The 10th annual Rice business plan competition (RBPC) — one of the largest and most lucrative academic start-up contests — awarded more than $1 million in cash and prizes to fledgling firms. Forty-two university teams pitched their technology business plans to more than 200 judges representing successful VCs, entrepreneurs, and business leaders. The teams competed in six categories: life sciences, information technology, energy, green tech, social ventures, and other technologies. Each team presented a 15-minute business plan, with the top six competitors vying for a grand prize valued at up to $385,000, including a $285,000 equity investment, $20,000 in cash, and more than $80,000 in business services, including office space, marketing support, and business mentoring. BiologicsMD, LLC, from the University of Arkansas won the grand prize and several other awards. The start-up has developed OsteoFlor, a medication that binds directly to bone to spur bone growth. The product requires less frequent dosing and is expected to have few, if any, side effects.
Other top winners included:
- Rebellion Photonics from Rice University, whose patent-pending technology allows a high-resolution, large format, hyper-spectral image to be taken instantaneously. The compact, portable device provides for real-time, on-site, optical chemical detection.
- GlucaGo, LLC, from Indiana University and Purdue University, which specializes in solid to liquid drug storage and injection technologies to improve the storage and administration of injectable drugs.
- * OrthoIntrinsics from London School of Economics and Rice University, which is developing a patent-pending device, PRIME, that can directly and accurately measure internal hand strength. Used as an outcome measurement tool, PRIME can improve clinical practice and promote evidence-based medicine.
- * Ambiq Micro from the University of Michigan, whose energy-efficient microcontroller (MCU), the Ambiq MCU, requires 25-130 times less energy in sleep mode and four to 10 times less energy in active mode than today’s functionally equivalent MCUs.
- Reveal Design from the University of Michigan, whose automated software solution can perform scalable and comprehensive verification of digital logic designs to customers in the integrated circuit (IC) design industry.
- UCLA’s Biogas & Electric, LLC, which has developed BioCat, a patented, low cost nitrous oxide (NOx) reduction technology that can be used in conjunction with anaerobic digestion — the leading solution to methane emissions produced by a variety of industries.
- Sun Yat-sen University’s Deli Worm, which has developed patent-pending biotechnology and a custom-designed automation system to mass produce live organic worm meals as a substitute for current fish meals, mitigating the depletion of fish stock.
- Stanford’s C3Nano, Inc., which has developed a cross-cutting technology to increase the efficiency of thin film photovoltaic (PV) technology.
- The University of Arkansas’ InnerVision, whose extreme-condition electronics improve the efficiency of electricity-generating turbines and reduce operating costs.
- Rice’s infantAIR, whose continuous positive airway pressure system (CPAP), named Baby Bubbles, gently inflates the lungs of infants and increases oxygenation.
Source: Rice Alliance