Betamore has named the winner of its fourth annual Beta City competition, an event that celebrates leaders, makers and innovators in Baltimore. Femly, a feminine care products subscription service, took home the grand prize of $25,000, beating out five other finalists from the nearly 100 applicants.

Femly is an Upper Marlboro organic feminine care subscription provider that manufactures and delivers their products directly to customers. The company offers 100% cotton alternatives to traditional feminine care products that often use synthetics that are known to harbor bacteria, yeast, and mold. They provide three subscription plans ranging from $12.99 a month to $29.99 a month and intend to use the prize money for their manufacturing operation.

“Femly should be incredibly proud of themselves after winning in a field of talented competitors last night,” said Maryland Secretary of Commerce Mike Gill. “The Beta City competition is proof positive that Maryland is a hub for innovation and entrepreneurial opportunity. We not only have the talent – we have the resources to foster that talent to grow into businesses.”

Beta City is a full day of pitches, startup demos, and celebration of Baltimore’s innovative community. Hosted by Betamore, an incubator and coworking space that creates a technology campus for innovation, Beta City furthers the company’s mission to establish Baltimore as a destination for startups and entrepreneurs.

Femly’s robust competitors included companies from across the Greater Baltimore region including:

• Galen Robotics – a Johns Hopkins-born device company that is expanding medical capabilities through microsurgery machines.
• Zest Tea – a high-energy tea made in Baltimore that boasts three-times the caffeine of normal tea without the unpleasant caffeinated side effects.
• Avidea Technologies – a Baltimore City biotech business working to use immunotherapies against cancers and infectious diseases.
• Sisu Global Health – a medical technology company in Baltimore City that created a product to handle emergency transfusions by recycling patients’ blood.
• Hunt A Killer – a Camp Ramblewood-based subscription service that delivers murder mystery boxes for customers to solve through a storytelling format.

Over the past four years, Beta City has named numerous successful winners including Hungry Harvest, who took home the grand prize last year for their “rescued” produce subscription service that sells the fruits and vegetables considered unworthy of grocery store status at a lower cost. 2016 and 2015 had two grand prize winners each year including:

• Topbox – a customer experience analytics service (2016).
• Tissue Analytics – a wound care software provider to assist doctors in analyzing and tracking wound recovery (2016).
• Citelighter – a digital writing solution that was acquired by Sylvan Learning to become Sylvan Paper (2015).
• Yet Analytics – a data analysis firm that provides tools and solutions to improve learning and talent development (2015).

To learn more about coworking and community resources at Betamore visit betamore.com and check out these business resources to see how Maryland is supporting local up-and-coming businesses.