Honest Dollar Wins ATI SXSW Pitch Competition

By SUSAN LAHEY
Reporter with Silicon Hills News

Honest Dollar, the company that’s been sweeping the 2015 SXSW pitch scene like Adele at the Grammy’s in 2013, won the Austin Technology Incubator pitch competition Monday morning. There was no cash prize but, as CEO Whurley explained, Honest Dollar just closed out a $3 million round, so that’s okay.

Bart Bohn, partner in IT and wireless at ATI said he chose the four companies pitching based on their likelihood of succeeding in the market.

“I pulled companies from across Austin,” Bohn said. “This is really a showcase of Austin companies…. I chose them because they have large market opportunities and the right team to get the breakaway momentum.”

Honest Dollar competed against three other Austin companies.

Capstone Metering has a technology that helps with water conservation and resource management. The EPA estimates that 16 percent of water in systems is lost or wasted. At the same time producing water consumes 13 percent of electricity produced every day in cities. CEO Scott Williamson said Capstone was created to monitor and stem the loss of water in municipal and other water systems.

Atlas Wearables CEO Peter Li showed the latest version of the company’s wristband which measures calorie burn on 50 exercises and is 50 meters waterproof. The new model measures not only heart rate but recovery time for a new stamina metric.

Riskpulse alerts supply chain companies about storms, forest fires, road conditions and other issues that might result in accidents or loss to materials in transit.

Riskpulse and Capstone are ATI companies.