Five early stage startup founders made their pitch last night at TechArtista, UCity – with Euler Science taking home the giant foam check. Euler Science is a search engine for patents and scientific literature.

“$500 may not seem like a lot of money, but great companies have been born from less,” TechSTL Ex. Dir. Emily Hemingway told bizblip. “‘Pitches Get Stitches’ not only presents a fun environment for founders to get in front of community stakeholders to share their idea, but it also incentivizes getting better at selling their business model to a room full of people. Even if investment is never part of their plan… this is how you get the world to care about your startup.”

“This is our first access to any money… so far it’s been bootstrapped,” Euler Science co-founder Daniel Van Hoesen told bizblip. “This will really help us get started.”

All five participating companies were awarded two free tickets to bizblip’s Founders Only – Fall Camp, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. In addition to the $500, by winning PGS Euler Science (pronounced ‘oiler’) is qualified as one of five startups at the upcoming Pitch Breakfast in November. The event is TechSTL’s addition to Startup Week and comes with a $10,000 cash prize. TechSTL joined Balto in sponsoring PGS-September.

“Balto’s founders have a commitment to support the startup ecosystem, especially early stage founders,” Meghan Cronin said at TechArtista, UCIty. Cronin is the Head of Community Development for the established startup, as well as a bizblip ‘Hold My Beer’ 90-Under-90 awardee. “Balto values giving back to the community that was so essential in helping us grow.”

See who was Caught Schmoozing at Pitches Get Stitches (and $500) sponsored by Balto.