ANN ARBOR – The Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest reported Monday that 44 companies are competing in its Phase I start-up competition, 60 percent more than the 27 that competed in the business-plan contest a year ago.

Four in five start-ups hail from southeastern Michigan, with more than half based in Ann Arbor.

“Internet technology has had a huge increase in activity compared to last year and now represents greater than 40 percent of all companies in the competition”, said Art DeMonte, Executive Director of the GLEQ. Other technologies represented in the competition include: alternative energy, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and new services and products.

Key to the success of the GLEQ program is the addition of two powerful

training options for GLEQ entrepreneurs: FastTrac TechVenture and

Cantillon eCourse. Theses programs are strongly supported through key

partnerships with the Michigan Small Business Technology & Development

Center, Ann Arbor SPARK, Automation Alley in Troy and TechTown in Detroit.

About 80 percent of the 44 competition registrants are from southeast Michigan

with half of those in Ann Arbor alone. Western Michigan had six competition

registrants, while entrepreneurs from Houghton, Traverse City and Flint also

are in the hunt to be designated top company.

The GLEQ sponsors a statewide business plan competition with particular

emphasis this year on Business Commercialization. The GLEQ is structured

into two distinct maturity “paths” – companies with more developed

businesses compete in the Emerging Company path, while teams with new

or less developed business ideas compete in the New Business Ideas

path.

In Phase I, both EC and NBI executive summaries will be assessed by

up to four professional investors – with highly valuable written feedback

provided to the entrepreneurs. Winners in Phase I can receive cash awards

up to $5,000 and in-kind services from legal, marketing and accounting

sponsors.

In Phase II, which begins in February, an 8-12 page business

plan is completed. Cash awards up to $5,000 and $25,000 in Phase I and II

respectively and in-kind awards are provided to the winners. Innovation

Awards sponsored by Automation Alley, Next Energy and Southwest Michigan

First provide investment amounts up to $12,500 for teams meeting the

sponsor criteria. Total disbursements in 2008 will exceed $120,000.

The full list of GLEQ companies in the business plan competition follows:

Phase I – 2008: 44 companies

1. AJLSOFT, INC Clarkston

2. AmpTerra Ann Arbor

3. BioLumix Ann Arbor

4. C6 Aerospace Ann Arbor

5. CADcorporation.com Ann Arbor

6. CLEAN EMISSION FLUIDS Harrison Township

7. Caring Counselors Ann Arbor

8. DevHive Farmington Hills

9. Ethanol & Electric LLC Detroit

10. Funutation Tekademy LLC Cleveland, Ohio

11. GeoJab Battle Creek

12. Green Weddings – Michigan Traverse City

13. Healthcare Data Solutions Ann Arbor

14. Inland Seas Cruise Line Ann Arbor

15. Intellingen Ann Arbor

16. InTune LLC Ypsilanti

17. Miller-Schuring Agency Inc Kalamazoo

18. MITechPodcasting Grand Rapids

19. MaterialWerks, LLC Oxford

20. meet Ann Arbor

21. MentalNote Royal Oak

22. Mobile Sign Language Systems LLC Ypsilanti

23. NJ Baker & Company Lawrence

24. National Adopt-A-Watt Program Royal Oak

25. NextPhase Ventures DEXTER

26. OcuSciences, Inc. Ann Arbor

27. OPS Solutions LLC Belleville

28. OrgOrg Ann Arbor

29. PolyGreen Ann Arbor

30. Proca Power Rochester

31. PULSE VIDEO GAME CLUB (VGC) Detroit

32. Pure Entropy Technologies Troy

33. RateMyStudentRental, LLC Flint

34. RaveSession Sterling Heights

35. RealKidz, Inc. Ypsilanti

36. RentSold.com Berkley

37. RS Wallace Electric, Inc Kingsley

38. sci_Zone Holland

39. SkinTreet Ann Arbor

40. SmartKart Royal Oak

41. Tech Initiatives Houghton

42. TouchStone Innovations Ann Arbor

43. Volturna Grand Rapids

44. ZeroTech Interactive Detroit

To read more about the teams, click on GLEQ.Org

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