Last night’s 5 Across was the highest attended 5 Across event we’ve ever had, with 135 people in attendance! Thanks to Kentucky Governor’s School for Entrepreneurs, Awesome Inc was a loud and exciting venue for our competitors.

Philip Gordon pitching Nomad Apparel at 5 Across.

Nomad Apparel was the first pitch and Philip Gordon started with the story behind his company. While on a trip to Spain, Gordon was a victim of wireless identity theft, which ruined the rest of his experience. Nomad Apparel isn’t just a fashion company, Gordon said, it’s also a security company. They combine fashion and function that money belts and wireless theft-proof wallets can’t provide. Nomad Apparel’s jeans and khakis come with a zipper pocket that combats pickpocketing, lined with a fabric that combats wireless identity theft. The pockets will fit a cell phone, a wallet and a passport and come in sizes for men and women. The clothing will cost from $50-100 and will be useful for students, business people, teachers and missionaries traveling the world.

Nomad Apparel won the $50 text vote prize, sponsored by SCORE.

Kristopher Irizarry- Hoeksema explaining his company Junto3 at 5 Across.

Junto3 is a social media company, working to create tailored applications called community networking apps. They are the parent company of Earyummy and Mixologism, among many others. Their apps work to bring people together through a combination of information, social and real life. Creator Kristopher Irizarry-Hoeksema said that his applications exist to give people a better experience with social media by creating online communities of people with similar interests and helping those people create real life communities as well. One example is their take on political apps, they have created one for conservatives and one for liberals, allowing users to search by congressional district, location and passions.

Casey Williams pitching Linkedü last night.

Casey Williams pitched Linkedü, an online resource and community for teachers. Williams asked the audience to imagine a parking lot after school hours, full of cars because teachers are still working. Linkedü exists to help empty those parking lots, and help teachers keep up with changing information, especially in STEAM fields, through their online community. Their website features paid content from companies, like videos from NASA and LEGO, as well as content that teachers upload, showing people what works and what doesn’t. Linkedü believes that the community they create will make their site a valuable resource, with a passionate and engaged user base.

The Jett siblings talking about their company Bottled Up Messages.

The Jett siblings opened their pitch for Bottled Up Messages with a story about how they created the company. The crowd was enthusiastic as they explained that their father said they were too old to get allowance money, so they created this company instead. Bottled Up Messages creates gifts filled with sweet and salty treats, but it’s all about the personalized message attached to the cork. Bottled Up Messages sells to businesses, individuals and works with flower and gift shops. The crowd applauded again when they said that they have currently filled 955 orders and made $6,000 in gross revenue. During the Q&A session after their pitch, Bottled Up Messages explained that they joined the competition to raise awareness and to let people know that just because they’re young, that doesn’t mean they can’t run a business.

mRendering after facing the Hype Squad during 5 Across.

mRendering was created with the idea that all content should be easily consumed on mobile devices. mRendering works to deliver content to the right people, at the right time, through their app that makes file sharing simple. Their Android and Apple applications allow companies to upload content, store it to the cloud, edit it and share it with the people who need it. mRendering make it simple to access information through the app, instead of searching through paper manuals and PDF files. So far mRendering has raised $500,000 in software funding.

After deliberation, the judges awarded mRendering with the giant check for $500.

mRendering will join Follow That Food Truck and FinanceU in December for the 2015 5 Across Finals.