View video from the event in the Video Archives.

Last Wednesday, as temperatures rose on the streets of Lexington, cool and collected were the 5 teams who competed at the Awesome Inc space for the top spot at 2012’s third meeting of 5 Across. Local entrepreneurs, investors, and service providers gathered, in the largest turnout of this year, to hear live music from the local band Radiolaire and listen to entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to our panel of judges.

• Adam Treister took home the five hundred dollar grand prize for his idea, Student Designed, which streamlines the process of connecting students to real-world assignments. StudentDesigned.com provides businesses and universities an opportunity to connect via an online marketplace where companies list available projects that vary according to student major, i.e. engineering, finance, marketing, business, research, etc., for universities to review and assign to their students.

• The crowd chose Bob Farinelli and his idea for an RF remote controlled farm pump irrigation system as the favorite by text message vote. Farinelli and his company Smart Farm LCC offer an alternative to the time and labor costly methods of on-site, manual intervention to turn on and off ground water pumps through real time monitoring and control algorithms. The affordable irrigation pump not only saves money and labor, but also conserves energy and ground water, reduces pump down time, and increases crop yield.

• Nick Jordan and Kyle Vaughn, participants in the startup accelerator program Awesome Inc Experience, presented an aid to college students in their search for adequate housing with Rate My Rental. Through an online platform, Rate My Rental, allows students to easily access information concerning area housing by viewing property listings around their college campus alongside reviews of previous tenants.

• Curtis Droege of Sheltowee Tool Company pitched his idea for a fixed blade multi-tool inspired by his own camping experiences. His fixed blade multi-tool fills the gap in the current market by being comfortable enough for everyday carry but possessing patentable features that enable survival capabilities in extreme environments.

• Carolyn Hall and Mark Strickland’s idea, Light Up For Me, solves the problem of the bottomless purse, briefcase, or backpack with their pitch for a removable light. By illuminating the bag from bottom up not top down. Light Up For Me light provides a faster, easier, and safer solution to find lost items when not much light is available.

The night’s excellent pitches and excellent turnout resulted in another great event for Lexington’s startup community.  Congratulations to all the teams who participated and a special thanks to all those who make 5 Across possible. Be sure not to miss 2012’s fourth meeting of 5 Across Wednesday August, 29th where 5 local entrepreneurs will again compete for the $500 grand prize.