PUEBLO, Colo. — ActivArmor is the best new small business in the country, according to the “Pitch to Win” competition created by Nationwide and BlueVine.

ActivArmor beat out more than 3,300 small businesses to win a $100,000 grant that will help the company expand.

“We’re excited about the opportunity that brings to us as a company,” Founder and President Diana Hall said. “With that $100,000 I can open an additional five clinics in those major metropolitan markets.”

Hall’s company creates casts from a rigid 3-D printed plastic with a mesh-like structure for better air circulation and hygiene than traditional casts. Hall says ActivArmor casts are covered by most insurance plans and can be used for broken bones, arthritis, carpal tunnel or other ailments.

“We can take the place of traditional casts and splints in the market and make it viable for people – and affordable,” Hall said.

At this point, 11 clinics around the region have partnered with Hall to provide those casts. She says 12 more are close to finalizing a deal and she’s not stopping there.

“My goal is to get into at least 20 strategic major metropolitan markets across the country by the end of next year,” Hall said. “Which will mean that this product is available to almost everyone in the United States.”

Up until this point, Hall says, her investors have been friends, family and doctors who believe in the product. But when interested clinics reach out to her, finding the money to get the medical devices to those providers has always been an issue.

“It’s a matter of, ‘Okay, how do we afford the investment to go?” Hall said.

With that in mind, as well as five years of experience pitching her product, she was determined to walk out of the competition in Columbus successful.

“I think mine is the best. I always have and it’s funny because everybody does,” Hall said. “If it’s your baby if it’s what you believe in 100 percent, you always think you’re going to win and I went in there believing it was and needing it too.”

Though she left for schooling at the Colorado School of Mines, Hall grew up in Pueblo. Now she’s back home with a downtown office and plans to create more jobs.

“My grandpa worked at the steel mill, my mom worked at the public library for a million years. I love contributing to my home town,” Hall explained.