MINNEAPOLIS—August 28, 2014—The Minnesota Cup — a statewide entrepreneurial competition that supports and accelerates the development of breakthrough business ideas from across the state — has named seven Minnesota-based startups as division winners and seven runners-up in its 2014 competition.
Now in its tenth year, the Minnesota Cup — the nations' largest statewide new venture competition — will award $300,000 in prize money in 2014 to Minnesota's budding entrepreneurs.
These seven division-winning companies will compete for the $50,000 grand prize award and the coveted Minnesota Cup at our final awards event on September 10 at the University of Minnesota. At the event, winners from each category will be awarded $30,000 in seed capital (with the exception of the Student and Social division winners, who are awarded $20,000 each). Additionally, one runner-up from each division will receive $5,000.
Energy/Clean Tech/Water:
Division Winner: 75F - Deepinder Singh, Blue Earth County
Runner-up: Pelican Lake Holdings - Robert Anderson, Grant County
Food/Ag/Beverage:
Division Winner: Trovita Health Science – William Brown, Hennepin County
Runner-up: Locally Laid Egg Company – Jason Amundsen, St. Louis County
General:
Division Winner: YOXO - Jeff Freeland Nelson, Ramsey County
Runner-up: JenTra Tools - Travis Kelley, Cass County
High Tech:
Division Winner: Elevate - Joe Stanton, Dakota County
Runner-up: InfiniRAM - Martin Fenner, Washington County
Life Science/Health IT:
Division Winner: Andas Inc - Joseph Jensen, Hennepin County
Runner-up: SpineThera - Jeff Missling, Hennepin County
Social Entrepreneur:
Division Winner: Verde Environmental and Medsaway - Carter Anderson, Dakota County
Runner-up: Twin Cities Mobile Market - Leah Driscoll, Ramsey County
Student:
Division Winner: Jonny Pops - Connor Wray, Rice County
Runner-up: Tech Bank, LLC - Austin White-Pentony, Hennepin County
Host sponsors of The 2014 Minnesota Cup competition include Wells Fargo and the University of Minnesota. Other lead sponsors include Carlson, Digital River, General Mills and UnitedHealth Group. Supporting sponsors include Agricultural Utilization Research Institute, Blandin Foundation, Bush Foundation, Cafe Inc., Cleantech Open, CliftonLarsonAllen, The Collaborative, The Digging LLC, Eide Bailly, Fredrikson and Byron, Gopher Angels, Gray Plant Mooty, Grain Millers, Haberman, Initiative Foundation, Leonhardt Ventures, LifeScience Alley, Lurie Besikof Lapidus & Company, Magnet 360, Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand, Messerli & Kramer, Minneapolis Foundation, MN Department of Commerce, Division of Energy Resources, MN Department of Employment and Economic Development, Minnesota High Tech Association, Minnesota Venture Capital Association, MOJO MN, The Mosaic Company, Proto Labs, Inc., Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, Southwest Initiative Foundation, SixSpeed, Split Rock Partners, Spoken Impact, Stinson Leonard Street, Stoel Rives, StarTec Investments, TECHdotMN, Treehouse Health, and West Central Initiative Foundation.
The Minnesota Cup is an annual competition that seeks to support and accelerate the development of the best breakthrough ideas from across Minnesota. For more information and to enter, please visit www.breakthroughideas.org.
