Innovation rewarded at Flywheel Investment Conference
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 weeks, 1 day AGO
Optimly CEO and Founder Apurva Luty swept the prizes at the 2026 Flywheel Conference in Wenatchee, taking home more than $200,000 in investments in her AI startup.
COURTESY PHOTO/NCW TECH ALLIANCE
Elliot Tiegel, a student at Cascade High School in Leavenworth, won $500 to invest in his innovative insoles that use foot pressure to charge electronic devices.
JPPortraitStudio
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | May 27, 2026 3:00 AM
WENATCHEE — Seattle startup Optimly swept the top awards at the 2026 Flywheel Investment Conference in Wenatchee, according to an announcement from NCW Tech Alliance, which organizes the conference every year.
Optimly won the $150,000 investment award from the Flywheel Angel Network, the $50,000 relocation offer from NCW Tech Alliance, and the $5,000 Fan Favorite award following Thursday’s live Early-Stage Investment Competition, according to the announcement. Optimly helps its business clients control what AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and others believe about their business and corrects misinformation before it can be passed on to potential customers, according to its website.
The conference, which was held May 19-21, brought together entrepreneurs, investors, students, educators, and business leaders from across Washington to Wenatchee for three days focused on innovation, business growth, and regional opportunity.
“We had about 300 people come out for the conference this year from across Washington state,” said NCW Tech Alliance Director of Entrepreneurship Becca Freimuth. “There was a really great presence from our local and regional partners and community members, educators and students.”
The Flywheel Investment Conference brings together angels – people with money to invest – and entrepreneurs who have a great idea but need a little financial help to make it viable. The startup owners make a pitch to the investors, who then decide which are the best investments. The prizes Optimly took home represent investments in its idea, Freimuth explained.
This year, the conference unveiled a new event: the Student Pitch Competition. Central Washington University student Cariann Bryant won the Judges’ Choice Award and received $2,500 for Virtual Track Club, a program that gives track athletes clear training, technique guidance, and recruiting support year-round, helping them improve consistently without expensive club teams or guesswork, according to the conference website.
OhmLife Insoles, founded by Elliot Tiegel, a Cascade High School student from Leavenworth, earned the Fan Favorite Student Pitch Award and took home the $500 award for his shoe insert that uses the mechanical energy of the user’s footsteps to charge electronic devices.
The investments received from the prizes may eventually pay off for the investor, but it hasn’t started to happen yet, Freimuth said.
“Typically, what you see is about a seven to 10-year lifetime of that investment,” she said. “It takes about 7-10 years for that company to sell or grow to a level where those investors are getting that return. We are right around that time frame now. This is our ninth year, so hopefully we’re going to see some of those previous companies selling and our investors getting a return.”
Part of the purpose of the Flywheel Conference is to draw businesses to north central Washington that otherwise might overlook the region in favor of Seattle or Spokane, Freimuth said.
“I think what Flywheel’s been able to do is put us more on the awareness map for some people as a place to do business or to invest in business,” she said. “It’s provided an opportunity to get people into the region who maybe haven’t visited before to be able to see that we have people here who are innovators, risk takers, ready to solve new problems, ready to grow.”
Elliot Tiegel, a student at Cascade High School in Leavenworth, won $500 to invest in his innovative insoles that use foot pressure to charge electronic devices.JPPortraitStudio
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