DETROIT – VerteCore, a startup that has developed affordable, mobile decompression for instant spine relief, won Tuesday night the $500,000 grand prize at the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition, while GreenMark Biomedical Inc. and Shoptelligence took second and third prizes, respectively.
GreenMark BioMedical is a biodelivers health solutions precisely where they are needed in the human body. Shoptelligence helps retailers provide personalized service that increases basket size and revenue. GreenMark won $100,000 and Shoptelligence $50,000.
Accelerate Michigan is a program of Invest Detroit’s ID Ventures, and its top sponsors are Ann Arbor SPARK, along with Invest Michigan, Belle Michigan, William Davidson Foundation, and Michigan Economic Development Corporation. A total of $1 million in cash and in-kind prizes were awarded to eight innovative startups selected from 24 semi-finalists. Nearly 400 top investors, entrepreneurs and community leaders attended the event at the Lexus Velodrome.
“The innovation that we’ve seen at this year’s pitch competition is a testament to the extraordinary talent in Michigan,” said Martin Dober, senior vice president and managing director of ID Ventures. “We are honored to recognize this year’s winners and support the growth of startups that represent the future of Michigan.”
2018 AMIC Awardees are:
· Grand Prize – $500,000: VerteCore
· Second Prize – $100,000: GreenMark Biomedical Inc.
· Third Prize – $50,000: Shoptelligence
· Woman-Led Prize – $150,000: SpellBound
· Caregiver Prize – $25,000: MyNurse
· Social Enterprise Prize – $20,000: Derq
· Hardware Prize – $10,000: S3D Precision Dispensing
· People’s Choice Prize – $10,000: VerteCore
AMIC enables entrepreneurs to showcase their companies and meet one-on-one with fellow entrepreneurs, investors, business acceleration resources, and experts in their specific sector during carefully curated meetings. This year, AMIC organized 240 meetings with more than 100 entrepreneurs, investors and subject matter experts.
Since its launch in 2010, grand prize awardees of AMIC have hired over a 1,000 people and attracted more than $650 million in additional investment. Previous awardees include Orbion Space Technology (2017), SPLT (2016), Banza (2015), SkySpecs (2014), VNN (2013), Algal Scientific (2012), Celsee (2011), and Armune BioScience (2010).
