BALTIMORE, MD (4/15/08) - The votes are in and the Greater Baltimore Technology Council (GBTC) has announced this years MoshPit! finalists. This year's finalists include groups from Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland College Park, Loyola College and the University of Baltimore.
Created by the GBTC in 2002, MoshPit! provides an opportunity for students from Maryland Colleges and Universities to experience every aspect of starting a business - from recruiting employees and advisors to writing a competitive business plan to pitching ideas to potential investors for funding. MoshPit! is open to any Maryland college undergraduate student, who wants to test their business plan or simply be part of a team.
"The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Greater Baltimore and it is proven every year by the innovation and creativity of the business plans submitted, representing a diverse range of industries," says Melanie Kelleher, the GBTC's Director of Programs and Partnerships.
From the 108 original ideas submitted from Johns Hopkins University, Loyola College, Towson University, University of Baltimore, University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Maryland College Park, Villa Julie College and Community College of Baltimore County, 40 were selected. Of the 40 selected, 35 came through ThePit, 34 Business Plans were submitted, and seven finalists were chosen.
To get to the Finals, teams had to go through several grueling rounds of competition. The seven MoshPit finalists (in no particular order) are:
-SymViva Technologies (University of MD College Park): Commercializing vesicle-based transdermal insulin drug carriers by developing a stabilizing support system; Team: Keran Lu, Vanessa Vichayakul, Jimmy Johnston; Advisors: Aida Lebbos, Venable LLP, Henry Ahn, TEDCO, David Fink, UMBC Incubator, Ginette Serrero, A&G Pharmaceutical
-SurgyTech (Johns Hopkins University): Innovative bowel packing device to simplify abdominal laparotomies; Team: Gayathree Murugappan, Joshua Liu, Mike Bisogno, Kevin Yeh, Vicki Zhou, Brian Liu; Advisors: Paula Miller, Shapiro Sher Guinot & Sandler
-Capstone Medical Solutions (Johns Hopkins University): Novel surgical implant for post-operative pain relief; Team: Henry Chang, Dhanya Rangaraj, Meet Patel, Hyun-Sun Seo, Joseph Wood, Alice Wu, Vincent Wu, Shaoyi Zhang; Advisors: Jonathan Wachs, Offit Kurman, P.A., Victoria McAndrews, CMD Outsourcing Solutions
-Synthex Technologies (Johns Hopkins University): Research robot for gel extraction; Team: Judy Qiu, Matt Rubashkin, Co-Founders, Daniel Merzel; Advisors: Lawrence Aronhime, Johns Hopkins University, Alex Euler, UMBC, David McKinney, Microsoft, Paul Rishar, M&T Bank
-Smart Scale (Loyola College): Comprised of three components, the scale, the memory card, and the online website, the Smart Scale provides specific eating and exercising tips. It saves each person's progress, yet never displays the distressing numerical values of weight and body mass index (BMI); Team: Samantha Belekis, Julia Salvia, Adrienne Grauso; Advisors: Christina Twomey, ChickSpeak.com; Jerry Tabeling, IDP LLC
-Sky Projection Inc. (University of Baltimore): outdoor advertising and promotion marketing medium using technology developed by the company to project high resolution color product images and messages in open sky. These images, which will be clearly visible over even the largest metropolitan areas, will be seen by tens of thousands of consumers; Team: Bharat Rawal, Anami - Chhnagani, Annette Hall, Nina Shrestha; Advisors: John Colwell, Mentor Capital Partners, Anne Quirk, M&T Bank
-Radiogenic Therapeutics (Johns Hopkins University): MultiMarkTM offers a novel, minimally invasive way for implanting high visibility markers into tumors to allow precise targeting of EBRT; Team: Juinting Chiang, Brian His, Ian Lee, Linmiao Xu; Advisors: Stephen Auvil, UMBC
With this year's prize money totaling $30,000, all teams that made the Finals will be eligible to receive a cash prize. The winner of this year's MoshPit! competition will walk away with $10,000 in prize money, two tickets to TechNite (the premier night out for the region's business and technology community), and a full year of free office space at the ETC @ Johns Hopkins Eastern, donated by Baltimore City's Emerging Technology Center.
For the MoshPit! Finals, each judge will have $5 million in MoshPit dollars to invest in any combination of teams. The team that garners the most investment dollars will be this year's MoshPit winner. The MoshPit! Finals will be held on Thursday, April 24 at Loyola College (Timonium Graduate Campus) from 3:00 - 6:00 p.m., 2034 Greenspring Drive Timonium, Maryland 21093.
Support for MoshPit is provided by our public sector partner, the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development (DBED), and sponsors: Advertising.com, Baltimore County, DLA Piper, Jacoby, Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), Mind Over Machines and The Columbia Bank.
