1ST50K winners poised to create jobs

Thanks to seed money from a local foundation, Cape Girardeau and the surrounding region will soon be home to several new businesses.

Sequel, Sizze and Transition will each use $50,000 from Codefi to chase their entrepreneurial dreams. The three startups are among this year's 1ST50K grant winners.

Cape Girardeau's Codefi annually awards the grants to several winners who emerge from a fierce competition.

"After seven years of having this competition, I'm astounded that the quality of teams continues to get better every year," Chris Carnell, co-founder of Codefi, said in a news release. "It really speaks to the success that past awardees have had and what is possible for tech startups here."

No doubt.

Sequel is a software platform for cryptocurrency and digital assets founded by Alan Long and JT Seger in Cape Girardeau.

Sizze is a Kazahkstan-based startup focused on "a no-code solution for building and publishing mobile applications." It was founded by Nick Ivanov, Sergey Kurakov, Dasha Timbush and Kate Tuyhai.

Transition is a recruiting platform founded by Kayla Wright-Jackson and Corey Shaw created to address the health care worker shortage by bringing training schools and employers together.

Two other grant winners will be relocating to Paducah, Kentucky.

Since the competition began in 2019, Codefi has awarded more than $700,000 in grant funds. The City of Cape Girardeau and Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce are among the partners funding the program. The idea, of course, is to attract, grow and retain good-paying jobs in the area. Obviously, the program is hitting that target.

James Stapleton, co-founder of Codefi, said the grant funds will help the businesses get off the ground: "A tremendous amount of work has been done to attract this high quality of teams to our region. They are all in the startup phase of raising capital or needing technical help where we can provide much-needed assistance."

1ST50K is a unique program and opportunity. The vision of those involved is one premised on opportunity, cooperation and collaboration.

We congratulate all the 1ST50K winners and look forward to their success.