2007 Headlines
e2e Materials Wins Johnson School's Big Red Ventures Business Idea Competition
Record Number of Entries Compete for over $100,000 in Prize Money
April 24, 2007 | Ithaca, NY - The Johnson School at Cornell University today announced that e2e Materials won the seventh annual Big Red Ventures Business Idea Competition. Based on Cornell technology, e2e Materials produces strong, biodegradable composites from renewable fibers and soy protein. It is working to commercialize a formaldehyde-free, cost competitive alternative to particleboard. As the winner, e2e Materials will receive $10,000 and 20 hours of free legal help through Big Red Legal, Cornell's entrepreneurship legal services program. It also advances to the Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge, a business plan competition for Buffalo, Ithaca, Rochester in Western New York, as well as the city of Waterloo, Ontario. The first-place winner of this competition will receive $100,000 in cash.
Student managers from the Johnson School's student-run venture capital fund Big Red Ventures (BR Ventures) reviewed all 165 entries and selected eight ideas to advance as finalists of the competition. The competition gives these managers first glance at potential investment opportunities for the venture capital fund down the road. In March 2007, BR Ventures announced a new investment in Systanix, Inc., a company that won the Business Idea Competition in 2005.
The eight finalists presented their business ideas before a panel of experts on April 19, 2007. Judges included Ralph Terkowitz, ABS Capital Partners; Eric Young, Canaan Partners; Dan Simpkins, HillCrest Labs; Andy Jones, Boulder Ventures; Anupendra Sharma, Siemens Venture Capital; and David Rickerby, Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP. They judged the presentations on criteria such as innovation and originality, competitive advantage, customer and competitive analysis, business model viability, management team, and possible venture capital interest.
The second place winner was DNANO Systems, LLC, receiving $2,500. DNANO Systems is working to commercialize a proprietary technology developed at Cornell to rapidly produce proteins at high yields without involving living cells, thereby eliminating costs associated with a cell-based manufacturing process. The company will also be entered into the Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge.
Veratag, Inc. placed third. Receiving $1,000, Veratag's mission is to change the cost-benefit equation for security in radio frequency identification systems. Based on Cornell technology, the company hopes to develop micro-electro-mechanical systems resonators that can produce unique analog signals for use in identification, authentication, and counterfeit prevention.
About BR Ventures
BR Ventures is the venture capital arm of the Johnson School's Entrepreneurship Triad, providing venture capital and business expertise to promising startups by providing seed funding, typically ranging between $40,000 and $100,000. BR Ventures' dynamic team of second year MBA student fund managers helps startups realize their commercial potential and creative vision. Fund managers control over every aspect of the fund and execute each step of the venture capital process including searching for and selecting investment opportunities; performing due diligence; negotiating term sheets; making investment decisions; and guiding transactions through closing. BR Incubator, a student-run incubator service and BR Legal, a legal counsel service form the remainder of the triad.
BR Venture's previous investments include Systanix, Inc., a company with technology for continuous flow micro-reactors for chemical synthesis; Experience Enterprises, LLC, an experience-based retailer; SightSpeed, an internet-based video conferencing company started by a Johnson School MBA and Cornell professor; Gene Network Sciences, a systems biology company; NovaSterilis, a biomedical sterilization company; Pacific Biosciences, a DNA sequencing company; and Medical Care Corporation, an Alzheimer's detection company.
