Soda made from mushrooms wins FW pitch competition

Texas is home to about three million small businesses with a third being women-owned. Yet, start-ups founded by women struggle to get those dreams funded.

"Only 2% of venture capital funding goes to women. And so that is start-up capital that is needed to start any kind of business. And because there's such a dearth of capital going to females, we wanted to really highlight what they're doing," said Fort Worth businesswoman Elyse Dickerson.

Dickerson won a pitch competition in the early days of her start-up, Eosera, an ear care company that now sells products online at Amazon and in stores like CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart.

She now pays it forward by rallying sponsors to fund a pitch competition for female founders in Texas.

"This is about empowering female entrepreneurs and giving them a platform to talk about their business and have the potential to win up to $35,000," she said as three finalists got ready to take the stage at the Kimbell Art Museum.

The three women had eight minutes each to sway judges and win cash prizes. All had health issues that led them on a search for solutions: A hand-scooped and baked gluten-free cookie, an exercise device and program, and the world's first soda powered by mushrooms.

The company Good Dirt, a prebiotic soda for gut health, was the big winner.

"$20.000. This is awesome," said Lynn Callaway as she held two supersized ceremonial checks. "This is so impactful to me and my business. We're a family brand based out of Austin. Any amount matters to us right now as a small business. It's so hard for small businesses, especially women-owned, minority-owned businesses."

Callaway's husband and son were in the audience cheering her on as she explained to judges and the audience the motivation for her mushroom-based soda.

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"After I gave birth to my son, I started to have gut health issues and I'm someone who uses herbal remedies to aid in my overall wellness. I wasn't really happy with kind of the answers that I was getting from specialists that I was going to and just decided to turn to plant medicine to really aid in that mushrooms are inherently prebiotic," she said. "They're under used in that area. They've been around for thousands of years and so we wanted to just bring a new form factor to the product."

125 women entered the third year of the Eosera Pitch Competition with $35,000 in prizes from first to third places and the people's choice.

Calloway's soda company won the Simmons Bank First Place award worth $15,000 as well as the iHeartMedia Peoples’ Choice award worth $5,000.

Higginbotham sponsored the second-place award of $10,000. It went to Dr. Meena McCullough, founder of Body Spring, based out of Euless, Texas. McCullough developed PressEX, a revolutionary tool and program for mobilizing fascia for improved movement, flexibility, and chronic pain relief.

McCullough, who suffers from Fibromyalgia, developed PressEX to relieve her own pain, as well as the pain of her physical therapy patients. The funding she won will help her company pay for marketing services, she said. Dancers are a big market for her right now.

“My main message is that if you want to stay active as you age, it’s important to keep searching for answers to movement challenges that you have,” she said in a news release. “I found mine with PressEX, and I hope other people do too.”

The $5,000 prize from Satori Capital went to Addison LaBonte, founder of Sweet Addison’s, a gluten-free bakery in Dallas. LaBonte was a Division 1 soccer player in college and marathon runner and started experiencing numbness in her legs while running.

“I was diagnosed with compartment syndrome,” she said, adding that she tried yoga, compression socks, and other alternatives, but nothing brought her relief. “It wasn’t until I became gluten-free that I was able to run normally again.”

LaBonte has since developed numerous desserts made from wholesome ingredients, without gluten and dairy, that “taste like your favorite local bakery.”

Applications for the 2025 competition open in July, and any female-owned company that is three years old or less can apply.

For more information about the eosera® Foundation Pitch Competition, go here.