Semifinalists Selected for the 2011-2012 McCloskey Business Plan Competition

Twelve
teams will advance to the semifinal round of the University of Notre Dame
annual business plan competition. The Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
at the Mendoza College of Business, which sponsors the nearly year-long
McCloskey Business Plan Competition, released on Thursday the names of the
ventures that will go to compete for more than $100,000 in prizes.

“This is a very strong group of competitors,” said Karen Slaggert,
associate director of the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.   “Feedback from our judges indicates that the
quality of business plans is better than ever before.  Participation has been outstanding this year,
as nearly 700 members of the Notre Dame community have engaged in the
competition. We are extremely pleased with the great representation from our
faculty, alumni, graduate and undergraduate students.” 

The McCloskey Business Plan Competition
semifinalists are as follows:

·       3 Circle Network, a software
solution that engages business leaders in the development of an actionable
growth strategy

·       Blue Water Bioproducts, a
venture offering cost-competitive, high performance and environmentally friendly
polyurethane resins

·       hands+on, a
venture developing a therapy toy that is an interactive platform for children with
Autism Spectrum Disorders

·       Health Games,
which provides a disruptive mobile wellness game for employees that
makes getting fit fun, while enabling corporations to save significant money on
their healthcare expenses

·       Laser Transmission
Spectroscopy,  a
technology called LightSprite that provides the size, shape and number of
nanoparticles in suspension, which will have a significant impact on the
pharmaceutical, biomed/biotech, and environmental industries

·       Markover,
an application that provides an intuitive way for users to have a conversation
over online media

·       MyFit, a
proprietary technology that allows consumers to virtually try on clothing at
the websites of their favorite retailers

·       Next Payment Solutions Inc., a digital
fulfillment company specializing in online consumer promotion redemption and
fulfillment

·       Reveal Medical, a
point-of-care testing device that will rapidly quantify metastatic precursor
cells, or circulating tumor cells (CTCs), allowing earlier detection resulting
in better patient outcomes

·       Soluther, a
venture that will commercialize licensed technology from the University of Notre
Dame’s Science department to improve the lives of cancer patients struggling
with current chemotherapy treatments

·       Tmber.com, a one-stop
website that makes it easy for people of all experience levels to find
comprehensive information about their next hike, snowshoe, and mountain bike
adventure

·       TotalOps, a data
security technology that allows provides out-task complex backup and recovery
operations using a combination of cloud-based assets and a proprietary
“AutoRemediation” technology that finds and fixes the majority of problems
without human intervention

A
total of 131
teams entered the McCloskey Competition last fall. In December, 90 teams
were invited to continue into Round 2, where they began to write their business
plans. The twelve teams selected as semifinalists will
pitch their new ventures before a distinguished panel of judges on April 19,
2012.  

From this group of 12 semifinalists, three to five finalists will be
selected to compete for a total of more than $100,000 in cash and in-kind
prizes.  These finalist presentations will take place live in the Mendoza
College’s Jordan Auditorium at 1:30 p.m. on April 20.

The final presentations
are free and open to the public.

In addition to the McCloskey Grand Prize awarded to the
overall winner, a number of additional awards will be given, including the Klau
Family Prize for Greatest Social Impact, which goes to the venture – both
for-profit and not-for-profit – that involves a social, humanitarian or
environmental focus. All
attendees to the final event also will have the opportunity to vote for the Pace
Global People’s Choice Best Presentation Award.

The
McCloskey Business Plan Competition is intended for traditional entrepreneurial
ventures that have not yet been launched or are at the earliest stage of
launch. This
is typically defined as ventures that have earned less than $500,000 in
cumulative revenue, received less than $500,000 in external financing, and have
been in operation for less than three years. 

A total of 183 judges and mentors evaluate the
entries and provide feedback and advising. 
The judges include members of the Gigot Center Advisory Board as well as
the IrishAngels, a network brings together a select group of Notre Dame
alumni and friends who are both experienced in entrepreneurial endeavors and
interested in new venture development. 

For
more information, contact the Gigot Center at (574) 631-3042 or visit http://business.nd.edu/gigot_center/.

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