Albuquerque company wins $10,000 startup prize

Twistle, a startup company that created a messaging platform for health systems, won the $10,000 prize at the fourth annual Ski Lift Pitch Contest at Taos Ski Valley last week, according to the event’s sponsor, ABQid, an Albuquerquebased startup accelerator.

The contest lets entrepreneurs pitch their startup ideas to investors from various states as they ride ski lifts.

Fifteen startups, including a Santa Fe inventor who designed a cellphone tether, participated in this year’s event, which was intended to attract more investors to the state.

Twistle, which was represented by director of marketing Brad Woodward, developed a messaging platform that delivers “the easiest and most powerful way to engage with … patients across all clinical specialties, procedures, and chronic conditions,” a news release said.

The event has brought together snow-loving investors and startups for the past three years. Past Ski Lift Pitch Contest winners include Taos Mountain Energy Bars, Los Alamos-based micromaterials maker UbiQD and EquiSeq, an Albuquerque company that analyzes the genetic material of horses to improve breeding.

ABQid says it “identifies and develops earlystage businesses through mentorship and connections, and then invests seed funding to catalyze their next-level growth.” For more information, visit www.abqid.com and www. skiliftpitch.com.