Published: April 16, 2019
Author: Nick Swisher
17 area teams were awarded more than $350,000 in cash and in-kind prizes at the 2019 McCloskey New Venture Competition on Friday, April 12.
Resonado and Vital View Technologies split the $50,000 McCloskey Grand Prize, which is awarded to teams founded by Notre Dame students or alumni. Frost Control Systems and Game Changer split the $50,000 Startup South Bend-Elkhart/Elevate Ventures Grand Prize, which is awarded to the top community based teams.
Altogether, $209,500 was awarded as cash and $160,000 was given as in-kind prizes such as banking, tax, legal and intellectual property support.
Teams presented before a panel of nationally-known judges and 600 attendees in the Dahnke Ballroom at the University of Notre Dame stadium. Charles Adler, co-founder of Kickstarter; Rick Smith, co-founder and managing director of CrossCut Ventures; Matt Strottman, alumnus, COO of In-Q-Tel; Paul English, CTO of Lola.com and co-founder of Kayak, GetHuman and Boston Light; Courtney Kingston, founder of Kingston Family Vineyards; John Tabis, alumnus, founder and CEO of The Bouqs Company and Tim Connors, alumnus, founder of PivotNorth Capital served as this year’s final round judges.
The McCloskey competition began in 2001 with $30,000 in awards and 70 teams. Now in its nineteenth year, the competition gave out more than $350,000 in prize money and attracted a record 175 teams in 2019.
Teams from the South Bend-Elkhart community could also compete for prizes, with more than $100,000 being available to them.
“We were very pleased with how McCloskey went this year,” said Karen Slaggert, director of the McCloskey competition and director of student entrepreneurship at the IDEA Center. “Each year the quality of the pitches at McCloskey increase and this year was no exception. The teams did a fantastic job during their presentations and the panelists were very engaged with them throughout.”
Following is a listing of the awardees; descriptions appear below.
| Award | Description | Recipient 1 | Recipient 2 | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McCloskey Grand Prize (tie) | $50,000 cash award (tie = $25,000 awarded to two teams) | Resonado ($25K) | Vital View Technologies ($25K) | $50,000 |
| Startup South Bend-Elkhart/Elevate Ventures Grand Prize (tie) | $50,000 cash award (tie = $25,000 awarded to two teams) | Frost Control Systems ($25K) | Game Changer ($25K) | $50,000 |
| Marshall County Prize for Greatest Social Impact | Total of $25,000 awarded to teams demonstrating greatest social impact | Vital View Technologies | $25,000 | |
| IrishAngels Award | Opportunity to present to the IrishAngels; estimated value $25- $250K | GameChanger | Frost Control Systems | $25,000 |
| Schurz Communications | $20,000 cash award | Otter Therapies | $20,000 | |
| IOIPay Best Woman Owned Startup | $10,000 cash award for best woman owned business | Dermadiagnostics | $10,000 | |
| Elevate Ventures Pitch Award | Opportunity to pitch to Elevate Ventures’ Community Ideation Board | Viewtique | $20,000 | |
| Kem Krest/South Bend – Elkhart Regional Partnership Minority Owned Startup Award | $10,000 cash award for best minority owned venture | Tembo AI | $10,000 | |
| Lavrock Best Graduate Venture | $10,000 cash award for best graduate venture | The Ugly Company | $10,000 | |
| Equifund Best Undergraduate Venture | $10,000 cash award for best undergraduate venture | Xstudia | $10,000 | |
| RSM US, LLP Prize for Accounting, tax and related services | $10,000 in in-kind accounting, tax, and/or consultative business services | Frost Control Systems | $10,000 | |
| Research Like a Champion Award | $12,000 cash award for best innovation in cancer research | YeSSGenomics | $12,000 | |
| First State Bank Business Banking Award | $3,000 cash; up to $2,000 in banking services | Royal Flush | $5,000 | |
| Sutherland Family Award for Best Presentation | $5,000 cash award | Resonado | $5,000 | |
| Michael Best & Friedrich LLP IP Prize | 1 prior art search, best biotech invention | YeSSGenomics | $3,000 | |
| Palo Alto Software Award – Best Written Undergraduate Plan | $1,500 cash award | Resonado | $1,500 | |
| Palo Alto Software Award – Best Written Graduate Plan | $1,500 cash award | Tembo AI | $1,500 | |
| Startup Showcase 1st Place | $1,000 cash award for first place, “Best Venture at Startup Showcase” (audience voted) | The Ugly Company | $1,000 | |
| Startup Showcase 2nd Place | $500 cash award for second place, “Best Venture at Startup Showcase” (audience voted) | Puente | $500 | |
| Plug and Play Tech Center Camp Awards | $50,000 in in-kind services plus $25K investment (offered to 3 teams) | Dermadiagnostics | YeSSGenomics | $100,000 |
| HAX Accelerator Award* | Consultation session plus first round interview for investment consideration for top hardware startups* | * | * |