2011 Grand Prize Winner News Release

MINNESOTA CUP NAMES AUM CARDIOVASCULAR STATE’S
“NEXT ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS STORY”

MINNEAPOLIS – September 9, 2010 – AUM Cardiovascular, a Northfield, Minn.-based start-up that has developed a handheld device capable of detecting coronary artery disease, was awarded the Minnesota Cup in a ceremony held at the University of Minnesota’s McNamara Alumni Center. Area business leaders and investors awarded the company $25,000 as BioSciences Division winner and an additional $25,000 as grand prize recipient.

“I am grateful to receive this recognition and seed money from the Minnesota Cup,” AUM Cardiovascular founder and CEO Dr. Marie Johnson said. “But our primary goal is to get our device on the market and save lives. That is my singular pursuit: I want to reduce the number of widows and little kids that don’t have their dads.”

Johnson entered the competition after the company’s CFO, Nancy Ness, learned about the Minnesota Cup via an online ad. After being selected as a finalist, AUM Cardiovascular worked with Minnesota Cup business plan mentor John Tedesco to improve the company’s planning documents and investor presentations.

“We are getting better plans and presentations every year, and it’s wonderful to see the impact and benefit the Minnesota Cup is having for so many nascent Minnesota entrepreneurs,” said Minnesota Cup co-founder Scott Litman. “The program is doing exactly what we envisioned seven years ago – giving start-ups the tools they need to support growth and opportunity.”

AUM Cardiovascular: Tragedy inspires opportunity
In 2002, Johnson, a biomedical engineer and then-Ph.D. candidate at the University of Minnesota, was working with 3M scientists to develop an automated diagnostic system for detecting heart murmurs when her husband died suddenly at age 41. Considered in “perfect condition,” his cause of death came as a complete shock to Johnson: a heart attack. Johnson soon found out coronary artery disease (CAD), the kind diagnosed in her husband, is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

Her husband’s untimely death moved her to apply the principles of the heart murmur detection system to create an acoustic device that can identify symptoms of coronary artery disease. Johnson said that sound rarely is audible because it is masked by many other noises. “It’s always there. It’s just a matter of being able to extract it,” she noted.

To test and prepare her device for market, Johnson must conduct multi-center clinical trials. She estimates she will need about $3 million to accomplish that goal—$2 million to finance the cost of conducting multi-center trials and $1 million to prepare clinical trial-ready products. The skills and seed money Johnson and her team gained though AUM Cardiovascular’s Minnesota Cup experience will help achieve the next level of success.

“We were thrilled with the quality of the final presentations. We had several very strong contenders for the grand prize,” said Litman. “At the end of the day, considering the potential not just for economic return, but to make a huge impact on the world, we were won over by AUM Cardiovascular.”

The 2011 Minnesota Cup
Launched in March 2005, the Minnesota Cup is a statewide entrepreneurial contest that seeks out and supports Minnesota’s newest and most innovative business ideas. Each March, the program calls on investors, business owners and entrepreneurs from across the state to submit their breakthrough business ideas at www.MinnesotaCup.org.

For the third consecutive year, more than 1,000 participants competed. The semi-finalists gathered Thursday, Sept. 8 in the company of Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler, Carlson Chair Marilyn Carlson Nelson and many of Minnesota’s finest and brightest business leaders and entrepreneurs to share their breakthrough business ideas.

AUM Cardiovascular receives the seventh annual Minnesota Cup, $50,000 in seed capital, legal assistance from the law firm of Fredrikson & Byron, accounting assistance from Eide Bailey, business organization services from the Maslon law firm, premium access to the Minnesota Angel Network, an invitation to present to the audience of The Collaborative’s upcoming 25th Annual Minnesota Venture & Finance Conference and an opportunity to present at an upcoming AngelPolleNation event.

Minnesota Cup organizers include area business leaders, the University of Minnesota, Wells Fargo, Carlson, General Mills and the Arrowhead Growth Alliance. In June, judges selected 48 semi-finalists, who were asked to develop a more comprehensive business proposal. From those proposals, judges selected three finalists in each division who were invited to present to their respective review boards. The divisional review boards selected the division winners on August 30th.

More than $185,000 in prizes was awarded to this year’s winners, up more than 40 percent from last year, in addition to consulting services from leaders in finance, accounting, legal and management support services.

Past participant successes:

• 2009 and 2010 finalists have raised over $32 million in new capital
• 2010 grand prize winner EarthClean raised $2 million and secured a major distribution agreement
• 2009 high tech finalist Mobiata acquired by Expedia
• 2009 semi-finalist and 2010 general division winner Bavia Health (Go Home Gorgeous) raises $1 million and extends its services to Mid-Atlantic region
• 2009 grand prize winner 8th Bridge (Alvenda) raised a $5 million series A soon after the 2009 competition and a $10 million series B in early 2011
• 2006 winner VAST Enterprises formed a significant partnership with Fabcon and won two Tekne Awards
• 2005 finalist Health Simple acquired by a unit of Johnson & Johnson

For a complete list of 2011 Minnesota Cup semi-finalists, finalists and division winners, visit www.MinnesotaCup.org.

About the Minnesota Cup
The Minnesota Cup is a statewide competition that seeks out inspiring entrepreneurs with the next breakthrough idea. High-tech or no-tech, this competition brings together innovative business ideas from a wide range of industries including automotive, health care services, telecommunications, technology, leisure, outdoor recreation, energy conservation, education and many others. Contest judges select the top entrants ¬– 8-10 from each division – to participate in the semi-final round of competition, from which judges will determine the top three finalists in each division. Each finalist then presents their ideas to a prestigious panel of executives, investors and notable entrepreneurs who choose the division winners and award them $25,000 - with the exception of the student division ($10,000) and the Mosaic Social Entrepreneur Cup winner ($20,000). The winner from each division, including the social division, then competes for the grand prize of an additional $25,000.