Six companies have moved onto the finals in the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development’s Top Gun business pitch contest.

Top Gun is an annual business accelerator program for Maine entrepreneurs. This year there were 26 companies in three regions — Portland, Bangor and the Midcoast — that went through MCED’s program.

Regional pitch events were held May 18 in Portland, Bangor and Rockland to narrow down those 26 competitors to the six finalists that will participate in the fine Top Gun Showcase event being held May 24 at the University of Southern Maine.

Susan Ruhlin, Top Gun’s program manager, said this year’s class is one of the most diverse groups since the program began in 2009.

“We are always amazed by the ingenuity and passion our entrepreneurs bring to the community that is Top Gun and this year is no exception,” Ruhlin said. “With a mix of pre- and post-revenue businesses ranging from a scalable ‘green’ cleaning service, to app developers to an e-commerce toy company, the six finalists participating in the Showcase represent the wide range of ideas that have evolved into Maine-based companies. We certainly don’t envy the judges tasked with selecting this year’s winner.”

Pitching entrepreneurs will present five-minute pitches to a panel of judges followed by a brief question-and-answer period. The judges will score the entrepreneurs on presentation, innovation, scalability and feasibility. The winner will receive $10,000, which is being provided by the Maine Technology Institute.

The finalists from each region are:

Portland

Joe Walsh of Green Clean Maine, which is actually an eight-year-old environmentally responsible home cleaning service

Madeline Malisa of The Clothesline Club, a pre-revenue startup described as “the OpenTable for local boutiques”

Bangor

Niles Parker of Science Around ME, an app and social media platform to share science-related content

Simin Khosravani and Nadir Yildirim of Revolution Research, a pre-revenue startup developing eco-friendly products for the construction industry

Midcoast

Sarah Baldwin of Bella Luna Toys, a six-year-old Rockland company that makes toys out of organic materials

Chuck Benton of TeamAR, a pre-revenue startup developing orientation sensing technology to allow the overlay of property lines and utilities on an image

(Pictured above, from left to right, are Pete Dubuc and Amanda O’Brien, who were the Audience Choice Winners in Portland for their company Eighteen Twenty; 1st Place winner Joe Walsh of Green Clean Maine and 2nd place winner Madeline Malisa of Clothesline Club.)