6 Rounds of Innovation

WINNERS of the 2009 NEW VENTURE CHAMPIONSHIP

The 2009 New Venture Championship (NVC) was held on April 9th-11th, 2009 at the historic Multnomah hotel in Portland, Oregon. Teams from 4 countries around the world were selected to come and compete for approximately $70,000 in total prize money.

Over 160 teams submitted intents to compete; 20 teams were selected to compete in Portland.  First place and the champion of the New Venture Championship went to KT Tape of Brigham Young University receiving $50,000 in prize earnings. Congratulations to KT Tape and thanks to all the teams and volunteers who made the 18th annual New Venture Championship such a success.

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2009 Winners

$50,000 First Place Winner

Brigham Young University

Venture: KT Tape
Concept: The KT Tape™ team brings a new product category to the consumer mass retail market (kinesiology tape) through pre-existing retailer relationships and a business-to-business distribution model.  KT Tape™ has several process- and product-pending patents, and also enjoys the exclusive endorsement of Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh.
Team: Michelle Quinn and Reed Quinn
Faculty Adviser: Nile Hatch

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$10,000 Second Place Winner

Kellogg School of Management 

Venture: Gyan
Concept: Gyan is an education microfranchisor delivering English language and vocational training to the rual poor in India.  We provide entrepreneurs with an English franchise starter kit to launch their own businesses and create an end-to-end education to empoyment linkage for their sutdents.  We call this franchising for social good.
Team: Esther Choy, Supina Mapon, Pavan Singh, Ramya Singh, and Tiffany Urrechaga
Faculty Adviser: Mohanbir Sawhney

2nd Place NVC09 Gyan.JPG

$5,000 Third Place Winner

University of California, Berkeley 

Venture: Integrated Diagnostics
Concept: Integrated Diagnostics is a team of UC Berkely talent developing a novel, easy-to-use, patent-pending, point-of-care platform for early stage and accurate HIV detection and sub-typing.  We've applied Integrated Circuit technology to encapsulate the performace of an immunoassy in the palm of the hand.
Team: Octavian Florescu, Tanner Nevill, Tayson Siegel, Karl Skucha, and Kevan Wang
Faculty Adviser: Bernhard Boser

 3rd Place NVC09 Integrated Diagnostics.JPG

$2,500 Runner-Up (2)

Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalonkorn University
Venture: Castor & Pollux
Concept: LeptoSpot is a rapid diagnostic kit for leptospirosis, a tropical bacterial disease infecting 10 million people a year with 500 million at risk worldwide.  It uses the nanogold technology and antigen-detecting technique to provide early detection and simplicity of use, requiring neither complicated machines nor highly trained technicians to operate.
Team: Tanaphat Laohavisit, Patcharin Pratheeptham, Sorradithep Supachanya, and Thanan Suthipongmitri
Faculty Adviser: Nick Pisalyaput

Thammasat University
Venture: Gold Plus
Concept: Jewelry manufcatures are facing serious cost challenges: gold prices rising and retailers downard price pressures.  Using our unique technology, Gold Plus markets reduced density 14k gold to produce jewelry with the same size and qaulity but 20$ less cost.  Our products create a new economic paradigm in this US$6 billion market.
Team: Parujee Chantaharn, Yanin Kasemkosolsri, Nattaya Khuntivongvarn, and Thanawat Malabuppha
Faculty Adviser: Bill Randall

Tektronix - Elevator Pitch Awards

$1,000 First place: UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE - necoPlastics

Tektronix - Trade Show Award

$1,000 first place: UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE - necoPlastics

Lightning Round Awards

$1,500 track winner (5):

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN - Focal Pop
CORNELL UNIVERSITY - GeneWeave
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS - GroundUp Biosolutions
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON - Interactive Fan
UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE - necoPlastics

All other teams in the Lightning Round received a $750 runner-up prize

Past Winners