Innovation Factory’s Lions Lair event showcases the region’s innovative start-up community and gives up-and-coming entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their business to a panel of Hamilton’s top business experts and potential investors.

This is the 11th year of Lions Lair, which received over 500 registrations and handed out a total of $45,000 in cash prizes to winners.

The runner-up this year was Requity Homes, a tech-enabled real estate platform that helps transition renters into homeowners through a modernized rent-to-own program.

The People’s Choice Award, a $2,500 cash prize, went to Dirt Market, which provides a digital platform to users looking to move and receive soil based on their location.

“Every year, we’re impressed by the talent and creativity of the entrepreneurs who compete in the Lions Lair. This year’s virtual pitch competition was no different,” said Dave Carter, Executive Director of Innovation Factory.  “These are the people who drive innovation and sustain prosperity in our region, Lion’s Lair creates a whole environment that is so conducive to these companies succeeding, putting them through pitch training, the media coverage we get, is all integral to these businesses growing.”

For the second year in a row, the Lions Lair organizers at Innovation Factory planned and executed a pitch competition in an online bracket-style tournament, featuring head-to-head pitch match-ups.