I had to double-check after Qualcomm today announced the six regional finalists for its second annual QPrize venture investment competition. The San Diego wireless giant (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) held its inaugural QPrize event in 2009, but the logistics of running a global prize competition made it difficult to reprise the entire process in 2010.
So this is the second annual QPrize competition in three years.
In its statement today, Qualcomm says the six finalists were selected in a series of regional competitions and each will receive $100,000 (or €100,000 in Europe). Qualcomm Ventures, which oversees the QPrize, added Israel and South Korea this time, which expanded the number of regional finalists to six from the original four (North America, China, Europe, and India). The grand prize winner selected at DEMO will win an additional $150,000.
As finalists, the companies will proceed to the final round of competition, which will be held at DEMO Spring in Palm Desert, CA, from Feb. 27 to March 1. The region and finalists are:
—North America: Enterproid, a New York, NY, software startup (listed as a portfolio company at High Peaks Venture Partners) developing Android-based technology to enable professionals to consolidate their work and personal life onto a single enterprise-grade device without compromising security or functionality.
—China: Ji Ke, an independent mobile app store that offers more than 33,000 games, 15,000 handset applications, 56,000 books, and 9,400 videos. The company generated $4 million in revenue (and a $440,000 profit) in 2009.
—Europe: Cambridge Temperature Concepts, founded in 2006 by a group of Cambridge scientists, has developed a fertility monitor that uses a small sensor patch worn under the arm to monitor body temperature every second. The data is transferred wirelessly to a hand-held reader that displays easy-to-understand results, which are intended to help couples identify times when they are most likely to get pregnant.
—India: Reverie Technologies, founded in 2006, has developed technology for three screens (computer/Internet, mobile device, and TV) that is intended to provide businesses with a simple and effective way to reach mass audiences, irrespective of language.
—Israel: Corrigon uses proprietary object recognition technology in mobile applications to identify products for consumers and display relevant shopping information.
—South Korea: Kiwiple, a location-based information and social networking service company, uses an augmented reality-interface currently loaded on about 3 million Android phones in South Korea.