By Ashley Reyes
SEMA Launch Pad, the automotive industry’s product-pitching competition that has propelled inventors and entrepreneurs to successful, thriving businesses since 2013, will be featured for the first time in a nationwide television special on February 13 on the History Channel.
The SEMA Launch Pad program features 15 semifinalists who competed live in Las Vegas, where they pitched their products and ideas to a panel of industry experts and icons that included Chip Foose (Foose Design), Jared Hare (Addictive Desert Designs), Myles Kovacs (DUB) and Alex Parker (Redline Detection).
The 2021 competition included a record high 200-plus competitors vying for the program’s largest grand prize ever, valued at $100,000. The program features 15 semifinalists who competed live in Las Vegas, where they pitched their products and ideas to a panel of industry experts and icons that included Chip Foose (Foose Design), Jared Hare (Addictive Desert Designs), Myles Kovacs (DUB) and Alex Parker (Redline Detection).
“We’re excited to bring the SEMA Launch Pad to a nationwide television audience,” said Ted Wentz, SEMA Board member and chair of the SEMA Launch Pad Task Force. “For years, the SEMA Launch Pad has encouraged and supported product innovation and new ideas. The television program will give a new audience the opportunity to see the depth of the industry’s innovation.”
The automotive industry has been following the 2021 competition through a five-episode YouTube miniseries, which generated almost half a million views. The upcoming television special includes brand-new, exclusive coverage of the finale, with the top two finalists competing in front of thousands of industry professionals at the world-renown SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Viewers will watch as competitors both triumph and falter along the way, with judges asking hard questions and providing candid feedback.
“The Launch Pad is a competition designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs succeed and grow,” said Wentz. “To see the competition unfold on television is inspiring. We hope that it encourages others to bring new products to the marketplace as well.”
To learn more about the SEMA Launch Pad, visit www.sema.org/launchpad.