NEWS: Prophetic Victory: NIR Diagnostics Wins Wharton Business Plan Competition with Device That Can Predict Wound Treatment Complications
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PHILADELPHIA - (Business Wire) The Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania announced that student team NIR Diagnostics, whose
patented “InfraVue” device detects wound healing problems faster
and more accurately than current approaches, won the $20,000 Michelson Grand
Prize of the 2009 Wharton Business Plan Competition (http://bpc.wharton.upenn.edu).
The prize was awarded at the Wharton School’s annual Venture Finals,
April 29, 2009, where student finalists received a total of $73,000 in
combined cash prizes and in-kind legal/accounting services. Again this year an audience of hundreds listened to brief elevator pitches
from all finalists and voted on the People’s Choice award. NIR also won
that $3,000 prize. NIR’s advisors range from the 2001 Wharton BPC grand
prize winner to the Chief of Vascular Surgery of Drexel University’s
College of Medicine. Also on the team is a past Wharton BPC finalist who was
selected to the Wharton Venture Initiation Program, Wharton’s
educational incubator. The 2009 Wharton Business Plan Competition winners are:
This year’s Venture Finals, the culminating event of the year-long
Competition, attracted nearly three hundred venture capitalists, business
leaders, faculty and students. The Venture Finals judges who selected the
winning teams represented a range of organizations and included: 1. David A. Cohen, President, Karlin Asset Management 2. William P. Egan, WG’69, Founder and General
Partner, Alta Communications & Marion Equity Partners 3. Evan Jones, WG’83, Managing Member, jVen
Capital, LLC 4. David A. Piacquad, WG’84, Senior Vice
President, Business Development, Schering-Plough Corporation 5. Fred Wilson, WG’87, Partner, Union Square
Ventures Note: WG=MBA alum NIR Diagnostics aims to tap a $1.1 billion global market for wound
assessment with its near-infrared InfraVue device. During the team’s
Venture Finals presentation they stated that current assessment techniques of
complex wounds are accurate only 50% of the time. Based on tissue optical
properties InfraVue can predict whether a wound is healing or requires
additional therapies. The device is in a beta prototype stage, has completed
animal testing, and will soon advance to a human pilot study. Over the years, the Wharton Business Plan Competition, which is open to
any University of Pennsylvania student and managed by Wharton Entrepreneurial
Programs, has seen numerous student teams go on to become successful
businesses including PayMyBills.com, buySAFE, NetConversions, Integral
Molecular, DealMaven, InfraScan, Verge Solutions, Embrace Pet Insurance,
Petplan USA and MicroMRI. In fact, at least seven of the grand prize winners from the past decade
are still in business with several earning millions in revenue and/or
financing. Information about past participants is available on the Wharton
BPC Web site: http://bpc.wharton.upenn.edu.
About the Wharton School and Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs In 1973, The Wharton School became the first school to develop a fully
integrated curriculum of entrepreneurial studies. Today Wharton, through
Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs <www.wep.wharton.upenn.edu>,
supports and seeds innovation and entrepreneurship globally through teaching,
research and outreach to a range of organizations through its many programs,
initiatives and research centers. At the same time, Wharton students and
alumni are helping to build entrepreneurial enterprises around the world and
impacting virtually every industry. The Wharton
School of the University of Pennsylvania -- founded in 1881 as the first
collegiate business school -- is recognized globally for intellectual
leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business
education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world,
Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the
global business community. The school has more than 4,600 undergraduate,
MBA,
executive
MBA, and doctoral
students; more than 8,000 annual participants in executive
education programs; and an alumni
network of more than 84,000 graduates.
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