DAWn Audio Takes Home the $100,000 Investment Prize at BREW’s High Stakes Pitch Competition

(Baton Rouge, La., May 8, 2023) — DAWn Audio, a platform providing musical artists the creative freedom to collaborate in real time, was announced as the winner of the High Stakes Pitch Competition on Friday, May 5. As the winner, DAWn Audio will receive a $100,000 investment commitment from members of Innovation Catalyst the Red Stick Angel Network. 

DAWn Audio solves the problems facing musicians trying to collaborate in real time. Currently, due to incompatibilities in the digital audio workstations (DAWs) they use, artists are forced to email audio files back and forth when collaborating. As a musician, CEO and co-founder Diego Pinzon knows how tedious and time-consuming that can be.

That’s why he designed DAWn Audio to bridge compatibility across DAW tools, building a "DAW-network" that provides artists the creative freedom to co-create live, from anywhere in the world, across their preferred workstations.

"The High-Stakes Pitch and the rest of the 12th annual Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week have been instrumental in helping us gain greater visibility of our product and our team," Pinzon said. "We are thrilled to have been selected as the winner of the High Stakes Pitch competition and look forward to continuing guidance and support from Nexus Louisiana."

DAWn Audio will put the $100,000 investment prize toward the company’s next stage of growth. Pinzon said, which includes scaling the platform to host 17,000 paying artists by the end of 2024. To do this, Pinzon said the team plans to hire a head of strategic partnership to market the company to musicians, and build out a pilot program of student ambassadors who serve as interns.

The High Stakes Pitch competition is organized by Nexus Louisiana as the culmination of the organization’s flagship annual event, Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week (BREW). DAWn Audio competed against three other impressive finalists: JurisDeed, Thrivvy and Ceres.

JurisDeed, an online property intelligence platform, connects historical real estate records with current legal interest-holders, enabling government and real estate professionals to unlock the potential trapped in distressed real estate. Thrivvy is a disruptive price-comparison app empowering consumers to find the best deals on everyday essentials while feeding important market and consumer habits data to retailers using the app. Ceres, a Louisiana-founded sustainable snack company, pioneered the first cereal offering 20 grams of plant-based protein per serving.

"We had a great lineup of startups, and DAWn Audio was the standout," said Bill Ellison, CEO at Innovation Catalyst and the Red Stick Angel Network. "We are excited to provide the capital that DAWn Audio needs to continue its progress and can’t wait to see how their platform advances the music industry."

For the latest in Louisiana startup news and opportunities, please visit https://nexusla.org.

Nexus Louisiana’s mission is to accelerate the growth of high-potential companies by providing them with coaching, capital and connections. Our programs leverage regional collaboration to foster mentorship, investment and opportunity for local entrepreneurs to grow their ideas and transform the technology industry in Louisiana. For more information, please visit https://nexusla.org.

Innovation Catalyst is a nonprofit venture development organization, formed by community leaders to strengthen and broaden Louisiana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and drive new high-tech company formation through coaching, connections, and capital.

The Red Stick Angel Network is a wholly owned subsidiary of Innovation Catalyst, whose members are accredited investors or "Angels" located in the greater Baton Rouge area. Its mission is to organize the Baton Rouge Angels as a network to identify, evaluate, and then aggregate investment capital of its members to invest in early-stage companies in Baton Rouge and throughout Louisiana. In addition to capital, its members provide coaching and connections to support and grow its portfolio companies, thereby fostering economic development and job creation in Baton Rouge and throughout the state.