Nearly a dozen companies took home prizes at this year’s Startup Connection.

The annual event, held Wednesday at The Globe Building, 710 N. Tucker Blvd. in downtown St. Louis, featured dozens of startups in a wide variety of sectors including advanced manufacturing, bioscience, consumer products, education and technology. More than 60 startups were selected to present as part of the event’s Venture Showcase, competing for prizes that included cash, office space and professional services.

GiftAMeal, a mobile application that helps provide a meal to someone in need each time a user takes a photo on its app at a partner restaurant, took home the event’s largest prize: $10,000 in consulting services from consulting firm Slalom. The startup also won a $2,500 cash prize from Enterprise Holdings. GiftaMeal’s founder, Andrew Glatz, said the consulting services and cash prize will be used to figure out how to best scale the startup.

Other startups taking prizes at this year’s Startup Connection:

• Agtech company Agrela Ecosystems won a $1,250 cash prize from Bayer.
• SwipeSum, a financial tech startup, won a $1,250 cash prize from payment processor CardConnect and $3,000 in accounting services from accounting firm BDO.
• Big Heart Tea Co. won $3,000 in office space from the Cambridge Innovation Center, which operates a campus in the Cortex innovation district.
• Natural beauty brand esso skin care was awarded $3,000 in legal services from law firm Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale PC.
• Biotechnology startup Intact Genomics, Inc. won $3,000 in legal services from law firm Polsinelli.
• Synthetic blood startup KaloCyte won $3,000 in accounting services from accounting firm RubinBrown.
• Gateway Pharmaceutical, a pharmaceutical research company, won a $2,000 prize from BioSTL, a local nonprofit focused on advancing the region’s bioscience community.
• Equine Smartbit, a technology company focused on the equine industry, earned a $2,500 prize from law firm Lewis Rice.
• Online advertising startup Lean Media won $6,000 in data and IT storage from IT services firm Datotel.
• Lux & Nyx, a fashion startup that sells handbags, won $5,000 in accounting services from Anders CPA + Advisors.

Startup Connection Managing Director Phyllis Ellison said in October that the companies participating in this year’s Venture Showcase had combined revenue of more than $1.25 million so far in 2018. The startups employ more than 350 people.

With this year’s event, Startup Connection marked its 10th anniversary. The event was organized by Arch Grants, BioSTL, Cortex Innovation Community, GlobalHack, ITEN and the St. Louis Regional Chamber.