Startups seek funding at Adelphi’s ‘Pitch Island’

Seven Long Island-based startups made their case to a panel of investor judges at Adelphi University’s first “Pitch Island” event, with businesses ranging from wedding budget planners to clean energy technologies taking the stage.

The event, billed as a “shark tank” for local early-stage companies, gave entrepreneurs seeking up to $500,000 the opportunity to introduce their companies to a crowd inside Adelphi’s Performing Arts Center in Garden City Saturday afternoon.

“You can make good money and you can start companies on Long Island,” said Peter Goldsmith, president and founder of LISTnet, a not-for-profit promoter of Long Island’s technology industry. “You don’t have to go to New York City.”

The afternoon event was a product of a public-private initiative involving Nassau County and local tech leaders. Startups had seven minutes to pitch their businesses and three minutes to answer questions from investors.

The companies seeking investment included: BattleShop, a competitive online shopping game; ChromaFish, a test kit and smartphone app that allows fish owners to better manage tanks; urSwim, a private swimming lesson service; MarryMapp, an online tool to manage wedding budgets; Brimes Energy, an engineering firm working on a device for harvesting energy from ocean waves; SwiMART, a wearable device for monitoring swimming performance; and eGifter, a software company specializing in online gift exchanges.

The event didn’t disclose whether participating startups received funding.