BPC - Meet Past BPC Winners

WiRover, Suman Banerjee, Information Technology.
WiRover Inc., a company formed two years ago, is led by Suman Banerjee, a UW-Madison professor of computer sciences. WiRover has developed an end-to-end software platform to deliver high-bandwidth Internet services to moving vehicles, including buses, trains, emergency vehicles and automobiles. The company is running pilot projects with Madison’s Metro Transit System and with Van Galder Bus Co. Its intellectual property is being managed by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

2011 Winners in other categories:

Business Services: The Bugabees, Amy Recob: The BugaBees offers a comprehensive line of interactive media, picture books and merchandise designed to teach kids how to manage both the physical and emotional consequences of living with food allergies.

Advanced Manufacturing: Kinetic Performance Systems, Jeffrey Smith: Kinetic Performance Systems makes adhesive muscle support and pain relief products. Its products are easily applied directly by the consumer and have been designed and clinically tested using diagnostic ultrasound technology.

Life Sciences: Insulete, Hans Sollinger: Insulete is an early stage biopharmaceutical company that is developing treatments for Type 1 diabetes. Insulete discovered a genetic construct with the potential to cure Type I diabetes with monthly injections. The company is led by UW-Madison transplant surgeon, Dr. Hans Sollinger.

2010 GRAND PRIZE WINNER:

LIVEyearbook Inc., Dan Nickchen, Information Technology.
The Neenah-based company has developed a software-as-a-service platform that can be used by schools and students to produce online yearbooks. The company’s patent-pending technology offers schools appropriate editorial controls and a better revenue model, and allows students to create custom yearbooks online or in a traditional print format.

The company’s leadership has experience in school-based products, software development and early stage management. It is targeting a national market that includes 133,000 schools and 56 million students, many of whom are at the vanguard of the social-media generation.

2010 Winners in other categories:

Life Sciences: Ryan Shepherd, PhylloTech: PhylloTech is an agricultural biotechnology company in Madison that is developing broad spectrum, natural product fungicides for environmentally friendly control of plant pathogens.

Business Services: Kristin Benson Ellsworth , Peeps Eyewear LLC: Peeps Eyewear LLC is a Madison firm that designs and markets optical frames and accessories for children.

Advanced Manufacturing: Karl Holt, Aero-Stream Septic Remediation: This Hartland company designs, manufactures and markets a patented product to maintain and restore septic systems.

2009 GRAND PRIZE WINNER:

Eso-Technologies Inc., a Middleton-based start-up company that has developed a monitoring device to reduce the risk of heart attacks for people undergoing surgery, was the Grand Prize winner in the 2009 Governor’s Business Plan Contest. The company, led by CEO Bonnie Reinke, received $50,000 in cash and in-kind prizes from the contest – and has since raised $1 million from investors. Eso-Technologies plan to launch its esophageal cardiac monitoring device for surgical and critical care applications within three years. The company aims to replace an existing product, which is an invasive pulmonary artery catheter that leads 45,000 operating room complications per year. Heart attacks are the number one cause of death in surgery. Eso-Technologies went on to raise a $1 million investment round within six months of winning the contest.

2009 Winners in other categories:

Advanced Manufacturing: Mike Miller, NxtMile Custom Running Shoes: This Madison-area company’s shoes are engineered and custom assembled to address the specific biomechanical and orthopedic needs of over-40 and experienced runners, helping them prevent injury. NxtMile utilizes proprietary pressure-mapping technology.

Business Services: Jim Martin, Green 3 Organic Apparel: This Oshkosh company designs, sources, markets and distributes environmentally friendly apparel and soft home products through a nationwide network of specialty stores, as well as global catalog retailers such as Sundance, the Discovery Channel and others.

Information Technology: Scopia, Ophir Ben-Yitschak: This Bayside-based online utility is a global travel networking, developing innovative online software solutions in two main areas: intermodal itineraries, which integrate air, ground and sea transportation modes into a single trip, and multi-fare level pricing from multiple sources and programs.

2008 GRAND PRIZE WINNER:

Graphene Solutions, a nanotechnology company that featured a 17-year-old student on its scientific team, was the grand prize winner in the 2008 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest and collected prizes worth $50,000. The company, led by UW-Platteville chemistry professor Jim Hamilton, CEO Philip Jackson and Philip Streich, a student who takes classes at Platteville and online through Stanford University, has patent-pending technology that could transform electronics, optics and materials science.

2008 Winners in other categories:

Business Services: Van Krzywicki, Pea Pod Homes LLC: This Sturgeon Bay company will design and distribute solar home packages that rely on patent-pending computer modeling and a unique combination of building materials.

Information Technology: Dan van der Weide, Optametra. This Verona start-up firm has developed complex optical modulation test equipment that can hasten deployment of long-haul optical fiber, which is used to transmit data.

Life Sciences: Jeff Williams, Platypus. This Madison firm is developing a handheld nitric oxide monitor with liquid crystal sensor technology to provide low-cost, convenient tests for asthma and other diseases.

2007 GRAND PRIZE WINNER:

Vector Surgical, a start-up company from Oconomowoc, was the grand prize winner in the 2007 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest. The company, which has five medical devices that drive precision, efficiency and safety in surgical procedures, collected prizes worth $50,000 as a result of winning the contest. This was Vector Surgical’s third year in the contest, which in 2007 attracted nearly 300 entries from across Wisconsin.

Vector Surgical’s first three products, MarginMarker, CorrectClips and MultiView, establish a higher standard of accuracy for marking the margins of cancerous tissue. MammoShield is used in breast cancer surgery, while LapMarker targets laparoscopic surgery. The company was founded in early 2005 and projects being profitable by 2009.

2007 Winners in other categories:

Advanced Manufacturing: Kimberly Trygar, Dossette LLC. This Pleasant Prairie company designs and manufactures pharmacy automation equipment that includes a package filling system that requires no tooling changeover between drugs. Dossette had two other plans that made the list of finalists.

Business Services: Susanne Kufahl, Fahlgreen Solutions. This Montello firm is a biometric integration and security company that specializes in turn-key solutions for positive identification of criminal history.

Information Technology: Dave Rasmussen, Extract Systems. This Madison firm has developed software to automate the expensive and time-consuming tasks of locating and extracting sensitive information in documents, thus protecting against identity theft.

2006 GRAND PRIZE WINNER:

MatriLab, a biotech start-up company with origins in Madison but strong business and clinical roots in Milwaukee, is the grand prize winner in the 2006 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest. The company, which makes an innovative drug delivery product for wounds, will collect prizes of at least $50,000 as a result of winning the contest.

While conventional bandages cover the surface of an injury, the MatriLab technology conforms to the irregular, “English muffin”-like contours of a wound.

MatriLab’s first product is a spray-on biomaterial used in thetreatment of chronic wounds. While the basic scientific research was carried out by Dr. John Kao and his team on the UW-Madison campus, clinical work has taken place in Milwaukee under the leadership of scientists such as Dr. Jeff Niezgoda. Brian Thompson and Kathleen Kelleher lead the company’s business operations.

The company is working with scientists at UW-Madison, the Medical College of Wisconsin and St. Lukes Medical Center, as well as management consultants at Milwaukee’s TechStar Early Ventures.
MatriLab also won the Life Sciences category in the contest, which was judged by 48 business, investment and technology experts. Winners in other categories were:

2006 Winners in other categories:

Advanced Manufacturing: Plasma Devices, Madison.
Plasma Devices has developed its first product, “Safe-Mail,” a patented plasma reactor that produces large volumes of low-temperature plasma at exceptionally low costs for use in the decontamination of packages and letters for a wide variety of biological and chemical agents, including anthrax, smallpox, SARS and flu strains. “Safe-Mail” decontaminates post and packages without causing damage to the items being shipped. The contestant is Magesh Thiyagarajan of Madison.

Business Services: Pragmatic Construction, Milwaukee.
Pragmatic Construction is a start-up business founded to advance sustainable development within the urban environment. By integrating Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, an innovative, primary building material, with other green and traditional energy-efficient technologies, Pragmatic Construction obtains the optimal ratio of low construction costs, high quality, and superior energy efficiency. The contest team included Juli Kaufmann, Steve Servais and Nikolai Usack.

Information Technology: Get IPIC, Madison.
The mission of GetIPIC is to secure the e-consumer’s privacy and prevent online identity theft by giving the e-consumer the ability to make anonymous purchases through the use of its proprietary methodology, the IPIC™ (Internet Privacy and Identity Credential™). GetIPIC’s technology gives consumers the ability to control their personal information and conduct private and secure e-transactions; enables online merchants to increase sales without changing existing point-of-sale systems; and increases bank revenues while ensuring regulatory compliance. The contest team included Khaja Din, Curt Szymanski and Brent Newport

2005 GRAND PRIZE WINNER:

Mithridion Inc., the top-scoring plan in the Life Sciences category, was the Grand Prize winner in 2005. Mithridion is a Madison-based company that is focused on designing and exploiting breakthrough discoveries to develop drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Jeff Johnson, a UW-Madison researcher, and Dr. Trevor Twose are Mithridion's executives.

2005 Winners in other categories:

Advanced Manufacturing: AquaSensors, LLC: AquaSensors LLC, a Brookfield company, designs and manufactures innovative analytical measurement systems for the continuous monitoring of pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, ozone, and turbidity in aqueous processes. Bruce Bathurst is the owner.

Two other finalists were:

Business Services: RADOM: RADOM assists small- and medium-size medical device manufacturers grow their market share by providing outsourced research solutions. Jovan Jevtic and Ashok Menon are founders.

Information Technology: Online-Kiosks.net: Online-Kiosks.net of Eau Claire, helps businesses display personalized, motivational, entertaining and multi-lingual information to customers and employees in waiting areas and other public locations. Mike Strand is the founder.

2004 GRAND PRIZE WINNER:

BioSystem Development, founded by CEO Scott Fulton of Middleton, offers an alternative to laboratory test used routinely by drug researchers and other scientists.

NovaScan, co-founded by Bill Gregory, Chris Gregory and Larry Wells of greater Milwaukee, has developed technology that can detect breast cancer tumor at an earlier stage and smaller size than medical imaging devices in current use.

2004 Winners in other categories:

Advanced Manufacturing: Aquamake: Aquamake, a Milwaukee company, won the Advanced Manufacturing category with a wastewater recycling system that reclaims household and commercial wastewater. The treated water is reused for flushing toilets, developing ‘green’ communities and other applications. Craig Gravatt is the founder.

Information Technology: Sound Focus: Sound Focus, a Madison firm with a technology that can direct a ball of sound to specific locations, which can lead to applications in home theaters, museums, classrooms and more. This company, co-founded by Jeffrey Milsap and J. Michael Underwood, won the Information Technology category.

IntelliMentor, also of Milwaukee, produces online organizational change management tools and ‘intelligent virtual change agents’ that help people plan and implement critical business initiatives faster, cheaper and better. Thomas Olscheske of Milwaukee is the co-founder.