Higea Technologies took the top prize at the fifth annual Tech Pitch competition in San Luis Obispo on Oct. 21.

The San Luis Obispo startup is currently working out of the SLO Hothouse and was started by recent Cal Poly San Luis Obispo graduates. Higea co-founder Tanner Cook told the crowd that the company is developing a magnetized solution to separate oil and water recovered from oil spills.

The company is also developing a customizable flume that can be attached to boats to assist in cleaning up oil spills.

Higea won $5,000, which Cook said would be used to file patents on Higea’s new technology.

Westlake Village IP lawyer Steve Sereboff was a judge at the event and said Higea’s products seemed the most practical among any of the pitches.

Another San Luis Obispo startup that pitched was Bottlefly, which claims to have a computer that can “taste wine” in order to help consumers choose wines at grocery stores.

Six companies made pitches at the event.

Others included Ground Level Data, which uses drone technologies to monitor the health of strawberry patches, and Plate Scrape Technologies, which was started just three months ago by founder Nate Stein and uses a brush system to minimize water used during dishwashing at restaurants.

• Contact Philip Joens at pjoens@pacbiztimes.com.