February 04, 2013
By Kelli Dugan | kdugan@al.com
MOBILE, Alabama - Two Mobile-based teams are among 13 selected statewide to vie for their potential share of $100,000 in seed funding as part of the 2013 Alabama Launchpad Start-Up Competition.
Team leader Christine Chancery and team member Mark Gillespie will position Exscien Corp. in the biotechnology category, while team leader Hunter Adams and team member Rachel Frazier will pitch Graphenics LLC in the nanotechnology category.
Exscien is a drug development company focused on the formulation of pharmaceuticals to repair damage to mitochondrial DNA. Such successes could provide the first available treatment an array of human diseases, ranging from organ transplant to multi-organ system failure as a result of trauma.
Graphenics, meanwhile, provides engineering services and materials to enhance the properties of plastics via a patented process to produce grapheme, a two-dimensional substance composed of pure carbon.
In its seventh year, Alabama Launchpad is an initiative of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama Foundation, representing the “renewal” component of the state’s broader, long-range economic development plan, Accelerate Alabama.
“Alabama Launchpad is proving to be an invaluable asset for the state’s aspiring entrepreneurs, and by helping them develop their ideas into successful, high-growth ventures, the competition benefits the broader landscape of Alabama’s economy,” said EDPA President Bill Taylor.
The program is designed to promote, reward and boost Alabama’s pipeline of innovative enterprises with the highest growth potential, and the 13 teams currently jockeying for the largest piece of the venture capital pie have already been trimmed from an applicant pool of 22 teams.
The five-judge panel of entrepreneurs, investors and corporate stakeholders includes Mel Washington, small business consultant for Mobile’s Minority Business Development Agency Business Center; Avery Jordan, senior vice president for Wells Fargo; Andrew Penman, vice president of drug development for Birmingham-based Southern Research; and Jonathan Sides, chief financial officer for Birmingham-based Daxko.
“We were not only pleased by the number of applicants for the proof of commercial relevance round but found the startups to be highly diverse in terms of technology and their business ideas quite advanced,” said Greg Sheek, Alabama Launchpad programs director.
Each team will be provided a mentor for the duration of the competition.
On March 4, teams will submit business plans and pitch presentations to the judges, and advancing teams will be asked to submit a revised business plan for market assessment. Teams receiving favorable assessments will then advance to the final pitch event May 3, after which winners will be announced.
The other 11 competitors are as follows:
Birmingham-based Carbon NanoTubes Engineered Surfaces, led by Adam Ficken; team members Brian Wright, Xinyu Zhang
Huntsville-based eTruckBiz, led by Jeff Walczak
Birmingham-based Fusion Score, led by Leverett Powell; team members Robby Carruba, Robert Poczatek
Auburn-based LifeTech, led by Thomas Moore; team member Tommy Foote
Auburn-based MagnnPro, led by Thomas Macher
Birmingham-based Not iT Labs, led by Joshua Creed Gilmer
Birmingham-based Sensibalance, led by Melanie Rubery
Auburn-based Porcera, led by Robert Koski; team members Brian Wright, Doug Warrington, Troy Brady, Marc Ford and Bernhard Kaltenboeck
Tuscaloosa-based Thrupore Technologies, led by Martin Bakker; team member Franchessa Sayler
Tuscaloosa-based Zambooki, led by Heath Hendrix; team members Joshua Watkins, Matt Wright and Robby White
Huntsville-based Zenoware, led by Jason Pugh; team members Justin Allen and Chris Smeal
Partner universities include Alabama State University, Auburn University, the University of Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Alabama in Huntsville and the University of South Alabama.
Alabama Launchpad is funded with support from corporate sponsors and the Alabama Research Alliance, a program of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. For more information click here.
For more information, visit http://commerce.alabama.gov
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