Co-hosts San Diego Venture Group and Tech Coast Angels award funds to
startups Ocella, Aqua Design Innovations, and Trust & Will

San Diego, CA – October 5, 2017 – The San Diego Venture Group (SDVG) and Tech Coast Angels (TCA) announced the winners of the John G. Watson 10th Annual Quick Pitch Competition tonight. Ocella, a flexible battery application startup, took home $30,000, receiving the most votes from the audience of over five hundred. Micro greenhouse-maker Aqua Design Innovations received $15,000, and online will creator, Trust & Will, won $5,000.

Ten finalist startups gave two minute pitches to a panel of eight judges who offered feedback and comments in front of a live audience. The cash prizes were funded by several sponsors and TCA. “It was a great evening – another successful step forward for the San Diego startup community.  It was fantastic to see so many young entrepreneurs in attendance.  And so many appreciative leaders there – enthusiastically endorsing the notion of two groups like TCA and SDVG working together – for the betterment of the community.” said Mike Krenn, President of SDVG.

This year marks the first time TCA and SDVG co-hosted a pitch competition. Sergio Gurrieri, President & ACE Fund Manager, Tech Coast Angels – San Diego, said, “This year’s collaboration between TCA and SDVG proved that there is strength in numbers and our community is coming together for our mutual benefit.”

This year’s judges included Rory Moore, founder of Evonexus; Quinn Li, Managing Director of Qualcomm Ventures; Kim Kamdar, Partner at Domain Associates, David Coats, Managing Director at Correlation Ventures, Allison Long, Founding Partner at Seed SD; Peter Brack, Partner at Mucker Capital; Dean Rosenberg, Board Member at TCA-SD and Eugene Cho, Quick Pitch Winner in 2016 and founder/CEO of Echo Labs.

Gurrieri added, “We salute all the Top 10 finalist companies, which, by all accounts, keep getting better every year and inspired us to increase the prize money and add the $100K TCA ACE Fund investment. We also thank all our sponsors, judges and coaches for their invaluable contributions to making Quick Pitch 2017 a San Diego startup event for the history books.”