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MINNESOTA'S TOP BREAKTHROUGH BUSINESS IDEA NAMED
(MINNEAPOLIS) Sept. 11, 2009 - Last night, Alvenda, a commerce-enabled advertising network and application developer was named "Minnesota's Top Breakthrough Business Idea" and honored for its innovative concepts. Area business leaders and investors named Alvenda the 5th Annual Minnesota Cup winner and awarded it $20,000 for winning in the High-Tech Division and an additional $20,000 for the grand prize.
"It's an honor to be awarded the Minnesota Cup and recognized as having both an innovative idea and a solid business plan," said Wade Gerten, co-founder and CEO of Alvenda. "The opportunity to connect with the Minnesota Cup judges, mentors and fellow contestants has made Alvenda a better company and we are excited to use the prize money and the experience we've garnered to bring our organization to the next level."
Led by Wade Gerten, Alvenda operates an innovative sales network for merchants consisting of premium publishers, bloggers, subject matter experts, and even customers themselves. Alvenda enables merchants to generate profitable revenue by targeting, advertising and transacting with customers across millions of locations on the Web. Its "Shoplets" are brand-consistent rich media e-commerce stores that are published across many of the Internet's most visited Web sites in the form of banner ads.
The Shoplets created by Alvenda are highly interactive, easy to use, and designed for the needs of the "on-the-go" consumer - specifically those customers looking to make a quick purchase. The retailers' entire product assortment is available to shoppers through fast navigation and search capabilities.
Alvenda was founded in 2008 by Gerten and two other executives. The company is privately funded and headquarted in Minneapolis. For more information, visit www.alvenda.com.
Launched in March 2005, the Minnesota Cup is a statewide entrepreneurial contest that seeks out, supports and promotes Minnesota's newest and most innovative business concepts. The program calls on inventors, business owners and members of the public across the state to submit a breakthrough business idea at www.minnesotacup.org.
This year's competition had more than 1,000 participants - the most in contest history. The finalists gathered last night in front of many of Minnesota's finest and brightest business leaders at the University of Minnesota's McNamara Alumni Center to share their breakthrough business ideas.
"The Minnesota Cup is a great opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to showcase their business ideas and build connections with the top business leaders in our community," said Scott Litman, Minnesota Cup co-chairman. "Each year, we are impressed by the competitive entries and innovative ideas generated by the Minnesota Cup. We are excited to honor Alvenda as this year's grand prize winner and look forward to their continued success."
Prize/Contest Details Alvenda receives the 5th Annual Minnesota Cup, $40,000 in seed capital, consulting by Wells Fargo and professionals from area law firms, accounting firms, PR and marketing, business organization services from the Maslon law firm, one year of access to "HillSearch" from the James J. Hill Reference Library, a scholarship to attend The Collaborative's upcoming Minnesota Venture Finance Conference and a national news story over the ARA Content Network.
Minnesota Cup organizers include area business leaders, the University of Minnesota and Wells Fargo. In June, judges selected 30 semi-finalists, who were asked to develop a more comprehensive business proposal. From those proposals, judges selected five finalists. Full finalist summaries are available below.
5th Annual Minnesota Cup Division Winners
General Division: Drazil Juice
Drazil Foods offers a better juice for kids. Drazil taps into the $4 billion juice market with its Drazil Juice Teazers product, which blends 100% fruit juice with caffeine-free herbal tea - a natural source of antioxidants. It is available in single-serve juice boxes (eight pack) and multi-serve bottles. Drazil Juice was awarded $20,000 in seed capital.
Clean & Green Division: Packet Power
Packet Power is focused on providing the information needed to be smart about electric power consumption. The company offers hardware, software and services that make it simple, quick and inexpensive to gain the information needed to reduce power usage. Packet Power was awarded $20,000 in seed capital.
BioScience Division: Pursuit Vascular, Inc.
Pursuit Vascular, Inc. is developing a unique disposable device to reduce hemodialysis catheter-related infections. This device is easily inserted into any brand of hemodialysis catheter in order to kill infectious microorganisms between treatments. Based on research, Pursuit Vascular estimates this device can reduce catheter-related infections by more than 75 percent. Pursuit Vascular was awarded $20,000 in seed capital.
Social Entrepreneur Division: Rural Renewable Energy Alliance
Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL) is saving low-income families money while reducing carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions by educating tomorrow's leaders about solar power, localizing energy production and creating green jobs in an impoverished community in northern Minnesota. RREAL was awarded $20,000 in seed capital.
Student Division: ManCave
ManCave Worldwide provides men with the tools necessary to be all that is man. ManCave "meatings" teach different grilling techniques to showcase all of ManCave products, which include everything from bottle openers to beer mugs with the ManCave logo. All of the products are delivered to the purchaser's front door and have a lifetime guarantee. ManCave was awarded $5,000 in seed capital.
About Minnesota Cup The 5th Annual Minnesota Cup is a statewide competition that seeks out aspiring entrepreneurs for the next breakthrough idea. From high-tech to high-touch, biosciences to retail, agriculture to social ventures, this is a competition for entrepreneurs, inventors and anybody with an innovative business idea. With more than $130,000 in prize money and support from the state's leaders in finance, accounting, legal and management support services, the Minnesota Cup is the premier business idea generator in Minnesota.
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Media Contact: Jeremy Baier, Haberman, 612-372-6461, jeremy@modernstorytellers.com Peggy Bell, Haberman, 612-372-6463, peggy@modernstorytellers.com
