Moot Corp > About > Success Stories
Competition Success Stories
Update on
Previous Moot Corp Competitors
Omega Sensors (now Lumedyne Technologies), San Diego State University
2007 Global Moot Corp - Global Champion
In less than one year after winning Global Moot Corp, Omega Sensors has moved
forward securing over $1 million of investor funding and two government grants.
Now operating under their new name, Lumedyne Technologies Incorporated (LTI),
the company has been recognized by the Federal Laboratory Consortium for
“Outstanding Commercialization Success” of their government licensed technology.
Their product is a miniature sensor used in everything from car air bags to air
craft navigation systems. Boasting world record sensitivity, LTI’s sensor offers
the highest performance available, but at low performance sensor prices. And
because these sensors are used in hundreds of markets, the potential impact of
this technology is huge. Rice Alliance named the technology one of the “Most
Promising” Energy technologies of 2007 and it has been named one of the “World’s
Best Technologies” by the World’s Best Technology Showcase.
“Winning Moot Corp was one of our most significant achievements,” said Brad
Chisum, co-founder and CEO. “Everything about the competition, from the process
of getting ready to compete to the recognition and publicity we’ve received from
winning has played a big role in getting us where we are today. Essentially,
Moot Corp put us on the map.” According to Brad, the competition was
particularly beneficial in helping the company secure its investor dollars. “The
format, the presentation, the questions from the judges gave us the preparation
we needed for the investor community. The Moot Corp process is extremely
rigorous; every aspect of your business is analyzed and questioned, just like it
is by real world investors. Moot Corp gave us the preparation we needed for the
investor world.”
LTI is in the process of bringing its product to a commercial ready state and
will have units ready for sale in 2009. Conversations with several large
prospective customers are already underway. For the more information, visit
www.lumedynetechnologies.com.
Power Prawns, Thammasat University, Thailand
2007 Global Moot Corp - First Runner-up
A Thai graduate marketing student, an Asian aquaculture scientist, a US business
plan competition, and a Canadian investor: An unlikely combination, but this is
a great example of the new global investment environment that is creating
success across business cultures.
At University of Oregon’s New Venture Championship, Power Prawn Producer Co.
(PPP) caught the attention of several investors observing the competition. These
investors were so inspired, that they closed a seed stage finance commitment
with PPP in excess of US$1 million this past February. “It took almost a year of
discussions, further research and due diligence, but we did it!” said Ms.
Nattaporn Santhanawit, Managing Director of PPP and recent graduate of Thammasat
University’s Master In Marketing program. After Oregon’s NVC, the PPP team
competed in the Global Moot Corp Competition where they finished in second
place. “Going to Global Moot Corp and going through this process was critical
for us to be successful in our financing. Global Moot Corp got our plan to the
next level we needed to be able to satisfy our investors. We had to ask
ourselves all the hard questions, find solutions and hone our plan to minimize
risks to our investors. I like to think that our preparation for Global Moot
Corp and our success there shows that we did our homework. Our investors
certainly felt the same.”
PPP holds the rights to a technology which will dramatically improve the
production and yields of giant freshwater prawns – one of the most desired
species of prawn and consumed worldwide. Thailand is one of the world’s leading
prawn producers and this new venture could have a major impact to this very
important industry. After closing their financing agreement, PPP was officially
registered as a Thai company and will begin operations in mid-2008, targeting
their first sales at the beginning of 2009.
Mullis Enterprises, University of Georgia
2007 Global Moot Corp – Finalist
In less than one year after Global Moot Corp, Mullis Enterprises has moved
forward forming Green Dragon Pest Solutions, Inc. (GDPS). GDPS recently secured
over $750k of investor funding and was awarded first place in the Fortune Small
Business Pro-Am Showdown.
“Competing in premiere business plan competitions provided constant constructive
feedback that improved our business plan and presentation” said Jay Mullis
Founder and CEO. “In addition to the publicity we have received from competing
in and winning various competitions, we met our investors at the Global Moot
Corp Competition.”
GDPS’ product, Green Dragon Roach Kill™, is an environmentally friendly roach
bait that is safe to be used around children and pets. The company recently
completed tenant improvements in a 3,000 sq foot manufacturing facility in
Macon, GA and expects their product to be available to professional pest control
companies and distributors by June, 2008. For more information, visit
www.greendragonpestsolutions.com.
T&T International Seafood, University of Georgia
2007 Global Moot Corp - Semi-finalist
T&T International Seafood will import, process and distribute superior quality
seafood from throughout the world for the American market. T&T will sell black
tiger shrimp to Asian-American and American retail grocery and restaurant
chains.
T&T finalized its seed funding of $450,000 shortly after Moot Corp. It leased a
warehouse in Norcross, GA and opened for business in August 2007. Currently, it
is selling the tiger shrimp that it imports from Vietnam throughout the state of
Georgia and expects to reach first year sales in excess of $5 million.
Satyrne Medical, University of New Mexico
2007 Global Moot Corp – Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Challenge Winner
Scott Lovald set out to find a new idea to simplify jaw surgery when each
procedure took about three hours. And during each surgery, doctors had to fish
through a 75-piece erector-set of bulky metal gadgets looking for the right
components to patch a person's face back together. He found a more precise, less
bulky way to get the job done. And in December, he got Food and Drug
Administration approval to move forward with both testing and selling a
lightweight selection of 16 smaller, thinner X-shaped gadgets that do the same
thing that the massive erector set did, only more effectively, less painfully
and through a surgery process that takes about 45 minutes. The new kits are
about to go into a clinical testing phase.
Agile Sports, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
2007 Global Moot Corp – Semifinalist
Agile Sports has grown significantly since being named a semifinalist at Moot
Corp. We currently employ a staff of 18, and our product, Huddle, has
revolutionized the way teams think about communication, training and team
management by combining their video, playbook, scouting reports, presentations
and tests into a single, secure portal. Not only are the tools unified in
Huddle, but they are accessible to the team whenever and wherever they are
needed and presented in a way that is truly engaging. The reaction from players,
coaches and staff at some of the nation’s top teams has been outstanding.
Huddle was used by the University of Nebraska football team throughout the 2007
season. We released version 1.0 of our product on January 30th, and we are
currently finalizing our Vanguard Partners for the 2008 season. We just recently
completed a partnership with an NFL team and are excited to add partnerships
with three – five additional NFL and top-tier college football teams before
training camps start in August.
We completed our Series A financing round in June 2007, a round that included
business leaders form the Lincoln and Omaha area as well as the Seattle area.
While continuing our work on enhancing and supporting Huddle, we are also
beginning to explore other avenues for our technologies. For more information,
visit www.agilesports.com.
MacuCLEAR, University of Texas at Austin
2007 Global Moot Corp – Murphree Venture Challenge First Runner-up
MacuCLEAR Corporation has made considerable progress since competing in the
Global Moot Corp. MacuCLEAR is developing topically-administered eye drops to
treat Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in
people over the age of 50.
MacuCLEAR completed its initial, Series A Preferred Stock funding of $1.7
Million in April 2007 from private investor groups from Dallas and Austin,
Texas. With this funding, MacuCLEAR entered into a sponsored research agreement
with the Texas A&M Research Foundation for more than $500,000 over the next two
years for preclinical animal testing on a series of MacuCLEAR’s proprietary new
compounds. This work has resulted in two effective dose forms and demonstrated
efficacy in animal models relevant to assessing the efficacy of AMD drugs.
MacuCLEAR has filed for PCT patent coverage in Europe, Canada, Australia and
Japan. It expects to receive a German Utility Bond in the next few weeks. First
office action from the US Patent Office is expected in the spring of 2008.
MacuCLEAR’s Freedom to Operate opinion and patentability have been reconfirmed
through patent counsel.
Innovative Sports Strategies, University of Oregon
2007 Global Moot Corp - Outstanding Written Plan, Division 4
Innovative Sports Strategies (ISS) closed its first of an anticipated two rounds
of financing in order to provide the $150,000 necessary to take its flagship
Elevation software from a concept to commercial software in May 2007. ISS is an
emerging solutions provider in the sports industry. Currently under development
is web-based financial management software, Elevation, for college athletic
departments and professional sports teams. Elevation will provide users with a
more efficient way to organize, coordinate, and analyze the various spreadsheets
business managers and coaches use for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and
monitoring their business.
ISS is in position to deliver Elevation to the market during the second half of
2008. Founder and President, Brian Cole, as well as lead software developer,
Jonah Turner, currently lead the company. Company headquarters moved from
Eugene, OR to Milwaukee, WI during the summer of 2007. For more information,
visit www.iss-biz.com.
DeAmp, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
2007 Global Moot Corp - Outstanding Written Plan, Division 7
Less than a year after competing in the Global Moot Corp Competition, DeAmp has
launched its products in the Norwegian market and successfully completed the
first 10 projects with Norwegian customers. 2008 seems to be a breakthrough in
terms of DeAmp's international market expansion. Their products, fiber free
sound absorbers made in solely hard materials like aluminum, steel and plastics,
are currently being introduced in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, England, Italy,
United Arab Emirates and Korea through partner companies and representatives.
Participation in Moot Corp gave the team essential guidance in how to move the
company forward. The process was especially beneficial in the development of
DeAmp's international market strategy. Visit
www.deamp.com for more information.
eVapt, University of Texas at Austin
2007 Global Moot Corp - Outstanding Market, Division 4
eVapt is making rapid progress in bringing Usage Enabled Selling to Software as
a Service (SaaS) and Business Service Providers (BSP). Since winning the
McGinnis Venture Competition and competing in Global Moot Corp, eVapt
accomplished several milestones. The founders along with a few key employees
started working on eVapt full-time. In the Fall of 2007, the company moved into
the Austin Technology Incubator which is part of UT’s IC2 Institute. It
successfully brought the product to market with tight integrations to
SalesForce.com, a pioneer in SaaS. eVapt closed a few marquee customer accounts
and is now preparing the company for growth. Its next steps will include
enhancing the product, adding new customers, collaborating with partners and
positioning eVapt for further investment. For more information, see
www.evapt.com.
Elevate Learning, University of Michigan
2007 Global Moot Corp - Outstanding Market, Division 8
Elevate Learning is an innovative, results oriented, one-to-one online tutoring
program in math, reading, and science for K-12 schools and school districts.
Elevate Learning is part of the fast growing $12.3 billion e-learning industry.
The company capitalizes on the growing trend of customized learning to suit
individual learner’s learning style and pace. Elevate Learning successfully test
piloted its three programs in 2006 and has received excellent reviews from
school districts, students and parents. The company has bagged orders worth
$100,000 in the first five months of its commercial launch. Elevate Learning is
in talks with leading educational companies for a marketing alliance to target
the $2 billion market for supplemental educational services. The company is
currently based in Chicago.
Secure-Surfer, University of Georgia
2006 Global Moot Corp - Semi-finalist
Secure-Surfer, LLC will develop and market products that provide totally secure,
easy-to-use, maintenance-free inexpensive access to the worldwide web to
everyone, everywhere every time. The first of these products is the
Secure-Surfer which solves the most significant problems associated with using
the Internet today; namely, security against viruses, spyware and bots, network
access control, digital right management and performance such as eliminating
wait times, freezes and crashes.
Secure Surfer has received federal and state grants in excess of $750,000 to
further develop its technology. Using these funds, it has completed a Beta
prototype of its Secure-Surfer™ USB Key. Currently, it is one of two finalists
for a major contract to provide extremely secure access to the Internet for U.S.
military personnel. See
www.InternetSecurityCompany.com.
Phurnace Software, University of Texas at Austin
2006 Global Moot Corp - Outstanding Presentation, Division 5
Since competing in the Moot Corp Competition last year, we at Phurnace have made
several key milestones. Those include securing our seed financing, bringing our
product to market with enhancements driven by customer requirements, landing
marquee customer accounts including a Fortune 50 customer, and expanding the
executive team to prepare the company for growth. We are currently in the
process of raising our Series A financing. Moot Corp was a great experience for
Phurnace, and helped lay the ground work for our successes in the past year, and
for the years to come.
We at Phurnace are passionately dedicated to helping our customers streamline
installation and deployment of enterprise-class applications. The product family
today is focused on improving deployments of Java EE™ applications by
dramatically reducing time spent, substantially reducing errors, and eliminating
the need for cumbersome and hard to maintain scripts. Our product roadmap has us
extending our capabilities to other difficult to deploy and manage technologies
such as relational databases, SOA applications and the emerging class of
mobile/wireless applications. See
www.phurnace.com for more information.
Balter Medical, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
2006 Global Moot Corp - Murphree Venture Partners Honorable Mention
Balter Medical Inc was established in the United States in 2005 as the parent
company of PhotoSense AS, which was formed by Prof. Jakob J. Stamnes and Prof.
Knut Stamnes in 2001. PhotoSense has developed a rigorous optical imaging
technology called optical transfer diagnosis (OTD) for detecting anomalies in
human tissue. OTD may be used in most procedures where the naked eye or simple
photographic imaging is not sufficient for a diagnosis. OTD gives the user
real-time information about the examined tissue, and the method is completely
non-invasive.
The OTD technology can provide a broad array of optical diagnostic instruments
for tissue characterization in multiple organ systems such as endoscopy and oral
cavity examination. Initially Balter will focus on skin anomalies due to easy
probing access, current team expertise, and costs associated with clinical
trials. The company has grown to 10 people and is working on acquiring an
experienced management team. We have received $4 million in seed funding and are
currently working on attracting venture capital. See
www.baltermedical.com for
information.
Bigfoot Networks, University of Texas at Austin
2005 Global Moot Corp - Semifinalist
Bigfoot Networks develops innovative technologies designed to fight online Lag.
Bigfoot was founded on the premise of providing online gamers a smoother and
faster gaming experience. The company has developed hardware and software
products that reduce lag in both PCs and game servers. Powered by its highly
acclaimed (patent-pending) LLR™ Technology, the flagship Killer™ NIC is the
industry's first network interface card (NIC) designed specifically to improve
PC game network performance for a smoother, more responsive online game
experience.
Bigfoot Networks is working with industry leaders such as Emergent Game
Technologies to address lag in game servers. The company is also working with
other world-class developers to minimize lag and while increasing the number of
simultaneous gamers each server supports. By addressing lag throughout the
gaming ecosystem, Bigfoot gives gamers a more responsive and immersive gaming
experience. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is venture funded.
See www.bigfootnetworks.com.
DuraPower, University of Michigan
2005 Global Moot Corp - Outstanding Presentation, Division 6
A few months after participating in Global Moot Corp, the DuraPower management
team wound down the venture due to a number of business risk factors highlighted
during the Competition. However, the company which planned to provide DuraPower
with its core fuel cell technology, Adaptive Materials (www.adaptivematerials.com),
has continued to grow and use lessons learned from the DuraPower experience.
Adaptive Materials was recently ranked 28 out of the top 100 Inc. 5,000 energy
companies.
DuraPower co-founders Adam Borden and Nick Cucinelli each went on to lead other
entrepreneurial initiatives. Borden is now the founder and Managing Director of
Bradmer Foods (www.bradmerfoods.com),
a venture capital firm that invests in and develops emerging specialty and
organic food manufacturers and retailers. “Participating with my team in
competitions like Moot Corp gave me the confidence to start my own company after
business school, though completely unrelated to DuraPower,” said Borden.
Cucinelli is now President and CEO of Octillion Corp. (www.octillioncorp.com),
a technology incubator focused on the identification, acquisition, development
and commercialization of emerging alternative energy technologies. “While Moot
Corp forced us to say ‘no’ to further investment in DuraPower, it definitely
helped us reach the right business decision while significantly refining our
business acumen,” said Cucinelli. “Moot Corp was excellent preparation for the
challenges I’ve faced in conveying the value proposition of energy technologies
to potential investors.”
Vireo, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
2005 Global Moot Corp - Access Venture Partners Challenge Winner
Vireo was incorporated a little more than a year after our participation in Moot
Corp. We experienced good traction, with our business strategies being refined
and taken to the next level. The questions and recommendations from the judges
in the presentation rounds at Moot Corp played a valuable part when we made the
transition from a business case into a company developing a natural food
preservation technology. In this phase, Vireo was funded by prize money from
business plan competitions and government grants. We really felt that our
business case had matured and we came to a level where we were in serious
interactions with professional investors.
At the end of 2006, Vireo experienced a need to shift marked focus. Our natural
method of inhibiting bacterial growth did not meet expectations when the process
was scaled up. We did not give up, however. We found a different market for our
technology platform within the cleaning and hygiene industries and we secured an
agreement with a large producer of cleaning products. We are currently in the
process of producing prototypes and the prototypes’ performance under testing
will determine what will be our first product. For more info, see
www.vireo.no.
International Nutraceutical Company of America, University of Georgia
2005 Global Moot Corp
International Nutraceutical Company of America (INCA) will develop and market
natural products that have been scientifically proven to improve their users’
health. INCA’s first product is Rejuvalin, a glucosamine cream for the treatment
of osteoarthritis that delivers fifty times more glucosamine to the affected
areas than any other product on the market. INCA has an exclusive worldwide
license on Rejuvalin's patent-pending delivery technology and has completed the
development of its first product for the treatment of osteoarthritis - Rejuvalin™
The company is in the process of completing all of the various licensing and
registrations needed to launch Rejuvalin™ later this year. INCA is disappointed
that it has taken so long to get to market, but the delays mean that its U.S.
and international patents will issue and provide it protection shortly after
product launch.
Pumsetoys, ITESM, Mexico
2004 Global Moot Corp – Outstanding Business Plan, Division 5
After being recognized as “Most Outstanding Business Plan” in the Moot Corp
Competition, PumseToys S.A. de C.V. has been evolving as a company and is in
contact with different national and international companies who are interested
in the our products. The product we presented in Austin was the “Audio Story
Bundle”; a product with a great potential that helped us recognize some other
markets that required our attention.
Our company is dedicated to developing original and entertaining content. Our
main objective is to help children understand the importance of cultural
diversity, peace and sustainability. During the last two years, we have focused
on the creation of a very strong infrastructure, which currently is based on
audio and video studios and a strong list of multimedia and animation companies.
The preparation, presentation and knowledge obtained during the Moot Corp
Competition surely gave us a strong background to achieve the foundation of our
current company. To be honest, at the beginning we did not think a single
competition could give us so much preparation for a venture. Pumsetoys is in the
process of launching several products during 2008 and 2009 and investor meetings
are scheduled. To learn more, visit
www.pumsetoys.com.
uShip, University of Texas at Austin
2004 Global Moot Corp - Semifinalist
The uShip marketplace (www.uship.com) enables
shippers of oversized items to save 50% or more by being matched with drivers
who have excess cargo capacity. uShip has seen continued strong growth since its
participation in Moot Corp. Three members of the Moot Corp team, Matt Chasen,
Jay Manickam and Mickey Millsap, remain with the company and are all active in
its management. uShip’s growth has been aided by two funding rounds from
Benchmark Capital and DAG Ventures, with the last funding round occurring in
September 2006.
uShip has remained in Austin, TX and has seen its headcount grow to over 26
employees. uShip is currently focused on expansion. The company plans to add new
services and double its staff in the next two years.
Jet Red, University of Michigan
2004 Global Moot Corp - Atrium Capital Challenge Winner
Jet Yi (formerly Jet Red) is developing a new low-cost-airline carrier in China.
The airline will serve the huge and growing middle class in China. The cost
structure for Jet Yi will be over 15% lower than the major domestic airlines
China Eastern and China Southern. While at the Rice Business Plan Competition,
Jet Yi met the former Chief Operating Officer at DHL (a competition judge) who
has been serving as an advisor and mentor since the competition. The start-up
airline has lined up private equity funding commitments, built a management team
and has created an operating plan to launch the airline operations in China. Jet
Yi is awaiting approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China. They
are currently chartering two routes with Sichuan Airlines.
ZORK, Adelaide University, Australia
2002 Global Moot Corp
Since presenting ZORK at Moot Corp, the founders Conor McKenna and John Brooks
have been heavily involved with the commercialization of the venture.
Significant effort has been directed to protecting the Intellectual Property
with patents developed and lodged internationally. Commercialization funding was
secured through a $65,000 Comet grant for a project to prototype tooling and
commercialization with an intensive development and testing program underway.
Support from strategic partners has expanded with activity focused on product
development and testing as well as work up for commercial battling trials. A
direct market effort targeting industry leaders has generated 100% endorsement
for ZORKT. In 10 months ending in November 2003, ZORK raised $3 million in
private equity investment.
We have successfully launched the product in the global market place in
Australia, USA, London and Europe. ZORK has achieved its first sales with
production orders exceeding capacity. In fact, ZORK has been described by two
leading industry figures as "the greatest advancement in the wine industry since
the treading of the first grapes" and " the greatest innovation in wine I have
seen in the last 25 years". See www.zork.com.au
for more information.
Halsa Pharmaceuticals, University of Texas at Austin
2001 Global Moot Corp – TL Ventures Challenge Winner
Halsa Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a start-up biotechnology company developing
therapeutics for the treatment of obesity and other metabolic diseases. Halsa
Pharmaceuticals has achieved exclusive patent rights to a natural material that,
when injected by a physician into an obese patient, will cause immediate and
substantial depletion of body fat. Respected organizations provide significant
evidence that validates the technology.
Halsa has assembled the management team, advisory board and the industrial and
academic alliances to facilitate commercialization of this anti-obesity
therapeutic; the company has performed detailed planning with respect to
critical paths to commercialization, such as manufacturing and preclinical trial
protocols, has raised capital, and is executing on its plan. Halsa received
$250,000 from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund in March 2008. Funding could
ultimately be up to $1 million if Halsa meets certain development benchmarks.


