Student Startups Win Prizes and Recognition at Cozad Competition

The Cozad New Venture Competition (CNVC) is designed to encourage students to begin new startup companies. The semi-finals were held on March 30th with several clients from EnterpriseWorks among the top 20, including: Serionix, Oso Simple Technologies, GlucoSentient, and HigherMed.

The finals were held on March 31st at the BIF Auditorium and included judges from the venture capital community, entrepreneurs, and local experts. EnterpriseWorks and the Research Park were pleased to be involved in the event and to have awards to give out and clients recognized.

Serionix won the top prize in the competition, Most Fundable Venture, and was awarded $15,000 as a cash prize. Serionix makes advanced filtration materials for water and air purification, they have a lab located at EnterpriseWorks and were recently awarded two SBIR Phase I awards. EnterpriseWorks awarded the I-Start full scope of professional services to OceanComm, a company making deep sea underwater wireless communication systems. Three student companies were awarded free space beginning this summer in EnterpriseWorks: uZee – IT security training company; Escawheel – developing a product to make wheelchairs go upstairs; and Easy Go Dispenser – makers of a container for mixing powders with water for athletes and infant formula. Oso Simple was one of the recipients of the Best Mobile App prize sponsored by NCSA. GlucoSentient won a $10,000 cash prize for best Digital Health Company awarded by Burrill and Company.