PYA names six finalists for the 5th annual Ballard Innovation Award
The six finalists represent various sectors that are ripe for innovation and entrepreneurship.
The 5th annual PYA Tom Ballard Innovation Award will be held on Wednesday, April 16. This year, for the first time, PYA will welcome six startups to the stage to pitch their innovative businesses. The firm decided to have six presenters instead of five due to the sheer volume and quality of applications submitted.
The six founders will pitch on Wednesday, April 16 from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at Jewelry Television at 9600 Parkside Drive, Knoxville, TN 37922. You can RSVP for the pitch competition and award ceremony at this link.
Meet the Finalists
Blank Beauty
Blank Beauty is automating the manufacturing process of custom cosmetics. The company has developed a robotic system capable of mixing primary colors to create thousands of custom colors. Currently those robots are available in select Walmart locations. Currently, the company’s focus is on nail polish, but the Founder, Charles Brandon, has ambitions beyond the multi-billion-dollar nail industry.
Right now, Blank Beauty is modifying their robot “Huey” to produce thousands of online orders by directly syncing with Shopify. If successful, Brandon said Knoxville will become one of the largest distributors of nail polish in the country.
Brandon and team recently relocated from Memphis, Tennessee.
Read more about Blank Beauty in Teknovation.
Green Llama
Coming all the way from Johnson City, Green Llama is innovating new approaches in the cleaning product space. The founders, Kay Baker and Matt Keasey, launched the company in response to growing concerns about plastic waste, toxic household chemicals, and a lack of truly sustainable alternatives in the consumer cleaning market.
When looking at a bottle of multi-purpose cleaner, about 90 percent of the content is water. By removing the water from Green Llama products and instead instructing the consumer to “just add water,” Baker and team have reduced packaging and shipping costs, while also passing along more affordable products to consumers. As a result, the brand has seen 250 percent year over year revenue growth.
Green Llama participated in the Spark Cleantech Accelerator in 2022. Read more in Teknovation.
Perseus Materials
Fresh off a win at the 2025 JEC World Startup Booster (the biggest international composites show), Perseus Materials has been selected to pitch in the PYA Ballard Innovation Award. The co-founders, Daniel Lee and John Feist, reimagined the chemistry that powers the manufacturing of composites to make it the cheapest, most convenient building material of the future.
The founders shared that their process for composite manufacturing is the fastest on market – even faster and cheaper than steel.
Perseus Materials is a fellow in the 2023 Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and also a graduate of the Spark Cleantech Accelerator. Read more in Teknovation.
PreTel
Coming all the way from Chattanooga, PreTel is an early stage medical device company that has recently completed prospective clinical studies of their prototype device. Founded by Dr. Roger Young and Marc Finch, PreTel is licensing a patented and wearable pregnancy sensor developed by Young while on medical staff at the University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UTRF).
The pregnancy sensor can help diagnose preterm labor and allow for critical intervention and treatment of the baby to avoid death, respiratory distress syndrome, brain hemorrhage and other developmental issues.
The medical device company was a part of the inaugural “HealthTech Accelerator” in Chattanooga, sponsored by The Company Lab (CO.LAB).
Salubata (0 CRB)
With an urgency to tackle the carbon emissions accelerated by the footwear industry, the cofounders of Salubata are launching a new product that could shake up the sector. Fela Akinse and Yewande Adebowale, are bringing to market a ground-breaking, patented footwear technology that converts carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen just by walking. They are calling it 0 CRB (or, Zero Carbon).
The founders shared how each person could convert 6.76 grams of CO2 to O2 annually with this technology. It is an extension of their existing modular shoe brand, which are made from up-cycled plastic bottles.
Salubata was a participant in the 2023 Techstars Los Angeles Accelerator, and pitched 0 CRB in the 2025 Knoxville Entrepreneur Center‘s What’s The Big Idea competition.
Unified Track
Unified Track is an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven software platform that uses predictive analytics to identify which students are on track and which are at risk of falling behind. The system consolidates messy data, such as grades, attendance, test scores, and GPA calculations, into a user-friendly platform for schools, parents, and students.
One of the biggest issues the founder, Dustin Bainbridge, aims to address is classroom placement. Students often enroll in the wrong courses, causing headaches for schools trying to fix the problem. His platform is already being piloted in schools across the state of California, and his next step is to do the same in Tennessee.
Read more about Unified Track in Teknovation.
The six founders will pitch on Wednesday, April 16 from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at Jewelry Television at 9600 Parkside Drive, Knoxville, TN 37922. The award ceremony will be immediately followed by a cocktail reception and celebration.
You can RSVP for the pitch competition and award ceremony at this link.
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