Tulane Business Plan Competition Announces Finalists

The Tulane Entrepreneurs Association and the Levy-Rosenblum Institute for Entrepreneurship have announced the teams that have advanced to the Final Round of the 2011 Tulane Business Plan Competition and the Domain Companies New Orleans Entrepreneur Challenge:

The Tulane Business Plan Competition Finalists, who are competing for a $50,000 grant, are:

Drop the Chalk, LLC (Tulane University) – Drop the Chalk creates web-based software that enables teachers to use data to improve student performance. Drop the Chalk’s intuitive interface gives teachers and administrators the ability to collect and analyze academic and behavioral performance efficiently and in real time so that they can make appropriate and timely interventions.

OsComp Systems (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) – Compression costs affect the entire natural gas supply chain. From wellheads all the way until the end user, compression plays an integral role in the costs of natural gas. In the US, natural gas compressors consume a net >$50 billion in fuel and generate >120 million tons of CO2 each year. Natural gas compressors are a $7.2 billion/yr market. In addition, natural gas use and compression is expected to experience continued strong growth in the future. OsComp Systems’ team of engineers from MIT has invented a breakthrough, patent-pending compression technology that reduces operating and capital costs of compression by over 30%.

Pathostat, LLC (University of Arizona) – Pathostat, LLC has developed a novel, patent-pending medical device technology for use during cancer surgery which enables the surgical oncology team to precisely excise and assess cancerous tissue.

The Domain Companies New Orleans Entrepreneur Challenge Finalists, competing for a $20,000 grant, are:

Drop the Chalk, LLC (Tulane University) (description above)

Rebirth Financial, Inc. (Tulane University) – It’s microfinance for suits.  For the first time ever, entrepreneurs seeking capital can skip bankers and make a pitch directly to individual lenders to lend to their companies.  New Orleans-based Rebirth Financial Inc. debuted America’s first person-to-business lending platform and marketplace with RebirthFinancial.com in January 2011.  The company hosts an online platform and marketplace facilitating financial growth and development in Louisiana, with anticipated scalability to all 50 states.  Rebirth Financial is structured like an Ebay for loans, connecting individual and institutional investors directly with the businesses that need their loans the most to finance growth in the small business sector—a process that we call peer-to-business (P2B) lending.

Surround Sound Accompaniment (Tulane University) – Surround Sound Accompaniment offers the solo musician, the instant option to surround him/herself with the orchestra, just as if they were playing with Philharmonic.