From February to October 2017, 20 of Lexington’s best startups competed, and some succeeded, in becoming 5 Across champions. As the year has come to a close, each winning team of 2017 came back for the ultimate showdown— the 5 Across Finals. This time around, the noisemakers were louder, the anticipation came to a boil and, with the chance to win $4000, the stakes were higher than ever.

Since 2010, Awesome Inc has been home to one of Lexington’s most innovative events. Coined as “the Shark Tank of Lexington,” 5 Across allows startups to pitch their ideas, while networking with like-minded members of the entrepreneurial community. The finals are a definitive statement of the most successful startups in Lexington. The four returning champs were: Smart Student Storage, Sum180, WelcomeHome, Enepret, and Billbusters.

First up was Smart Student Storage, a moving business aimed towards college students. Instead of students juggling final exams and prepping for their end-of-the-semester move, Smart Student Storage will pick up the student’s belongings and place them in a storage unit until the beginning of the next semester.

Second was October’s winner Sum180. The company allows users to set up a financial plan that suits their next big financial decision. Co-founder and CEO Carla Dearing describes the company with five characteristics:

“1) Meet people where they are in their financial journey; 2) Respect them and understand that they are capable of moving forward if they are provided with simple step-by- step advice; 3) Be unbiased; 4) Not try to give them a finance degree but rather point them toward how-to’s that will help them solve an immediate concern; and 5) Have no ‘guy in the grey suit’ talking down to them.”

Next up was February 5 Across Winner, WelcomeHome. Founded by Kai Zhang, WelcomeHome connects internationals with desirable housing before arriving in the U.S. and helps qualified landlords and rental agencies identify long term reliable international tenants.

“Although our primary customers are internationals, we can also connect domestic customers with desirable housing if they need to move to other places,” said Zhang.

August 5 Across winner Chase Kempinski took the stage next and updated the crowd on his company, Enepret. The business provides a substitute for common oils found in medicine, cosmetics and other personal care products, such as shark liver oil and olive oil.

The last returning champion was BillBusters, who won the June event. Co-founder Tyler Menke helped create this company after they realized that him and his colleagues were being overcharged on many of their cable and internet bills. With this, they created BillBusters to give users an easy way to compare cable company prices. Additionally, the team offers to be the middleman in negotiating their customers cable and internet bills.

As the pitches wrapped up, the question remained: Who would be the grand champion of 5 Across 2017? Each company had already proved their worth in the world of startups, but it was up to the judges to decide the ultimate winner. After a brief break for the judges to deliberate, the results were in.

Before the winners were announced, the fresh new logo for 5 Across was revealed and, based on the audiences reaction, very well received.

First up, the winner of the awesomevote app was the one and only Chase Kempinski of Enepret, who was awarded $50.

Second place and a prize of $1000 went to Carla Hearing of Sum180.

And last but not least, the grand prize winner of the 5 Across finals went to Kai Zhang of WelcomeHome. The judges had positive feedback for Zhang and by the look on his face, it was clear that he was thrilled.

“I received sufficient and valuable coaching from Awesome Inc before the pitch and learned a lot from other teams through the networking events as well,” said Zhang. “The $4000 prize money we won will definitely contribute to expanding our business.”

Join us next February for the kickoff of 2018 5 Across!