Eight Finalists Vied for Top Spot at Maryland Entrepreneur Expo
Everywhere, Md. (November 14, 2012) – Startup Maryland is proud to announce that CoFoundersLab (Rockville, Md.) has claimed the top spot in its inaugural 2012 Pitch Across Maryland competition. The company was named the winner in the video pitch competition at the Maryland Entrepreneur Expo on November 13, by a panel of distinguished judges. The judges also named Woofound (Baltimore, Md.) as the runner-up.
CoFoundersLab’s winning video can be viewed here.
Woofound’s video can be viewed here. **
As the winner and runner-up, CoFoundersLab and Woofound will receive free entry and bypass the first round of judging in the InvestMaryland Challenge, a national seed and early-stage business competition hosted by the State of Maryland. All Pitch Across Maryland participants are encouraged to apply.
The Challenge will award a $100,000 top prize in three categories: life sciences; IT (hardware and software); and general business. In addition, all InvestMaryland applicants will have the opportunity to pitch their business to top venture capital firms and angel investors, and will be given access to resources like incubator space and legal and other services. Applications are being accepted now through December 13. For more information or to apply, visit www.investmarylandchallenge.org
The Pitch Across Maryland competition captured 168 video pitches from entrepreneurs across the state during Startup Maryland’s Pitch Across Maryland bus tour, which ran from September 11 – 28, 2012. Eight finalists were selected by a panel of entrepreneur and investor experts.
The six other finalists companies were (in alphabetical order):
- Autonomy Engine (Westminster, Md.)
- Imagine IPD (Lanham, Md.)
- Koolspan (Bethesda, Md.)
- Samegrain (Baltimore, Md.)
- SynAm Vaccine (Rockville, Md.)
- Unbound Concepts (Columbia, Md.)
Separately, Startup Maryland also announced the winners of the Fan Favorite competition:
- Food’em (Greenbelt, Md.)
- SurveySnap (Baltimore, Md.)
- Pandion5D (Chestertown, Md.)
Startup Maryland added the Fan Favorite award to the pitch competition to keep the awareness and celebration aspects of the tour at a high level. Videos for all 168 entrants can be viewed here.
“These videos are a testament to the strength, dedication and diversity of Maryland’s entrepreneurial community,” says Startup Maryland Co-Chair Mike Binko. “When we launched the Pitch Across Maryland tour we thought we might have 40-50 entrepreneurs join us on the Tour Bus and pitch, so 168 is phenomenal. Including all the rallies and events we held more than 200 startups actually participated in the tour.”
“The Pitch Across Maryland tour, which ran from September 11 – 28, 2012, held celebration and promotional rallies at 25 stops throughout the state of Maryland,” added Julie Lenzer Kirk, Startup Maryland Co-Chair. “Culminating in the Last Stop, First Step party and celebration event at Merriweather Post Pavilion on September 28th this Tour has rightly placed the spotlight on the vitality in Maryland’s innovation economy.”