Prize-Winning Pitches for Hemp Building Companies

*Mattie Mead of Hempitecture, Inc. poses after winning $500,000 for the company at the Grow NY pitch. Photo courtesy Linkedin*

Global Fiber Processing

Americhanvre

Hemp Build Network

Texas Healthy Homes

South Bend Industrial Hemp

Endeavour Centre

Saoirse Learning Center

Hemp Building Company

By Jean Lotus

A million here, a half-a-million there — hemp building companies are coming to the attention of investors and pitch competitions as the industry becomes more visible. Here’s a roundup of some of the most recent hemp building companies that are winning entrepreneurial and tech competitions.

HEMPALTA raises $1M

Just this month, Calgary, Alberta-based HEMPALTA processing company completed a $1 million equity crowdfunding campaign on FrontFundr with 45 investors, including existing shareholders. HEMPALTA, a company that started in early 2022, now offers building quality hemp hurd for the US and Canadian construction market. CEO Darren Bondar called sustainable hemp building a process that’s “disrupting environmentally destructive products…This product for the U.S. residential construction sector can supplement our business in the U.S. market,” Bondar said in a statement.

*Calgary, Alberta-based HEMPALTA staff pose for a promotional photo during a crowdfunding campaign that raised $1M. Photo courtesy of Facebook.*

Graymont Ltd.

Piece by Paz Engineer

Homeland Hempcrete

HempStone

Hempitecture wins $500K

Meanwhile in New York, Mattie Mead, founder and CEO of Idaho-based Hempitecture, Inc., on Nov. 16 won $500,000 in the Grow NY pitch competition co sponsored by Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. This year, 385 start-ups applied from 52 countries, and only 20 finalists were selected, Hempitecture among them. The competition was awarded companies in food and agriculture that were “early-stage, and have a scalable business model.”

Sativa Building Systems wins tech elevator pitch contest

Zach Popp of Wittenburg, WI-based Sativa Building Systems had only 90 seconds to summarize his prefabricated hemp building panel system, but it was succinct enough for judges to proclaim him the winner. Popp didn’t win big bucks at the Wisconsin Technology Council’s Elevator Pitch Olympics, but he did get a chance to show off his company to a panel of venture-capital investors.

Hempcrete stood out among competitors pitching high-tech computer apps and AI technology. In fact “it’s so low tech, it’s been around for hundreds of years,” Popp said in an interview with HempBuild Mag. “A lot of investors want something that is cutting edge technology. Hemp has been underutilized, but has real potential if we can get some market adoption,” he added.