Three local startups placed at the recent 2014 IdeaFunding event.

IdeaFunding’s business competitions provided 30 entrepreneurs the opportunity to showcase their new innovations. Pitch competition teams had three minutes to present their venture concepts to a panel of judges at an Oct. 23 event. The winning teams were:

1st Place: Grafted Growers (Awarded $2,000 and a 5-minute presentation at the Desert Angel investors’ dinner): Grafted Growers has designed a system for plants to grow at a higher density and a higher quality than traditional systems. Their high-density, small-footprint system operates at one-tenth the size of a traditional grower and offers up to 55 percent cost savings to growers in the production of grafted seedlings. The greenhouse tomato market is a $1.4 billion market.