Life City and SensPack grab $50,000 investments from Gray Ghost Ventures/Village Capital

Life City and SensPack, two New Orleans startups, each won $50,000 investments yesterday during New Orleans Entrepreneur Week.

As part of the Idea Village Entrepreneur Challenge 2011, a cohort of 14 companies were in the running to receive two $50,000 investments from Atlanta-based venture capital firm Gray Ghost Ventures/Village Capital.  Since early November, the 14 companies have been meeting weekly, evaluating and assessing one another’s businesses.  Yesterday, the group voted on the final allotment and the winners were Life City and SensPack!

SensPack is a mobile medical monitoring device that extends basic healthcare to people outside the reach of hospitals, whether it be rural Americans or those in emerging markets.  Senspack is a backpack with basic health diagnostic tools, all Bluetooth-enabled to send patient information to health care professionals across distances.

LifeCity is a green business certification company that looks to rate and evaluate businesses on their sustainability, building a membership list of consumers who will drive business to more sustainable enterprises.

The other finalists were:

Rebirth Financial, an organization that helps small businesses in economically distressed areas gain access to fair financial services.  Rebirth helps secure financing for enterprises and helps them navigate the difficult-to-acquire financing available for small businesses; and

GTC Nola, which looks to redefine the way taxi transportation is done in the US.  GTC Nola is a 100% clean-energy fleet, and they look to have universal reliability, acceptance of credit cards, and “green” transportation within the fleet.