Date: Jun 19, 2013 Author: Tom Henderson Source: crainsdetroit.com (
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Plymouth Township-based BioSavita Inc. was the big winner at Tuesday's Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest awards program in Lansing, taking the $100,000 SmartZone Award for its technology that employs the same yeast used to make beer to grow genetically altered drugs for treating cancer.
The award, part of the 13th annual statewide business plan competition called Entrepreneur Connect 13, was open to entries from SmartZones around the state. The event was held at the James B. Henry Center, part of Michigan State University.
Last November, BioSavita won $25,000 at the third annual Accelerate Michigan Innovation event in Detroit for having the best business plan in the life-sciences sector.
The company is based in the Michigan Life Science and Innovation Center. Formerly known as ApoLife Inc., it was founded in 1994 by Nalini Motwani, who licensed technology from a former Stroh Brewery Co. subsidiary called StrohTech.
Originally, ApoLife looked for a way to slow the rate of apoptosis, or cell death, by regulating levels of nitric oxide, but eventually morphed into the fight against cancer.
Motwani said she is raising an equity investment round of $1.5 million to finish pre-clinical development of two products, and has been asked by the U.S. Department of Defense to apply for a $3 million grant to develop a yeast-based bioreactor to provide alerts to nerve-gas attacks.
Jim Eliason, founder of MitoStem Inc., a stem-cell company based in Detroit's TechTown that won the first-place award of $100,000 last year, told the audience that he had used the money to make dramatic clinical advances of turning regular cells into adult stem cells and to hire a CEO.
Award winners
Detroit-based ENT Biotech Solutions LLC won $25,000 for having the best business plan for an emerging company. The medical device company is developing a disposable tool to remove adenoidal tissue.
Inmatech Inc. of Ann Arbor won second-place money of $15,000 for its technology, which pairs supercapacitors with traditional lead-acid batteries to increase battery life. Inmatech also won $10,000 for tying for first place for the alternative energy innovation award sponsored by Detroit's NextEnergy.
Arborlight LLC of Ann Arbor tied Inmatech for first place in the judges' balloting, and rather than divide the first-place price, NextEnergy decided to give each company $10,000. Arborlight makes LED-based lighting that mimics daylight for spaces that don't have access to the outside.
In the new business idea category, DataSpeaks Health Solutions of Troy won $5,000 for its patented software to better measure biological data during drug development; OcuSano Inc. of Ann Arbor won $2,500 to help develop a drug release mechanism to fit wet macular degeneration; and Qtek LLC of Chassell, the only winner from the Upper Peninsula, won $1,000 to help develop antimicrobial additives for plastic, paint and wood products.
Ann Arbor-based Covaron Advanced Materials Inc., which makes ceramics and polymers that perform like steel and aluminum, won the advance manufacturing innovation award of $12,500 sponsored by Troy-based Automation Alley.
Lightmob LLC of Grosse Pointe Park won the lean startup information technology innovation award for its inexpensive, easy-to-use device for wiping data off aging computers.
The $10,000 for best medical device innovation went to Ann Arbor-based Arthroptics for its camera system to give doctors better views during arthroscopic surgery.
Gantec Inc. of Midland won the $5,000 green chemistry innovation award for its plant-based fertilizer.
For the first time, thanks to sponsorship by Michigan Corps and Pure Michigan, the awards program included a variety of awards for social entrepreneurship, which combines a profit motive with social good.
Detroit-based Vanguard Community Development Corp. won the $25,000 community ventures award.
Farmington Hills-based Ecotelligent Homes won the first-place award of $10,000 in the fostering-energy-affordability category sponsored by Consumers Energy, with the Ann Arbor-based ReSource Fund, which provides financial counseling for energy consumers, winning $5,000.
In the emerging organization category, Detroit-based Fresh Corner Café won $20,000 for its plan to distribute healthy foods to neighborhood stores; Digital Inclusion of Ypsilanti won $10,000 for its plan to refurbish old computers and sell them to minority and poor communities that are underserved by technology; and Ypsilanti-based Design Innovations for Infants and Mothers Everywhere won $5,000 for its plan to reduce infant and maternal health disparities for the poor.
In the new venture idea category, the Ypsilanti-based Java Hope Project won $5,000 for its plan to help poor or abused women become entrepreneurs by running coffee carts.
Detroit-based Patronicity, a crowdfunding platform to help small companies grow, won the $3,000 Magic Johnson Foundation Award.
Detroit-based Rebel Nell won the spirit of social entrepreneurship award for its plan to hire women from local shelters to polish up fallen-off bits of graffiti-bearing materials from the sides of old buildings and bridges and sell them as jewelry.
