Pensacola-based Intelligent Retinal Imaging Systems won first place and a $100,000 cash prize at the Innovation Coast Awards competition late last week.

Innovation Coast, Space Florida and the Florida Small Business Development Center Network selected 10 presenting finalists from a field of 20 startup companies that pitched their business plans during the competition.

"We are humbled to receive this award because of the caliber of finalists that were at the competition," Dr. Sunil Gupta, founder and CMO of IRIS, said following the event. "It is exciting to see our community and the state of Florida rally behind my vision to stamp out Diabetic Retinopathy as the leading cause of blindness in the United States. We received strong affirmation of that vision today."

In addition to IRIS's top prize, Accountingfly won second place and $50,000, and Robotics Unlimited won third prize, $5,000 in business services at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Pensacola.

Additionally, of the 20 companies participating, three were selected by Microsoft to receive a BizSpark Plus Azure package valued at $20k each. Those companies were Paracosm, Robotics Unlimited, and Big Data Cognitive Systems.

Former Google executive Lars Perkins was the keynote speaker during the Nov. 6-7 event at the Hilton Pensacola Beach Gulf Front.