The Annual Collaboration for Entrepreneurship conference was held yesterday in Livonia, MI, drawing startups and investors from around the state of Michigan. At the conference, the winners of the Great Lakes Entrepreneurship Quest (GLEQ) business plan competition were announced. Startups also competed in an elevator pitch contest.
Conference organizers say that more than 200 entrepreneurial ventures participated in the business plan competition, which was open to early-stage startups with up to $3 million in cumulative sales. The judges consisted of more than 85 VCs, angel investors, tech transfer officials, and economic developers. Here’s a look at some of the winners:
In the emerging company category, Detroit-based Inventev, which has developed a system to bring mobile power generation to commercial truck fleets, won first-place honors and $5,000. The company was also awarded a presentation slot at the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium in June.
Phasiq, located in Plymouth, won the second-place award ($3,000). Phasiq has developed a diagnostic platform to detect protein biomarkers in biological samples. Detroit-based Campus Commandos, a campus marketing firm that uses student ambassadors, won third place ($2,500).
In the new business ideas category, the first-place award of $2,000 went to the Kalamazoo-based Micro-LAM Technologies, an advanced materials company that has created a tool for precision machining. The second-place award of $1,500 went to the Detroit-based Sentinl, which uses Identilock fingerprint technology to increase gun safety. West Bloomfield’s custom amphibian airplane designer Wave Aircraft won the $1,000 third-place prize.
The winner of the elevator pitch competition was Kalamazoo-based Native Traits, which is working on developing drought-resistant corn. The elevator pitch judges were Lauren Bigelow, CEO of Growth Capital Network; Xconomist Terry Cross, founder of Windward Associates; Dale Grogan, managing director of the Michigan Accelerator Fund; and Mark Hopper, founding member of Andrews Hooper Pavlik.
