Northwestern Business Teams Win More Than $1Million in Contest

Two Northwestern University business teams recently won more than $1 million total in cash and investments, taking first and second place at the Rice Business Plan Competition, according to a press release.

This is the second consecutive year that Northwestern teams have won at the world’s largest graduate-level business plan competition. 

Winning first place and $911,400 was SiNode Systems, a clean tech startup that commercialized an anode for lithium-ion batteries that allows the battery to charge more quickly and hold a charge 10 times longer than current technology. 

In second place winning $273,000 was BriteSeed, a medical startup that introduced the SafeSnips technology, which can be integrated into surgical tools to detect blood vessels during surgery and prevent unintended bleeding. 

Both teams started at Northwestern’s popular NUvention program, which offers entrepreneurship courses on topics such as energy innovation, Web-based businesses, digital media and medical innovation. Industry leaders help teach the courses in which teams start with a product idea with the goal of ending up with a business. 

More than 400 teams from around the world applied to the Rice Business Plan Competition this year, 42 of them invited to pitch their business plans at the three-day competition held at Rice University. More than 300 judges, including venture capitalists, angel investors, entrepreneurs and business leaders, vetted the teams.