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OpBox, a Nobleboro-based startup that designs and builds modular, eco-friendly pop-up spaces for retailing and other uses, was crowned the "Greenlight Maine" Season 7 winner on Thursday.

Beating two other contestants in the final round of the televised business-pitch contest, OpBox won $25,000.

Asked what OpBox plans to do with the prize money, co-founder Ben Davis told Mainebiz that the company plans to "document and create engaging content" for a new venture in Boston: OpBox Village, in South Boston, a collaboration with two partners and branded as the C Street Pop-Up Iron Works.  

The village consists of 80,000 square feet in modular rental spaces intended for retail, food and drink operators for two consecutive seasons, from July through September and October through December. The website lists rent as starting at $1,500 a month.

"This is a very repeatable model that we hope to roll out nationwide," Davis said. The company currently employs 11 people and plans to add several more by the end of the year, he added.

He and his sister, Emily Davis, with whom he founded OpBox, were honored on the Mainebiz Next List in 2018. At that time, Ben Davis told Mainebiz that applications for OpBox storage containers are "endless."

The grand finale of "Greenlight Maine," a series hosted and produced by Julene Gervais that aims to "grow Maine's economy, one dream at a time," was broadcast Thursday night on Maine Public.

Second prize, and $10,000, was awarded to the Good Crust, a maker of frozen pizza dough owned and operated by Heather Kerner that recently moved from Skowhegan to Canaan.

NKENNE, an African language learning app founded by Michael Odokara-Okigbo, came in third and won $5,000. The company was also the Emerging Business Award winner in last month's Gorham Savings Bank LaunchPad business-pitch contest, winning a $10,000 grant plus $10,000 of in-kind business and marketing-related services.

The three finalists were whittled down from 10 contestants at the start of the season, out of more than 35 applicants this year. Last year's winner was Bixby Chocolate, an artisanal chocolate maker founded and run by Kate McAleer.

All three finalists made their pitches in front of judges on stage at Maine Public's studio in Lewiston.

"This was our first time in the studio in more than two years," Gervais told Mainebiz Friday. "We have been virtual since March 2020, but the companies were very adaptive to pitching live in front of the judges."

The "Greenlight Maine College Edition" also recently wrapped up for the season, awarding first prize and $10,000 to Real Time Reality, a software platform created by University of Maine student Ty Delargy.

He developed Real Time Reality to stream real people as an authenticated replica of their physical selves into virtual and augmented reality worlds securely and anonymously using Blockchain cryptocurrency.

Second place and $7,500 went to another UMaine student, Kendra Batchelder, for a breast-cancer detection technology called WAVED.

Third place and $5,000 was awarded to Patric Caron, representing College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, for Move Free, described as a mission-driven lifestyle brand for outdoor enthusiasts.

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Work for ME is a workforce development tool to help Maine’s employers specifically target Maine’s emerging workforce. A free guide to job and career opportunities in Maine’s essential industries.

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