A butter maker and a butt collector are among the five finalists for this year’s LaunchPad small business competition, sponsored by Gorham Savings Bank.

The finalists, all Maine-based startups, will compete in a live business pitch competition June 4 at the University of Southern Maine in Portland for a grand prize of $50,000. The finalists are:

— Casco Bay Creamery of Portland, which makes butter and cream cheese;

— CourseStorm of Orono, which provides online tools for class registration;

— GO Lab of Belfast, which makes nontoxic, renewable, wood fiber insulation;

— Sidewalk Buttler of Scarborough, which makes cigarette butt receptacles;

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— Vintage Maine Kitchen of Freeport, which makes small-batch Maine potato chips.

The finalists were selected from an applicant pool of over 150 businesses, Gorham Savings said. This is the seventh year the bank has sponsored the annual competition.

The finalists will pitch their businesses in front of a live audience while an independent panel of judges decides which company deserves to be awarded the $50,000 grant. This year’s judges are Safe Handling Inc. co-founder Ford Reiche, Logically CEO and co-founder Chris Claudio and Village Fertility Pharmacy shareholder and board member Catherine Cloudman. Business consultant Michelle Neujahr will return as emcee.

The event also will award a $10,000 grant and an additional $10,000 worth of in-kind marketing, business development and public relations services to one of five finalists in LaunchPad’s Emerging Idea competition. Those finalists are Friday of Portland, Kinotek of Orono, Lobster Unlimited of Brewer, MyBodyModel of Portland and OpBox of Portland.


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