Nineteen finalists for the Charlotte Venture Challenge (CVC) have been selected from among 95 entries, and one start-up company will receive the $25,000 grand prize as the winner of the 12th annual event on Wednesday, May 1. Category winners will share $50,000 in prize awards funded by the Hauser Family Fund.
“The Charlotte Venture Challenge has always been a community collaboration with mentors, alumni and sponsors of the competition volunteering hundreds of hours of time. We have sustained this level of commitment for 12 years because we continue to be impressed and inspired by our entrepreneurs. This year is no different,” said Devin Collins of UNC Charlotte, the founding organization of the competition.
The CVC finals will be held 4 to 8 p.m., May 1, at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Competing teams will make a five-minute presentation and respond to five-minutes of rapid-fire questions from a panel of investors. Following their presentations, the teams will showcase their innovative new technologies at a reception and awards ceremony.
The finalists include: Brush Fairy, Dot Metrics Technologies Inc., Northington Dahlberg Research LLC, Sustainable Ethanol Technologies, Tapity Inc. and WeRX.org, all from Charlotte; INTRINSIC MARKS INTERNATIONAL LLC of Huntersville; StarkPower from Davidson; Bio-adhesive Alliance Inc. from Greensboro; CranioVation from Durham; Greenbug Inc. from Beaufort, S.C.; Urova Medical from Memphis, Tenn.; and RoboCent from Norfolk, Va.
The student category finalists include NoireNaturals LLC, UNC Charlotte; PAX Backpacks, Davidson College; Klimb Ventures Inc., Emory University; BENANOVA INC., N.C. State; Tarian Orthotics, Clemson University; and ProVazo, University of Virginia.
Competition categories are consumer products and services, life sciences and biotechnology, IT and informatics, new energy and high tech, undergraduate student ventures and graduate student ventures.
The CVC final is open to the public; register to attend online.