Wharton Business Plan Competition Finalists Vie for $75,000 in Prizes, VC Interest
Among entrepreneurial contest contenders: at-home breast cancer scanner; OxyContin pain relief alternative; wound treatment using plasma of Atlantic salmon

April 12, 2005 — The Wharton Business Plan Competition has announced the eight finalists who will vie for $75,000 in prizes at the annual Venture Finals taking place Tuesday, April 26 at the Wharton School’s Jon M. Huntsman Hall, on the University of Pennsylvania campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The Wharton Business Plan Competition “Great Eight” finalists are:

1.    Alumni Affairs Worldwide: Loyalty-based philanthropy platform with active prototypes at two Ivy League schools
2.   Dynamic BioSystems: Fast, “scarless” wound healing without special storage requirements targeted for military, travel use
3.    E-Ventures Holding Co., LLC : Software system to combat Internet fraud and “info terrorism”
4.   FibrinX, Inc.: Tissue sealants for wound treatment during trauma care using plasma of Atlantic salmon
5.   IntuiTouch: Portable breast cancer detection using handheld device for easier, more accurate at-home self-examination
6.   Lemire Imaging Inc.: Breast imaging that is more accurate, less painful, without radiation
7.   Mujisan: Addiction-resistant, “sustained-release” OxyContin pain relief alternative for $3 billion pain care market
8.   Valverde: Reliable computing platform based on open source for high-demand situations with better performance

Among this year’s finalists, several have already achieved important distinctions and milestones. Last year Mujisan won first place and a prize of $10,000 at the University of California, Davis’ fourth annual Big Bang! Business Plan Competition. Alumni Affairs Worldwide was recently selected into the Wharton Venture Initiation Program (VIP) and counts Princeton University among its prototype customers. E-Ventures Holding’s team leader founded two firms that are now publicly traded (ASI and InterNova). Finally, IntuiTouch is using the same patented technology as 2004 Wharton BPC Grand Prize winners InfraScan.

Megan Mitchell, Associate Director for Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs notes that the stakes are at their highest now, with the Venture Finals just days away: “As challenging a task as writing a full-blown business plan is, the students are now faced with critical presentation planning,” says Mitchell. “The finalists are leveraging all of the knowledge they have received from workshops, mentoring and judges’ feedback to ensure that their presentation is the one that is most convincing to the Venture Finals judges April 26.”

The eight finalist teams face off at the Venture Finals with 20-minute presentations to judges drawn from the business and venture capital community who will then evaluate the persuasiveness and viability of each business plan. Students will receive $75,000 in cash prizes and in-kind gifts including a $20,000 Grand Prize. The event attracts over 200 venture capitalists, investment bankers, alumni, attorneys, faculty and students.

Venture Finals judges scheduled to select the winning teams represent a range of organizations including Josh Kopelman, W'93, managing director of First Round Capital and a serial entrepreneur who founded Half.com, now a part of eBay. Other judges are:

• Clark Callander, WG'86, managing director of Perseus Group, LLC;
• Connie Duckworth, WG'79, president and chairman of Arzu, Inc.;
• Jan L. Garfinkle, WG'84, managing partner and founder of Arboretum Ventures;
• David A. Piacquad, WG'84, vice president of ventures and business development at Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation; and
• Daniel L. Skaff, WG'87, managing partner of Sienna Ventures

For the first time, the Venture Finals will feature an Entrepreneurial Showcase with displays that highlight the activities of past Wharton BPC grand prize winners. It will also include participants in other Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs activities, such as the Wharton Venture Initiation Program’s Samuel Reeves whose HRI Minesweeper recently captured the first annual PennVention Grand Prize of $5,000.

About the Wharton School and Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs
In 1973, The Wharton School became the first school to develop a fully integrated curriculum of entrepreneurial studies. Today Wharton, through Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs , supports and seeds innovation and entrepreneurship globally through teaching, research and outreach to a range of organizations through its many programs, initiatives and research centers. At the same time, Wharton students and alumni are helping to build entrepreneurial enterprises around the world and impacting virtually every industry.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized around the world for its academic strengths across every major discipline and at every level of business education. Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school in the nation, Wharton has approximately 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, Executive MBA, and doctoral students, more than 8,000 participants in its executive education programs annually, and an alumni network of more than 80,000 worldwide.

For more information on the Wharton Business Plan Competition, go to: www.whartonbpc.com