Maine Startups Insider reports on UMaine Business Challenge finalists
Maine Startups Insider reported on the finalists for the UMaine Business Challenge, the state’s largest student entrepreneurship competition. The college entrepreneurs will be paired with mentors and have seven weeks to build a business plan before presenting it before a panel of judges on April 29 at UMaine, according to the article. Up for grabs is $20,000 in cash and in-kind support, the article states. The UMaine Business Challenge was founded in 2011 by a group of 2010 UMaine graduates. The competition, which encourages innovation and entrepreneurship, was opened to all Maine college students in 2014. Finalists from UMaine are Bradley Shepherd, a graduate student and video game company founder who is in the process of developing a multiplayer, online collectible card game; Benjamin Koehler, a senior studying mechanical engineering who has developed a product that is able to draw heat from a wood stove and store it in a portable, insulated box that can provide warmth in an unheated space; and Ian Shea and Paul Kurnick, who have developed a pocket-sized tool that enables a lighter and a standard lip balm to be combined, the article states. Mainebiz and Mount Desert Islander also reported on the finalists and Tech.co published the Maine Startups Insider report.