STOCKTON, Calif., August 31, 2026 — (KOREWIRE) Two mission-driven companies emerged with top honors from the SuperCrowd26 Live Pitch, with Oshi winning the Judges’ Choice Award and Harmony Baby Nutrition capturing the SuperCrowd Award, determined by audience voting.
The awards capped a live investment pitch competition at SuperCrowd26 featuring PurposeBuilt100™, the three-day televised virtual gathering of founders, investors and leaders in the impact crowdfunding ecosystem.
Four finalists—selected from 15 well-qualified applicants—presented their businesses and investment offerings before judges Paul Lovejoy, Sherwood Neiss and Léa Bouhelier-Gautreau. After hearing the founders’ pitches and questioning them about their businesses, investment propositions, risks, growth strategies and impact, the judges selected Oshi for their top honor.
At the same time, viewers were invited to make their own choice.
They selected Harmony Baby Nutrition.
Oshi Takes the Judges’ Choice Award
Oshi, led by Co-Founder and CEO Ofek Ron, is working to reinvent seafood with whole-cut, plant-based salmon designed to give consumers the experience of eating salmon without relying on fish. Ron is a four-time founder whose career has included both entrepreneurship and animal-rights advocacy. Under his leadership, Oshi launched what the company describes as the first whole-cut, 100 percent plant-based salmon fillet in the U.S. market.
For the judges, Oshi stood out after a process designed to move well beyond the polish of the pitch itself. The panel challenged finalists to demonstrate market opportunity, execution capability, competitive differentiation, financial potential, investment terms and the degree to which positive impact is embedded in the underlying business.
Ron said the award belongs in part to the people who have helped Oshi advance its mission.
“I’m deeply grateful to the judges for believing in what we’re building and to everyone who watched, supported us and voted during SuperCrowd26. Most of all, I’m grateful to the people who have already invested in Oshi and become part of this journey. We started with a big idea: that people shouldn’t have to choose between enjoying the foods they love and protecting the oceans they love. Every customer, investor and supporter who joins us helps bring that future a little closer.”
The Judges’ Choice Award reflects the panel’s assessment following both the formal pitches and their opportunity to question the founders directly.
Harmony Baby Nutrition Wins the Crowd
Harmony Baby Nutrition, led by CEO Wendel Afonso, earned a different but equally meaningful distinction: the SuperCrowd Award, chosen by the people watching the competition.
Harmony is developing human milk-inspired nutrition for babies and toddlers, seeking to bring more of the nutritional characteristics of human milk into products designed for families who need alternatives.
Afonso brings more than 20 years of experience translating science and technology into consumer products, including work spanning prototypes, clinical trials, product launches, fundraising and business growth. He holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and has graduate training in food science and technology.
For Afonso, winning the audience vote represents something particularly powerful: people connecting not only with the science but with the families the company hopes to serve.
“To everyone who voted for Harmony Baby Nutrition, thank you. Your support means more to us than winning an award—it tells us that families, investors and members of this community understand why this work matters. And to those who have already invested in us, I am especially grateful. You are trusting us to turn years of science into something that can make life better for babies and parents. We take that trust very seriously. Building a company is never a solo journey, and this award belongs to the growing community building Harmony with us.”
Afonso describes his career as sitting at the intersection of science, entrepreneurship and consumer innovation, with a particular focus on translating complex scientific challenges into products that reach real people.
Two Awards, Two Important Perspectives
The two awards intentionally reflect two different ways of evaluating an investment crowdfunding opportunity.
The Judges’ Choice Award captures the perspective of experienced investors and crowdfunding professionals able to probe founders on business models, assumptions, risks, financing strategies and potential returns.
The SuperCrowd Award captures something crowdfunding uniquely makes possible: the judgment of the crowd itself.
That distinction is important because a successful crowdfunding company may ultimately need both.
Experienced investors can help identify weaknesses that enthusiasm might overlook. But customers, advocates and everyday investors can also recognize opportunities, mobilize communities and provide something companies cannot obtain from a spreadsheet: genuine grassroots momentum.
For Devin Thorpe, CEO of The Super Crowd, Inc. and host of SuperCrowd26, seeing different companies capture the two awards was a fitting outcome.
“Congratulations to Ofek, Wendel and the entire Oshi and Harmony Baby Nutrition teams. They came into the Live Pitch willing not only to tell their stories but to put their companies and investment propositions under real scrutiny. That takes courage. Oshi earned the confidence of three thoughtful judges, while Harmony inspired our audience to rally behind its vision. I love that we ended with two winners because it illustrates something fundamental about investment crowdfunding: rigorous analysis matters, and so does the wisdom and energy of the crowd.”
Thorpe added that the ultimate purpose of the Live Pitch extends beyond identifying winners.
“If people finished the program better equipped to ask questions, evaluate risk, understand impact and make thoughtful investment decisions, then all four finalists accomplished something important. The trophies are wonderful. Building a stronger community of informed impact investors is the bigger win.”
Neither award constitutes an investment recommendation or endorsement. Investment crowdfunding involves substantial risk, including the possible loss of an investor’s entire investment. Prospective investors should review each issuer’s official offering materials and conduct their own due diligence before investing.
From Pitch Competition to Community
The Live Pitch was part of SuperCrowd26 featuring PurposeBuilt100™, held August 25–27 and streamed primarily on SuperCrowd.tv, with additional distribution via LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, the Superpowers for Good Substack and SuperCrowd26.com.
The competition was designed not merely as a startup showcase but as a live demonstration of investment evaluation. Judges questioned founders in front of viewers, allowing the audience to hear not only what entrepreneurs wanted investors to know, but also what experienced evaluators wanted founders to explain.
That transparency is central to The Super Crowd’s broader effort to help make impact investing and regulated investment crowdfunding more accessible, rigorous and effective.
About The Super Crowd, Inc.
The Super Crowd, Inc. is a public benefit corporation building a complete ecosystem for social entrepreneurs, impact investors and other changemakers. Its growing platform includes the SuperCrowd Impact League, a gamified portfolio tracker for impact investors; SuperCrowd Impact Wire, a press release distribution service focused on impact-driven organizations; SuperCrowd Impact Newsroom, including a database of Regulation Crowdfunding filings; SuperCrowd Career Path; SuperCrowd.tv; the Superpowers for Good newsletter and twice-weekly television show; and quarterly SuperCrowd Live Pitch events connecting entrepreneurs with investors. Together, these products are designed to help purpose-driven companies gain visibility, access capital, attract talent and build community while giving investors and other changemakers better tools to discover, evaluate and support businesses creating positive social and environmental impact.
Media Contact:
Devin Thorpe
CEO, The Super Crowd, Inc.
(801) 930-0588
new.TheSuperCrowd.com
