Winners Announced At CT Collegiate Business Plan Competition In New Haven

The Entrepreneurship Foundation held their Spring Semester Connecticut Collegiate Business Plan Competition today at the New Haven Lawn Club.  $13,500 in grants were up for grabs in seven different categories.  The contest included 23 finalists from 11 different Connecticut colleges and universities.

The winners were:

• Best Personal Business ($5,000): Petal Post, a Wallingford company providing easy to install decorative flower pots for fence posts.   Team leader: SCSU student Kaitlyn Moral.
• Runner-Up Best Personal Business ($1,000): LudusPro, a Waterford-based tablet application to simplify recording and sharing of sports statistics.  Team leader: UConn Storrs student Mike Shaprio.
• Best Written Plan for a Personal Business ($500): Hebron-based Artistic Projection specializing in visual promotion using projection onto large surfaces.  Team leader: Manchester Community College student Gregory Stevens.
• Best Oral Presentation for a Personal Business ($500): Bright Turn, a Stamford company creating LED-lighted gloves that serve as turn-signals for cyclists.  Team leader: University of Bridgeport student Brian Krost.
• Best Venture Enterprise ($5,000): Qustir, a mobile marketing application that connects users through coupon sharing based in Hamden.  Team leader: Quinnipiac student Thomas Nassr.
• Runner-Up Best Venture Enterprise ($1,000): DMAP, a new approach to predictive analytics within financial markets based out of Cambridge, MA.
• Best Social Enterprise & Best Written Plan  for a Venture Enterprise ($500 each): Haven Docu-Services a company out of New Haven that organizes, scans and shreds documents for small businesses.  Team leader: SCSU student Cari Tate.
• Best Oral Presentation for a Venture Enterprise ($500): Branch-In, a New Haven-based online dating company that aims to help single individuals meet friends-of-friends for potential dates.  Team leader: Yale student Dorothy Halsey.