| [April 19, 2005] |
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The Rice University Business Plan Competition Announces 2005 Winning Teams
HOUSTON --(Business Wire)-- April 19, 2005 -- World's Largest University-Based Intercollegiate Business Plan Competition awards over $200,000 in cash and prizes to top competing MBA teams
The Rice University Business Plan Competition, which took place April 7 - 9 at Rice University, is pleased to announce the winning teams from 36 competing schools from all over the globe.
During the three-day competition, hosted by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University, student MBA teams presented business plans to a panel of over 130 distinguished judges, which were selected based on their expertise in investing and entrepreneurship and their interest in supporting early stage entrepreneur for new venture start-up companies.
The Rice Business Plan Competition has become the largest and richest intercollegiate university-run business plan competition in the world, based on the number of schools competing on campus. The winners of over $200,000 in prizes were announced at the Saturday night Awards Banquet attended by nearly 600 individuals, headlined by keynote speaker Bob McNair, owner of the Houston Texans and founder of Cogene Ventures and Cogen Technologies.
The Grand Prize was awarded to The University of California Los Angeles' (UCLA) Auditude, a company that has developed a suite of technology services for automatic tracking of broadcast advertising to assist broadcasters with accurate execution. The team from Auditude was awarded:
-- $100,000 Investment Prize from The GOOSE Society of Texas, a group of six highly successful entrepreneurs, including: Rod Canion, Arthur A. Ciocca, Terry M. Giles, Jack M. Gill, PhD, Michael Holthouse, and Leo Linbeck, III, (the "Grand Order of Successful Entrepreneurs").
-- $20,000 cash award from HP (Hewlett-Packard Company)
-- Up to 1 year office space provided by the Houston Technology Center and technology support from 1-Service
-- Roundtrip Airline Tickets on Continental Airlines
-- The development of a company web site and hosting services for one year from RentTheSite.com
-- Automatic entry into the 2005 MOOT CORP competition in May 2005
The first place team was not the only school to go home with cash and prizes. Other winners included: -0- *T 2nd Place Team - Northwestern University (Kellogg): Spark Parking $15,000 cash award from Shell Technology Ventures 3rd Place Team: University of Michigan: Incept BioSystems $7,500 cash award from Finger Interests 4th Place Team: London Business School: Mi Viejita $2,500 cash award from Finger Interests 5th Place Team: University of Chicago: Midway Pharmaceuticals $2,000 cash award from Administaff 6th Place Team: University of Pennsylvania (Wharton): Green Mobile $2,000 cash award from Administaff 7th Place Team: University of Louisville: NanoMed Delivery $2,000 cash award from Administaff *T
All seven finalists also received free software from Microsoft and free website and hosting services for up to a year provided by RENTthesite.com.
Other cash and prizes awarded to the competing schools included: -0- *T Murphree Venture Partners Wildcard Round Winners First Place Team: London Business School: Mi Viejita (advanced to Finals) 2nd Place Team: Columbia University: Differential Dynamics $1,500 cash award 3rd Place Team: MIT - Osio Corporation (Presbytek Inc.) $1,000 cash award 4th Place Team: New York University: Auricle $1,000 cash award 5th Place Team: University of Texas (Austin ): Dragonfly Diagnostics $750 cash award 6th Place Team: Brigham Young University: Princess Sweet $750 cash award Fulbright and Jaworski Challenge Round Flight A $500 - First Place: University of Illinois: Microlution, Inc. $250 - Second Place: Arizona State University: Halo Cups, Inc. Flight B $500 - First Place: Stanford: PrepMe Corp. $250 - Second Place: Babson College: Inanovate Flight C $500 - First Place: Rice University: Auto Loan Services $250 - Second Place: University of Georgia: Webmasters International Flight D $500 - First Place: Boston University: TeleEMG $250 - Second Place: SMU: Gobletts Flight E $500 - First Place: University of Toronto: Gradecast $250 - Second Place: Carnegie Mellon University: Special Frontiers Flight F $500 - First Place: University of Tennessee: Ion/Plasma Health Solutions $250 - Second Place: University of Maryland: Arcxis Biotechnologies Austin Ventures Elevator Pitch Competition First Place: MIT - Osio Corporation (Presbytek, Inc.): $1,000 Second Place: University of Michigan: Incept BioSystems: $750 Third Place: UCLA: Auditude: $750 Fourth Place: Harvard University: AquaFloor: $500 Fifth Place: Rice University: Auto Loan Services: $500 Special Awards Cogene Ventures Life Science Award $2,000 - Best Life Science Business Plan University of Michigan: Incept BioSystems Conley Rose IP Powerhouse Award $2,000 - Best Intellectual Property Columbia University - Differential Dynamics Energy Valley Award $2,000 - Best Energy Business Plan Columbia University - Differential Dynamics Chase Hispanic Business Plan Award $2,000 - Best Business Plan from an Hispanic Team London Business School - Mi Viejita Houston Venture Capital Association (HVCA) Outstanding Written Business Plan Award $2,000 - Best Written Business Plan University of Michigan: Incept BioSystems *T
Corporate Team Sponsors include Pannell Kerr Forster of Texas sponsoring Texas A&M University, Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business sponsoring Carnegie Mellon University, The Wharton Club of Houston sponsoring University of Pennsylvania, Frost Bank sponsoring Southern Methodist University, Yaffe/Deutser sponsoring Texas Southern University, ChevronTexaco sponsoring the University of Texas at Austin and Rice University, Gateway Payment Services sponsoring Rice University, Tom and Mary Bates sponsoring the University of Michigan, Allegro Capital Management sponsoring Harvard University, Hewlett-Packard sponsoring Arizona State University, artjar Venture Design sponsoring Brigham Young University, Austin Ventures sponsoring University of Tennessee, Loden Interests and Tom S. Gillis sponsoring Texas A&M University, K/P/L Katzenbach Partners LLC sponsoring Stanford University, Gaurav and Anna BoweeGoel sponsoring Babson University, the Chicago GSB Alumni of Houston sponsoring the University of Chicago, and Prognosis Solutions sponsoring the Universidad de los Andes.
Competition prize sponsors included: HP (Hewlett-Packard Company), Shell Technology Ventures, Inc., Finger Interests, LTD., Administaff, Austin Ventures, Bank of Texas, Murphree Venture Partners, and Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
Special prize sponsors included: Chase Bank, Cogene Ventures, Conley Rose, P.C., Energy Valley, Inc., and the Houston Venture Capital Association.
Awards banquet sponsors included Platinum Sponsor: Sterling Bank and Gold Sponsors: Administaff, Ernst & Young.
Reception and lunch sponsors included Haynes and Boone LLP, Vinson & Elkins LLP, Gardere Wynne Sewell, LLP, Winstead Sechrest & Minick, PC.
Gold Event Sponsors included: Bank of America, Kern Design, LLC, Jackson Walker, LLP, Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP, Microsoft, The Padgett Group and Vinson & Elkins, LLP.
Silver event sponsors included: NASDAQ, Rackspace Managed Hosting, and Sternhill Partners.
Other event sponsors included: DataCert, Main Street Capital Partners, Pannell Kerr Forster of Texas (PKF Texas), Woodrock & Co, Houston Technology Center, 1-Service, RENTthesite.com, Continental Airlines, Houston Business Journal, Business Wire, Houston METRO and Saint Arnold Brewing Company.
About The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship
The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship is Rice University's flagship initiative devoted to the support of technology entrepreneurship. Since its inception in late-1999, the Rice Alliance has assisted in the launch of over 160 new technology companies, which have raised more than $200 million in early stage funding.
The mission of the Rice Alliance is to support the creation of technology-based companies and the commercialization of new technologies. The Rice Alliance provides entrepreneurs with a collaborative network and forum for support, education, and exchange of ideas. It provides entrepreneurs access to the human and financial capital needed for success.
About the Jones School
The Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management is one of seven academic units of Rice University. Named in honor of the late Jesse Holman Jones, a prominent Houston business and civic leader, the school received its initial funding in 1974 through a major gift from the Houston Endowment Inc., a philanthropic foundation established by Jones and his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones. The school offers the MBA and MBA for Executives degree as well as the following joint degrees: MBA/ME with the George R. Brown School of Engineering and MD/MBA with Baylor College of Medicine. The Jones School also offers a full schedule of non-credit executive education and customized courses for business and industry.
The Financial Times 2005 ranks the Jones School's MBA program the best in Texas and the Southwest. The Financial Times also ranks the Jones School's MBA for Executives the best in Texas and the Southwest. The Jones School has been ranked among the top ten for finance five out of the last six years and in the top ten for entrepreneurship twice in six years.
The Princeton Review's most recent Best 143 Business Schools ranks the Jones School among the top 10 in "most competitive students" and "greatest opportunity for women."
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