From left, Hawkeye Surgical Lighting COO Manny Ray and co-founders Dr. David Christianson and Anthony Piscopo are pictured receiving the $100,000 cash prize. Photo by Sarah Bogaards

Hawkeye Surgical Lighting was selected Wednesday evening as the winner of the first InnoVenture Challenge pitch competition, hosted by Iowa’s new co-investment fund InnoVenture Iowa. Co-founders Dr. David Christianson and Anthony Piscopo and Chief Operating Officer Manny Ray accepted the $100,000 cash prize.

The company has developed the world’s first voice- and motion-controlled surgical headlight that integrates with an iOS app through Bluetooth. It is currently being used by five surgeons at the University of Iowa.

The other finalists for the InnoVenture Challenge were the Hummingbirds and Clayton Farms.

The competition was judged by Tom Trone, a global business leader and angel investor, Martina Bockstedt, general manager at Engineering Services and Products Co., and Shane Larson, commercial development director at Berkshire Hathaway Energy Investment Group. These three will also serve as the investment committee for the InnoVenture Iowa Fund, deciding where to invest the $30 million available in the fund.

The InnoVenture Iowa Fund, Iowa’s first publicly funded venture capital fund, launched in October as part of the $96 million for small businesses and entrepreneurs that the U.S. Treasury Department awarded to Iowa through its State Small Business Credit Initiative. The American Rescue Plan Act reauthorized and expanded the credit initiative, providing the department with nearly $10 billion to award to states.

Related coverage: Iowa launches first publicly funded venture capital fund