March 4, 2013
By Stan Diel | sdiel@al.com
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – A panel of judges today heard pitches from a dozen potential start-ups competing in the Alabama Launchpad competition and narrowed the field of contenders to seven.
The competition continues through May, when four or five winners are expected to split $100,000 in start-up capital. All of the seven start-ups that advanced today will get an assessment of their business model by a third-party firm, said Angela Wier, vice president at the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama.
“That is effectively a prize in itself,” Wier said.
Competitors that were selected to proceed are:
--Carbon NanoTubes Engineered Surfaces. The Birmingham company is using nanotechnology to enhance “the surface composition of engineered materials improving interlaminate strength by as much as 40 percent.”
--eTruckBiz. Provides business coaching and online support services for small trucking companies. Based in Huntsville.
--Exscien Corp. The Mobile company develops drugs to repair damage to mitochondrial DNA.
--MagnnPro. Uses nanotechnology to create a new MRI contrast agent that is safer and more effective than currently utilized contrast agents. Based in Tuscaloosa.
--Not iT Labs. Based in Birmingham, Not iT Labs is developing a smartphone app that helps groups of people who work or play together to delegate real-world tasks from a "gamified" virtual hub.
--Nutripilot. Provides a collaborative healthcare solution for corporations, individuals, and physicians utilizing the combination of smartphones and web-based portal. Based in Birmingham.
--Thrupore Technologies. Based in Tuscaloosa, Thrupore, uses nanotechnology to provide catalysts for chemical manufacturers based on advanced materials science.
The Launchpad contest, run by the EDPA, is in its seventh year, and is financed by the Alabama Research Alliance, the EDPA, seven colleges and universities, and foundations including those managed by Blue Cross and Wells Fargo.
Even start-ups that fail to advance have something to gain by participating, said Dr. Robert Poczatek, whose company FusionScore plans to use surveys and an algorithm to help identify opportunities for cost savings in medical care.
Hospitals increasingly are billed in lump sums as providers negotiate rates for medical procedures, Poczatek said. By better predicting which patients need intervention to ensure they take their meds and follow directions, hospitals can significantly lower their costs, he said.
“We’re beta testing this in the second quarter,” said Poczatek, who is a physician at St. Vincent’s Medical Center.
All of the participants in the contest have made contacts that could prove to be invaluable later, he said. The company was not among the entrants chosen to advance.
Judges include Avery Jordan, senior vice president for Wells Fargo; Chris Otto, vice president for MobileHelp; Andrew Penman, vice president of drug development, Southern Research Institute; Jonathan Sides, chief financial officer for Daxko; Mel Washington, small business consultant for MBDA Business Center, Mobile.
The contest will be repeated twice more later this year, Wier said.
For more information, visit http://commerce.alabama.gov
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