Funding Is Part of Record-Setting National Business Plan Competition That Draws 1,500 Students from 100 Schools
NEW YORK, NY--(COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--May 1, 2002--Last Saturday proved once more that entrepreneurship � one of the pillars that America was built on - is definitively alive and well, as 24 teams of young entrepreneurs, the best and brightest students from leading schools across the nation, battled it out for cash prizes and bragging rights in one of the largest national business plan competitions ever held, the 2002 Carrot Capital Business Plan Challenge (the �Challenge�).
The event was the brainchild of Carrot Capital LLC, a New York venture capital firm that invests in seed and early-stage companies. A total of $100,000 in cash prizes was awarded. In all, some 1,500 students from over 100 colleges and universities entered the Challenge, including virtually every one of the top 50 business schools in America.
The Grand Prize winning team, NovOculi, is made up of five graduate students from MIT�s Sloan School of Management, University of Maryland�s Smith School of Business, and Duke�s Fuqua School of Business. The company is developing a new and vastly improved �incisionless� vision correction technique that may one day replace the currently popular LASIK surgery. NovOculi received $50,000 in cash prizes plus an offer of $500,000 of funding from Carrot Capital.
As a special treat on Monday, April 27th, NovOculi and Carrot Capital had the honor of taking part in the market close ceremony at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square. �For many companies Nasdaq represents the culmination of a dream: Conceiving a business, building a business, and then going public,� explains David Geliebter, managing partner of Carrot Capital, adding, �How fitting that while the 2002 Challenge may have come to an end, NovOculi�s story is just beginning.�
�NovOculi is a perfect example of the strength of entrepreneurial spirit you�ll find on America�s college campuses,� remarks Geliebter, adding, �Several other Challenge finalist teams will be receiving funding offers from Carrot, too. After all, when you think about where all the advancements have been made in areas like science and technology, much of it emanates from the universities. What better place, then, to look for tomorrow�s hot, new companies?� The finalist teams were chosen from hundreds of entries, judged by some 135 business leaders from the top ranks of corporate America, including such names as: Carol B. Tome, CFO of Home Depot (NYSE:HD), ranked one of Fortune�s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business; Kip McClanahan, President and CEO of BroadJump, one of Upsides� Hot 100 companies; Kathy Brittain White, EVP of E-Business & CIO of Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH), ranked one of Forbes� America�s Top Businesswomen; Lillian Vernon (AMEX:LVC), CEO of Lillian Vernon Corporation, one of America`s most accomplished and well-known leaders in the catalog industry; Marcel Gani, CFO of Juniper Networks (NASDAQ:JNPR); Jean-Francois Heitz, Deputy CFO of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT); Joel Appeal, President of Orange Glo, who, together with his father has built a direct marketing company that�s ranked the number 4 Inc. 500 fastest growing company and Josh Coates, CTO of Scale Eight, named one of the top 10 Entrepreneurs by Red Herring, to name a few.
The finalist teams presented their business plans to a panel of celebrated judges, including Bob Stiller, Chairman, President and CEO of Green Mountain Coffee, Inc. (Nasdaq:GMCR) and Forbes Entrepreneur of the Year for 2002; Udayan Gupta, author of the best seller Done Deals; Santanu Das, President, CEO & Chairman of TranSwitch Corporation (Nasdaq: TXCC) and Dan Weinfurter, CEO of Parson Group, and winner of the Inc. 500 fastest growing company for 2000.
Saturday�s event had another special moment, when Forbes magazine bestowed the title of Forbes Future Capitalist upon the individual who best exemplifies those qualities found in superlative business leaders. This year�s recipient was Yale graduate student Chad Troutwine, an attorney turned capitalist with three successful startup businesses under his belt. Chad�s latest venture was one of the Challenge finalists, NextStep, an educational service company that will provide high-end preparation for the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT).
The 22 other Challenge finalist teams (and their schools) include:
* AgaMatrix, MIT & Harvard * Aqua Vitae Enterprises, University of Georgia * Cupel Technologies, Georgia Institute of Technology * Fossa Industries, Babson College * Halsa Pharmaceuticals Inc., University of Texas, McCombs * iCard, Columbia Business School * INI Power SystemsTM, University of Illinois * Keen Mobility, University of Portland * Kim Laboratories Inc., University of Illinois * LabStream, UCLA, Anderson * Matrix NMR, Purdue University, Krannert * MetroMEMS, Georgia Institute of Technology * NOVAPHAGE, San Diego State University * OpenBlue Inc., Syracuse University * Private Concepts Inc., University of Texas, McCombs * Radatec, Georgia Institute of Technology & Georgia State University * Scope Logic, Georgia Institute of Technology * SlimAudio Inc., Yale School of Management * Ultra-Imaging LLC, University of Illinois * Verge Solutions, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton * Wear R You Inc., Carnegie Mellon University, GSIA * Xoran Technologies, University of Michigan
Challenge sponsors included TD Waterhouse, Forbes magazine and HSBC Bank.
�The concept behind the Challenge was to foster entrepreneurship on campuses across the country, to increase access to capital, and to create avenues for commercializing university-inspired ideas. In all those respects, the Challenge has proven a huge success.� explains Geliebter. �Just as importantly, for us at least, there�s electricity in the air just from being around the student teams. Their enthusiasm, energy, and genuine excitement were simply contagious! We can�t wait to do it again next year.�
A documentary is being filmed on the Challenge and will be released this summer.
About Carrot The Challenge is sponsored by the Carrot Capital Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, which, in turn, is associated with Carrot Capital, LLC. Carrot Capital is a New York-based venture capital firm that invests in seed/early stage businesses. Carrot Capital seeks out young entrepreneurs with brilliant ideas for a business and provides capital and management expertise to help them succeed. For more information, visit the Carrot Capital web site at www.carrotcapital.com
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