2026 Conference
$200,000+ was awarded during the 2026 Conference
During the annual Flywheel Investment Conference, sponsored by Microsoft and AEM Movement, over $200,000 was awarded to Optimly, a Seattle-based startup building an AI brand trust infrastructure for B2B companies. Optimly also received the $50,000 Relocation Offer and $5,000 Fan Favorite cash prize.
Additionally, the inaugural Flywheel Student Pitch Competition ended with Central Washington University student, Cariann Bryant, taking home the $4,500 Judges' Choice cash prize, for her business Virtual Track Club. Cascade High School student, Elliot Tiegel, won the $500 Audience Choice cash prize for his business, OhmLife Insoles.
2026 WINNER
EARLY-STAGE INVESTMENT COMPETITION
Optimly
Seattle, WA
CEO & Founder: Apurva Luty
Awarded:
$150,000 investment,
$50,000 relocation offer, and
$5,000 Fan Favorite cash prize
Optimly verifies and serves structured brand data to AI, so ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity get your brand right and are more likely to recommend you to your customers.
Buyers are shifting from Google to ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity to find and evaluate your business — and AI is probably misrepresenting you. Optimly is the trust layer that fixes this. Our solution structures and distributes your brand data to agents: the AI Brand Trust Registry makes you discoverable to AI agents (58K+ profiles), BrandVault publishes your attested brand facts, and Scout delivers that verified brand data to agents at point-of-recommendation to your customers. Our early customers like Hal9 have seen a 16x improvement in AI-referred traffic which converted at 4x the rate of organic search-referred traffic.
2026 JUDGES' CHOICE WINNER
STUDENT PITCH COMPETITION
Virtual Track Club
Ellensburg, WA
Central Washington University
Founder: Cariann Bryant
Awarded:
$2,500 Judges' Choice Award
Virtual Track Club gives track athletes clear training, technique guidance, and recruiting support year round, helping them improve consistently without expensive club teams or guesswork.
Virtual Track Club (VTC) is a digital training platform and community built for track and field athletes who want to improve year round but lack consistent coaching or structure. VTC provides clear training plans, technique guidance, strength work, and recruiting education, all accessible from a phone. It is designed for high school athletes, parents, and aspiring college athletes who want real direction without the cost of club teams. Through expert coaching and a supportive community, VTC helps athletes train smarter, build confidence, and take control of their development.
2026 AUDIENCE CHOICE WINNER
STUDENT PITCH COMPETITION
OhmLife Insoles
Leavenworth, WA
Cascade High School
Founder: Elliot Tiegel
Awarded:
$500 Audience Choice Award
OhmLife Insoles harvest the mechanical energy of every footstep and store it onboard, efficiently charging your GPS, PLB, or radio without adding weight to your pack.
OhmLife Insoles are an energy-harvesting insole for hikers, hunters, search-and-rescue personnel, and military users who depend on powered devices in the field. The insoles convert the force of every footstep into electricity, store it in an integrated onboard battery, and deliver power to GPS units, personal locator beacons, cell phones, and other USB devices, all without adding weight to your pack. With a working prototype, a provisional patent filed, and a summer 2026 field testing program in preparation, OhmLife is built to solve a problem that has no good perfect today; staying charged in the outdoors.
2026 Top Six Finalists
Lucas Buckland
CEO & Co-Founder
BOVI's HERO (Human Enabled Remote Operation) systems combine bolt-on remote operation and AI safety systems to create a powerful AI Flywheel for wildfire vegetation management, fireline construction, and search & rescue.
Mert Efe
CEO & Founder
Reclaim Metals commercializes AI-powered optical sorting to transform domestic aluminum scrap into high-value manufacturing feedstock, capturing a $2.3B arbitrage opportunity while strengthening American supply chain resilience.
Apurva Luty
CEO & Founder
Optimly verifies and serves structured brand data to AI, so ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity get your brand right and are more likely to recommend you to your customers.
...
Jane Zhang, MBA, PhD
CEO & Founder
Remmie Health transforms ENT care by enabling convenient, accurate remote diagnosis and monitoring through its digital otoscope and telehealth platform, improving access, outcomes, and cost efficiency for families everywhere.
Chandi Bandaranayaka
CEO
Precision Quantomics delivers insights to tackle the ~90% drug development failure rate using an integrated in silico and advanced lab tools platform.
...
...
Michelle Schubert
CEO & Co-Founder
Subi is a transaction genie for real estate professionals— using modern Ai tooling to proactively handle documents, tasks, and communications, saving agents hundreds of hours and brokerages thousands of dollars.
2026 Sponsors
2026 Economic Development Partners
The 2026 Flywheel Investment Conference is supported with Chelan County Lodging Tourism funds.