Construction technology-maker Veristart has won $10,000 from this year’s Pitch & Pick Invitational startup competition, held by Newfoundland and Labrador’s Genesis startup hub for graduates of its Evolution accelerator.

Founded by entrepreneurs Craig Hannam, Lou Lawrence and Ajay Pande, Veristart makes technology for creating digital keys to construction equipment, solving the security problem that results because each vehicle of a given model usually has an identical physical key. Operators use their phone to “log in” to equipment, allowing their employers to implement access controls.

Hannam was previously a CFO for hire at professional services firm BDO, while Lawrence is an equipment rentals industry veteran and Pande spent three years as global head of business development for Nokia.

“We are thrilled to have been recognized among such a diverse and talented pool of companies,” said the company in a statement. “This victory is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, as well as the support and mentorship we have received along the way.”

Veristart was also recently included in trade publication BuiltWorlds’ list of its Top 50 tools and equipment for 2023, and before that, was part of the Spring 2023 cohort of San Francisco construction tech accelerator Formwork Labs, also backed by BuiltWorlds.

Meanwhile, Heather Zurel’s Data Farms placed second for its technology to help farmers monitor crop health in real time, as well as winning the True Blue award from professional training specialists Bluedrop ISM.

Zurel herself is a St. Francis Xavier-trained chemist and data scientist whose resume includes five years at life sciences startup Sequence Bio. Her system uses internet-of-things technology to connect sensors placed in farmers’ fields, with the aim of helping farmers use fuel and fertilizer more efficiently and ultimately increase their crop yields.

Several other participants also took home hardware. Collins Chukwuma won the community choice award for ScanSolve, which will be an online educational platform that plans to use artificial intelligence to tailor content to individual learners. Memorial University student Selim Fahmy, who was not originally slated to be among those pitching, also won Top Student Venture for his Storelx platform, which he describes as “Uber for storage.”