Innovative and fast-growing companies line up for funding prize
And the finalists for the Entrepreneurs’ Challenge are…..drum roll….a healthy range of NewZealand businesses looking for the capital funding prize to help expand into overseas markets.
Ten companies have been shortlisted to claim a chunk of $1 million in the 2010 challenge run bythe University of Auckland Business School. Water management, biotech software, food and fashion arerepresented in their battle for a portion of funding from a $3 million endowment offered by ex-patfinancier Charles Bidwill for the first time last year.
These finalists now have a due diligence process to go through and a presentation to theinvestment committee next month before the winners are announced in November.
The 2010 finalists are:
- Mesynthes Ltd. (Wellington) – Regenerative tissue substitute suppliers for reconstructiveplastic surgery
- Symansis (NZ) Ltd. (Timaru and Blenheim) – provide tools tofacilitate research in life sciences and biopharmaceutical industries, producing high qualityreagents for cell biology, including cell signaling research and cell discovery
- PiakoGourmet Yoghurt (Auckland) – since starting in Nov 2008, looking to replicate its NZ successacross the world “one small factory at a time.”
- Greentide (Pukekohe) –biological, reliable and sustainable control agents and solutions for the global pesticide market,and is currently building the largest commercial production centre for fungal-based entomopathogensand natural metabolites in the Southern Hemisphere
- Huffer Direct Ltd. (Auckland) –formed in 1997, known for its board sports inspired fashion with functionality in mind, with“great emphasis, dedication and enthusiasm invested in its wholesale business and itsrelationships with retailers, distributors and suppliers.”
- 3i Innovation Ltd (NorthShore) – a leading global provider of in-pavement LED lighting solutions, 3i = illumination,induction, intelligence (according to its website)
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AWT New Zealand Ltd. (Auckland)– provides H
2
knOwhow (according to its website), with specialist water technologyservices in monitoring, modeling, network infrastructure, treatment plant design and optimizationand environmental engineering
- Biomatters Ltd. (Auckland) – software creators incomputational biology, with technology that converts raw genetic data into meaningful, visualinformation for researchers
- Optima Corporation (Auckland) – optimization andsimulation software solutions for select global markets, focused on emergency services, airlines andhealthcare
- Unimarket (Auckland) – operating in the ‘cloud’ for eprocurement,provides organisations with the ability to access a wide array of suppliers in the eMarketplace andbetter manage their purchasing process
In choosing the 10 finalists, “it hasbeen particularly hard to separate the cream from the milk this year,” says Challenge investmentcommittee chairman, and the business school’s executive-in-residence, Brian Hannan. “All thecompanies selected for the short list have a great story to tell,” he says.
Innovative and fast-growing companies line up for funding prize
Innovative and fast-growing companies line up for funding prize
