UA-Based Start-Up Wins $50,000 in Today’s Business Plan Competition Finale

MOBILE, Ala. – A University of Alabama-based company is among three winners announced here today in the finale of a state-wide business competition.

IoLiTec Inc. won $50,000 in cash plus in-kind services for its second-place finish in the Alabama Launchpad Governor’s Business Plan Competition, an annual competitive vetting process to evaluate high growth start-ups and provide seed funding in the form of cash prizes to the top three winners in the competition.

IoLiTec Inc. is a specialty chemical company that will develop and distribute solutions of nanoparticles that provide safer and easier handling options. Its Launchpad team members are: Drs. Tom Beyersdorff, president; Rachel Frazier, a research engineer within UA’s Alabama Innovation and Mentoring of Entrepreneurs; and Whitney Hough, who holds a doctorate in chemistry and is pursuing an MBA at UA.

Alabama Launchpad is a partnership between the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, the business community and six public universities in the state. This was the competition’s fifth year. For more information, visit www.alabamalaunchpad.com.

Decision Innovations, affiliated with the University of Alabama in Huntsville won first place, and IPC Foam, affiliated with Auburn University, won third place.

Three other UA start-up companies, 525PM, the Parent Care Readiness Program and MicroGreen Technologies, were among the nine teams that made the competition’s finals. They were chosen from among the 43 that originally began the competition. The teams competed for $175,000 in funding.