ANN ARBOR – SAHI Cosmetics LLC is the winner of the Rise of the Rest Road Tour pitch competition and received a check from AOL co-Founder Steve Case. Sahi Cosmetics provides custom makeup for women of ethnic skin tones, specifically medium skin tones.

The startups that competed were hand selected from hundreds of entries to compete in the competition this afternoon.

The Ann Arbor startups who competed to win a $100,000 investment from Case on the spot at the Michigan Theatre tonight included: 

    1. SkySpecs | Pitching: Danny Ellis, CEO | About: SkySpecs automates predictive maintenance of energy infrastructure with drones.
    2. Pitstop | Pitching: Shiva Bhardwaj, CEO | About: Pitstop predicts vehicle failures before they happen.
    3. Genomenon, Inc | Pitching: Mike Klein, CEO | About: Genomenon is an interpretation software for diagnosing and treating cancer.
    4. Inmatech, Inc | Pitching: Les Alexander, CEO | About: Inmatech commercializes novel high-performance supercapacitors for energy storage systems.
    5. Warmilu | Pitching: Grace Hsia, CEO | About: Warmilu provides non-electric warmth to those who need it most.
    6. SurClean, Inc | Pitching: Susan Sprentall, Founder, President & CEO | About: SurClean laser surface prep removes paint, replacing old traditional methods.
    7. Civionics, Inc | Pitching: Gerry Roston, CEO | About: Civionics improves manufacturers’ profitability by reducing downtime.

The judges that selected the winner included: Steve Case (Co-founder of AOL and Chairman of Revolution, LLC), author of the Hillbilly Elegy J.D. Vance, David Hall from Revolution LLC, Ashley Larson from Revolution Growth, Scott DeRue from the Ross School of Business and Robert J. Manilla from The Kresge Foundation.  

The Rise of the Rest bus tour is part of a broader effort to shine a national spotlight on one of the most important trends shapingAmerica’s economic future – a shift in the geography of high–growth entrepreneurship, and the emergence of strong entrepreneurial ecosystems throughout the U.S., not just in Silicon Valley.  The Rise of the Rest tours are a nationwide effort led by Case, who is an iconic investor and an entrepreneur, to showcase – and invest in – entrepreneurs in emerging startup ecosystems across the U.S.

Through the initiative, nearly $3 million has been invested in startup businesses across a diverse set of 26 cities including Detroit, Charleston, Pittsburgh, Madison, Philadelphia, New Orleans and more.   The effort has been praised by leading Democrats and Republicans, as well as businesses leaders across the country.