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Announcing the Winners of the
12th Annual UC Berkeley
Business Plan Competition
presented at the
Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Video of Finals
Orpheus Medical Takes Grand Prize in
12th Annual UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition
April 30, 2010
Berkeley, California
The 12th Annual UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition Finals, hosted by the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, took place last night in front of a standing room only crowd in the Andersen Auditorium at the Haas School of Business. The 300+ attendees watched the six finalist teams compete for nearly $45,000 in prizes. The audience selected the People’s Choice Award which carried a $5,000 cash prize. New this year was the $1,000 one-minute Elevator Pitch Award, which allowed the audience to choose their favorite pitch from the thirty-three semi-finalists who did not advance to the final round.
"The changes made to the Competition were tremendous, amplifying the participation rate and the quality of the 39 teams that participated from the UC Berkeley and UCSF communities. We had three tracks - IT and Web, Life Science, and Products and Services. The breadth and quality of all the teams produced a stunning event from which we will see many tangible results," said Lester Center Executive Director, David Charron.
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For the second year in a row, the Competition Grand Prize winner will head to Spain to participate in 22@Barcelona’s HIT Barcelona World Innovation Summit to be held June 16-17 in Barcelona for a chance to win up to 20,000 Euros.
Last night’s event was the culmination of a week of activities including semi-finalist team presentations to panels of venture capital judges who judged the plans in an all-day event and selected the six finalist teams from the three Competition tracks. Those six finalist teams then presented in private the next day to another panel of venture capital judges from firms including Khosla Ventures and the Mayfield Fund who selected the winners from each track, as well as the Grand Prize Winner. Last night’s public presentation featured the unveiling of the winners and the announcement of the People’s Choice and the Elevator Pitch Awards. Video of the event will be available in a few weeks on the April Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum web page.
“We were quite simply blown away with the quality of entrants to this year's UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition. The time, thought and energy that went into each of the plans is truly an inspiration to entrepreneurs across our campus and the Bay Area community, showing us that the spirit of innovation is alive and well,” said Richard Kenny, one of the 2010 Competition Co-Chairs.
The Grand Prize Winning Team of Orpheus Medical
is congratulated by Lester Center Executive Director David Charron and Competition Co-Chairs Richard Kenny and Parkin Kent
Grand Prize Winner
Orpheus Medical
Orpheus Medical has created the first medical device that can painlessly cure hemorrhoids in a single procedure that can be performed by gastroenterologists in their endoscopy suites. It is based on an already proven surgical technique, but is superior because it does not require general anesthesia and does not have the associated risks.
Team:
Bart Bojanowski: BS from California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo. Experience as an R&D engineer at SpineWorks Medical, KFx Medical, and Chestnut Medical. He will head up prototype design and iteration.
Jake Brenner, M.D., Ph.D.: MD/PhD from Stanford University. Doctorate in Molecular Biology. Stanford medical student. Background in preclinical experimentation & medicine. He will contribute to product design and in vivo testing.
Greg Magee, M.D.: MD from Yale School of Medicine. Resident in general surgery, Stanford Hospital. Background in economics & general surgery. He will contribute to product design and business development.
Erika Palmer, Ph.D.: PhD from UC Berkeley & UCSF. Doctorate in bioengineering. Experience as an R&D team manager at Kyphon Inc. She will contribute to product management.
First Place Winners
IT & Web Track
Bidwave
Bidwave provides a simple platform for effective advertising in social networks. The platform allows automatic generation of viral marketing campaigns and identifies a small subset of influential users in the social network to recommend a product. Bidwave relies on algorithmic auction theory, machine learning, network algorithms, and statistical analysis to maximize the product exposure in the social network.
Life Sciences Track
Orpheus Medical
See above for team description.
Products and Services
BrightSense
Over half of users of tooth whitening report post-treatment pain. Current products cause sensitivity because they indiscriminately deliver uniform doses of peroxides to all teeth. This neglects significant variation in tooth size and shape across different teeth and different individuals. BrightSense uses a novel patent-pending drug delivery technology to design customized whitening strips with peroxide dosages optimized for each user’s teeth. BrightSense offers consumers a highly personalized, convenient, and pain-free solution at a competitive price.
People's Choice Award Winner
BrightSense
See above for team description.
Elevator Pitch Award Winner
Emiscape
Emiscape’s pioneering technology displays sharp and bright video images on one side of a glass surface while the other side remains transparent. Emiscape’s innovations transform retail, office, car and home glass surfaces into spectacular new platforms for digital advertising and consumer entertainment. The remarkable viewing experience excites consumers and profits advertisers.
Acknowledgements
The UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition appreciates the generous support of its Sponsors:
Thanks to our 2010 Final Round Judges:
Ramy Adeeb, Khosla Ventures
Jeff Bernstein, Universal McCann
Peter Buhl, BlueRun Ventures
Rowan Chapman, Mohr Davidow Ventures
Todd Kimmel, Mayfield Fund
Gary Little, Morgenthaler Ventures
Finally, thanks to the many semi-final round judges, executive summary round judges, mentors, workshop presenters, executive committee members, organizers, and other supporters who are too numerous to list.
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