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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. Back to Top