Contact: Not available
Prize: $10,000 and a spot in Darden's Progressive Incubator, including $15,000 in consulting and support services
Funding: Not available
Description: Setagon is a biotech startup that aspires to manufacture a stint to improve the success of an angioplasty for heart patients. In addition to keeping arterial passages open, the device delivers medication.
Contest: University of Washington Business Plan Competition
Winner: Aptelix
Team members: Christopher Ruff, Tim Sutton, Brad Thompson and Dan Aspleaf
Contact: chris@aptelix.com; www.aptelix.com
Prize: $30,000 plus a spot in the Washington Resource Foundation's state-run incubator and $1,500 in pro bono legal services
Funding: Seeking seed financing. Description: Wireless Internet service means you can use your cell phone to send e-mail or to shop. But did you ever try to punch a long message into your phone? No thanks. Three University of Washington class of 2000 MBAs and a friend have developed software that they say eliminates up to 90 percent of the keystrokes that go into sending e-mail over wireless devices. They started Aptelix to commercialize the program. Like police officers or CB radio fans who use a kind of verbal shorthand to exchange messages, Aptelix's founders are building a database of codes they say can be used to produce longer word strings and cut down keystrokes. They plan to launch the service with "a fun application for consumers" but envision a day when truckers, doctors, employee work groups and other people in specialized industries will use it with their own set of customized codes, says cofounder Chris Ruff. The company has tested its working prototype and is looking for seed funding.
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Correction: Previous coverage of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Venture Capital Investment Competition misidentified the student investment team member planning to join Mellon Ventures after graduation. The team member is Joe Woods. |
