BPC - Press Release 1999-2000

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Press Release 1999-2000
SOFTWARE AND INTERNET VENTURES WIN WHARTON BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION

PHILADELPHIA, May 2, 2000 — eTechtransfer.com, a global B2B marketplace designed to facilitate technology transfer in the life sciences industry, emerged as the grand prize winner of the second annual Wharton Business Plan Competition. The winning team was awarded a prize of $25,000 ($15,000 in cash and a $10,000 investment in the company), sponsored by Safeguard Scientifics, a Pennsylvania-based venture capital firm.

NovaEx.com, an online B2B dynamic pricing exchange for natural products, won the $15,000 E*Entity E-commerce Prize. In addition, eTechtransfer.com and NovaEx.com will be offered convertible loans of $15,000 and $10,000, respectively, from the Paul P. Dosberg Foundation. These loans will convert to equity at the valuation established when the student ventures take in their next round of outside funding.

Digipad (also called Patient Interview Software for Physicians), a company that produces patient interview software and supplies it to doctors via the Internet, won the Wharton Business Plan Competition Silver Prize and received a $10,000 cash award.

More than 420 students from across the University of Pennsylvania submitted business concepts during the 1999-2000 Business Plan Competition and competed for $75,000 in prizes. A crowd of 250 venture capitalists, investment bankers, attorneys and students gathered to hear the eight finalist teams present their business plans at the Venture Finals on May 1.

The finalists presented their business plans to a panel of judges which included entrepreneurs, investment bankers and venture capitalists: Mark Winkelman, Goldman, Sachs & Co.; Bernard David, Breakthrough Commerce, LLC; Tami Fratis, LLR Equity Partners; Karen Griffith-Gryga, Liberty Venture Partners; Bruce Luehrs, Edison Venture Fund; David Schlessinger, founder, Encore Books and Zainy Brainy; Mark Spitzer, private investor and founder, International Telecommunications and Data Systems, Inc.

In the Fall of 1999, the Competition also offered five $500 prizes for the Best Business Concept in five categories in Phase I. The winners of this year’s Fall prizes were:

Aaron Rabinowitz, NanoMed Technologies: Best Technology/Life Science/Biotech Concept
Heather Thorne, Lenticular Alpine Designs: Best Consumer Products Concept
Koji Masuda, L-Stage: Best Socially-Responsible Business Concept
Mukta Pandit, HowIsMyChild.com: Best Internet and Media Concept
Ravi Hariprasad, CyberTrak.com: Best Internet and IT Concept

Lead sponsors of the 1999-2000 Competition include: Safeguard Scientifics, Inc., E*Entity, Booz Allen & Hamilton, and Innovation Factory.In addition, the Venture Finals on May 1 was supported by business sponsors, including CSC, campsix, Venture Highway, and the Dosberg Foundation.

Wharton was the first school to develop a fully integrated curriculum of entrepreneurial studies in 1973. Today, Wharton's Goergen Entrepreneurial Management Program is one of the largest entrepreneurial programs in the world, offering more than 20 courses every year to more than 2,000 students and executives. A faculty of over 20 professors and practitioners teach courses for undergraduate and graduate students and guide initiatives for a range of entrepreneurs, from high school students to senior executives.

Press Releases Contact:
Peter Winicov
Associate Director of Communications
215-746-6471
winicov@wharton.upenn.edu