April 27 was the 2011 Business Plan Competition Investment Round—our marquee event of the year! It was a start-up extravaganza with nearly 280 judges (entrepreneurs, investors, and community supporters) hearing simultaneous pitches from 37 teams (selected from 104 entries—a banner year!) representing colleges and universities across Washington State. Booths were set up in a trade show format and teams worked to attract judges to their booth to pitch their start-up idea and business model.  Each judge had $1,000 CIE dollars to “invest” and the following 16 teams who received the highest investment will now advance to the Sweet 16 Round on May 26. 

With many thanks to our judges and sponsors, we offer our congratulations to the 2011 Sweet 16:

AgComm, UW Bothell, UW
Offers an affordable solution of hardware, software and services that help farmers monitor and combat environmental threats to their crops through a single web-based application.

Aqueduct Neurosciences, UW
Developing innovative medical device technology to improve the treatment of hydrocephalus through improved control, feedback, and failure prevention.  

C6 Systems, UW
Developed a novel slow-pyrolysis system that turns woody biomass into charcoal, or biochar, at the site of forestry operations.

Feral Motion, Seattle University, UW
Provides the world’s best automated filming experience for action sports.

Fluentizer, UW
Multiplatform (Windows, Mac, Unix, Linux, Android) software that helps people improve their verbal comprehension of foreign languages and increase their vocabulary to the level of native speakers.

LodeSpin Labs, UW
Manufactures tracers for Magnetic Particle Imaging, a new medical imaging technology capable of replacing CT and MRI for imaging patients with heart disease and cancer.

Point of Care Technologies, UW
Developed modular medical devices which interface with Android-based mobile devices via Bluetooth.

PotaVida, UW
Provides a low-cost, reusable tool that takes the guesswork out of solar disinfection of water, for use in disaster relief and areas lacking potable water.

Pterofin, UW
Designs and manufactures innovative wind energy devices for residential and commercial use.  

Punchkeeper, Seattle University
A customer loyalty smart phone application that digitally replaces paper punch cards making businesses more competitive while saving consumers money, hassle, and wallet space.

SkyFu, UW
Reputation management made easy. No strings attached. SkyFu offers a one stop, accessible and actionable social web reputation management solution for small to medium sized firms. We are different because we are a trusted social web adviser to our clients.

Solanux, WSU, University of Idaho
Produces patented potato food ingredients with high amounts of resistant starch (RS) which help lower a person’s glycemic index response, improve insulin levels, and lower fat and cholesterol levels.  

SoothieSuckers, UW
Creates all-natural ice pops infused with herbal remedies for children's cough and cold.

Stockbox Grocers, Bainbridge Graduate Institute
A mini grocer tucked inside a reclaimed shipping container, to provide fresh produce and basic staples in urban food deserts.

Tripbox, UW
Makes leisure trip planning simple, smart and enjoyable by providing an easy to use online service that automatically generates an itinerary that optimizes cost, timing, and routes and allows users to further customize their trip.

Urban Canopy, UW
Provides SaaS software that guides customers through design, execution, and maintenance of green building initiatives, including LEED certification.

First Alternate:
RideMyDesign.com, UW
The first ski and snowboard value-added online retailer, offering custom graphics on name brand equipment via our ever-expanding, online community design database.

Learn more about the Investment Round teams.