Winners announced in the 15th Annual John Pappajohn Iowa Entrepreneurial Venture Competition
The 2020 John Pappajohn Iowa Entrepreneurial Venture Competition was held virtually in September. Twelve teams advanced to the final presentation round, and the following businesses emerged as winners of this year’s competition.
3D Health Solutions received first place and was awarded $40,000. 3D Health Solutions is commercializing 3-dimensional in vitro canine cell culture lines for therapeutic drug screening purposes in both veterinary and human health applications. 3D Health Solutions is headquartered in Ames, Iowa.
Dr. Jon Mochel, Co-Founder and CEO
FBB Biomed came in second place and was awarded $25,000. FBB Biomed is harnessing the latest advancements in genetics, bioinformatics and RNA virology to develop novel approaches in combating chronic inflammatory diseases, with its first application targeting multiple sclerosis (MS) therapy. FBB Biomed is located in Iowa City, Iowa.
Howard Urnovitz, CEO and Co-Founder
Roboflow received third place and was awarded $15,000. Roboflow organizes, prepares, and improves image and annotation training data for developers. Roboflow transforms raw images into a trained computer vision model in minutes. Roboflow is located in Des Moines, Iowa.
Joseph Nelson, CEO and Co-Founder
A fourth place award and three honorable mentions were awarded this year. Receiving fourth place and a $6,000 award was OpenLoop, founded by Jon Lensing, M.D., located in Iowa City. Two companies were awarded $4,000 honorable mention awards including Nigel Reuel, founder of Skroot Labs, located in Ames, and Jeri Frank, founder of Stratafolio, located in Cedar Rapids. Remaining finalists each received $1,000.
“We were glad to have John Pappajohn join the awards celebration this year, even if we had to connect virtually. John’s commitment to supporting entrepreneurs in Iowa is admired and appreciated by everyone,” stated David Hensley, director of the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at the University of Iowa.
The competition is a collaborative project of the Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Centers located at Drake University, Iowa State University, North Iowa Area Community College, the University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa. The Iowa Economic Development Authority provides funding to bring the total prize package to $100,000.
Details about next year’s John Pappajohn Iowa Entrepreneurial Venture Competition will be announced in February 2021. For additional information about the competition, visit www.pappajohncompetition.com.
The NIACC John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center is the expert in rural business innovation and success. In partnership with North Iowa’s Small Business Development Center, together we provide tools, support, and resources to Iowa’s entrepreneurs. We counsel both new and existing local businesses, from Main Street to industry leaders. We’re growing Iowa’s entrepreneurial culture through grade school initiatives, college and community programs, and business training and development. Contact the NIACC Pappajohn Center at 641-422-4111 or pappajohn@niacc.edu.
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