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Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 68F. Winds light and variable..

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.

Two tech startups will be relocating to Paducah this month thanks to Sprocket’s second annual “1ST50K” pitch competition.

This competition, held in partnership with Cape Girardeau-based company Codefi, provides awards, which the McCracken County Fiscal Court and the city of Paducah financially support, to businesses judged to be good fits for economic growth in the region.

This year’s award-winning companies include Ewagers, an esports skill-based betting platform valid in 40 out of 50 states, and Feedcoyote, a business network platform for short-term gigs aimed at freelancers and entrepreneurs.

These businesses were selected from a pool of applicants coming from 25 states and 15 countries. In July, seven companies pitched their businesses to a panel of judges made up of local entrepreneurs, executives and technology specialists, with two companies being selected for awards.

Ewagers and Feedcoyote will each receive $50,000 in non-dilutive funding, and leaders of each company will operate their companies in Paducah for at least one year.

Monica Bilak, Sprocket executive director, said in a press release the 1ST50K competition serves as way to attract highly-innovative startups and founders to grow the next generation of companies as more and more businesses shift to a digital economy.

Noah Fulk, founder and CEO of Ewagers, started the esports wagering platform in 2019. Fulk, from Carbondale, Illinois, said he had the idea for Ewagers after he and his cousin had a friendly $2 bet on the outcome of an esports stream the two watching on the streaming platform Twitch.

“It got me thinking, ‘why can’t I do this online with my friends who are in different states, or why can’t I play against other people?’ ” Fulk said.

Fulk said in terms of viewership in the United States, esports is second only to the NFL in terms of the number of viewers, outnumbering viewership numbers for the MLB, NBA and NHL. In fact, a Syracuse University study found that esports attracted around 84 million viewers in 2021. Yet, Fulk said esports, and esports wagering platforms, are still full of untapped potential.

Ewagers provides a platform for several different wagering options. Users can play head-to-head and place a wager on the competition. Other users can also watch an active matchup and place wagers between others watching the stream on the outcome or other statistics from the matchup. Streamers can also open bets on their streams and share what they think they will accomplish in their next game, and others can bet against the streamer. If the streamer achieves the agreed-upon objective, they win; if not, the viewers win.

Fulk said this website also provides a secure, regulated method for users to place money in a wager prize pool and award the money to the winner of the wager.

Because Ewagers is a skill-based platform as opposed to promoting games that rely on chance or probability, Fulk said the platform is legal to use in Kentucky. The platform, ewagers.co, is available to users ages 18 years and up.

Fulk said Ewagers also has a subsidiary nonprofit, Esports Charity, which sets up sponsored esports tournaments to benefit the local region or another local nonprofit of the tournament winner’s choice.

Including Fulk and chief technology officer Kevin Sun, Ewagers employs seven people.

Fulk said he plans to use the $50,000 award from the 1ST50K competition to help with user acquisition and marketing.

Stevens Bonhomme, founder and CEO of Feedcoyote, started the business collaboration, management and networking platform last fall after working at Microsoft for several years and earning a doctorate in business administration. Originally from Haiti, Bonhomme started Feedcoyote in Seattle before relocating to Paducah earlier this week.

Bonhomme said Feedcoyote is a platform for freelancers, entrepreneurs, small business owners and independent contractors to connect and collaborate on short-term projects to get work done more efficiently.

“I basically started this company, as an entrepreneur myself, because I wanted to help independent workers connect, collaborate and work more efficiently together in this new wave the future work, or working more efficiently as everything is being transformed to digital or online work,” Bonhomme said.

One of the ways freelancers can use Feedcoyote, Bonhomme said, is to subcontract some work to other independent contractors to ensure a project can be completed on time. By collaborating on projects, Bonhomme said this could allow for freelancers to pick up more work and collaborate with other freelancers on different projects and ultimately, make more money.

Feedcoyote.com also provides an integrated customer relationship management platform with tools for members to manage all aspects of their gigs, build client networks and communicate with other members, as well as tools for freelancers to manage appointments, meetings, projects and payments. Bonhomme said he also sees the platform as a space for skill-sharing, where members can share or request expertise in different areas from other members.

While in Paducah, Bonhomme said he hopes grow the company as much as possible with a focus on user acquisition and plans to work with Feedcoyote’s team of six remote employees to design a Feedcoyote mobile app.

Feedcoyote is offering promotions for new users, including a one-month free trial. Bonhomme said he is looking for feedback on the website from users as Feedcoyote continues to develop and launch new features.

Additionally, Bonhomme said Feedcoyote is looking for local investors to continue its goals of raising capital and acquiring local users, and said Feedcoyote is open for investments of $25,000 or more.

Follow Hannah Saad on Twitter, @ByHannahSaad or on Facebook at facebook.com/hannahsaadpaducahsun.

Follow Hannah Saad on Twitter, @ByHannahSaad or on Facebook at facebook.com/hannahsaadpaducahsun.

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