competition, visit pappajohncompetition.com.