Differential Proteomics WINS 2008 North of Boston Business Plan Competition

Beverly Company WINS $10,000 first prize; Flavrz of Gloucester second; Enterprise Homes LLC of Andover third.

 Salem, MA May 15,2008 – Last night, at an event put on by the Enterprise Center at Salem State College, the winners of the Fourth Annual North of Boston Business Plan Competition were announced. Differential Proteomics, a biotech company based in Beverly won the grand prize of $10,000. Flavrz, an organic beverage company from Gloucester came in second winning $6,000 and Enterprise Homes LLC of Andover took home the third prize of $4,000.
 
The competition was hosted by the Enterprise Center at Salem State College, a non profit business incubator and growth center; The Merrimack Valley Economic Development Council, Inc., a non profit organization with the mission of advancing the economic interests of the Merrimack Valley; and The Merrimack Valley Venture Forum, a non profit that facilitates growth in scientific and technology sectors.

David Ives, CEO of NiiS, Inc. and a judge and moderator of the competition, said of the presentations, “Each business plan had support by one of the individual judges as the top plan to win the competition. We were greatly impressed by each presentation and our confident that these businesses will see much success.”

 “Our region is a hot spot for growth and emerging companies and this is clearly reflected in the innovative, high quality entrants in this years’ competition,” said Christine Sullivan, Executive Director of the Enterprise Center at Salem State College.

Thirty companies entered the contest. Of these seven semi-finalists were chosen by a panel investors, bankers, business owners, academics and entrepreneurs. Of the seven, four finalists were selected to participate in the finale and vie for $20,000 in prize money.
 
The winners are:

First Place: Differential Proteomics (www.differentialproteomics.com)–Beverly, MA  Differential Proteomics is a Biotech Company that uses its patented technology to help identify specific diseases and cancer. Their company improves clinical outcomes by applying Biomarkers throughout all aspects of drug discovery and development. The market for these new reagents is in excess of 15 billion dollars. Phil Holberton made the presentation with contributions by Robert McBurney, PhD., and Paul Stroobant, PhD.

 Second Place: Flavrz Beverage Corp. (www.organicflavrz.com )- Gloucester, MA Karen Barth, who has a Harvard MBA and over 10 years of experience in the beverage industry founded Flavrz Beverage Corp. as a socially responsible, eco-friendly, distributor of organic beverages. Karen presented a plan to grow a profitable multimillion dollar beverage company with 50+ employees in the Cape Ann area.

 Third Place: Enterprise Homes LLC (www.enterprisehomestanzania.com )– Andover, MA Kyle McKinney and Ambassador Charles Stith made a compelling presentation on their company, Enterprise Homes LLC which plans, develops and monitors cutting edge housing developments in Tanzania.

 Runner up: Meddart – Beverly, MA  Meddart was founded by William Abbott and is medical imaging company that is developing an X-ray computed tomography (CT) medical imaging contrast agent to help doctors with diagnostic information. 

 Several of the finalists, including the winner, Differential Proteomics, worked closely with the SBA’s Small Business Development Center at Salem State College. The SBDC provides one on one free business advising, assistance with raising capital, and seminars on a wide array of business topics.

 “This group of competition winners has built diversified management teams, strong business models, and products that are either innovative or are produced in new ways. We congratulate Differential Proteomics and all the companies that participated in this competition and thank them for their critical role in growing the regional economy”, said Margret Somer, Regional Director of the Small Business Development Center Northeast Region at Salem State College.

Corporate sponsors of the competition include platinum sponsors Eastern Bank and Salem Five, gold sponsor TD Banknorth, silver sponsor Danversbank and Sovereign Bank, media sponsor The Salem News and our support sponsor the North Shore Technology Council. 

Co-sponsors of the 2008 competition include the Amesbury Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Beverly Chamber of Commerce, Cape Ann Business Incubator, Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, Creative Economy Association of the North Shore, Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce, 128 Innovation Capital Group, Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce, Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce, Marblehead Chamber of Commerce, Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce, Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce, North Shore Chamber of Commerce,  Peabody Chamber of Commerce, Salem Chamber of Commerce, Bertolon School of Business at Salem State College and the Small Business Development Center at Salem State College. 

Contact Information for finalists:

Differential Proteomics: Phil Holberton 781-259-9719 pholberton@differentialproteomics.com

 Enterprise Homes LLC: Kyle McKinney 617-571-0722 kyle_734@hotmail.com

 Flavrz: Karen Barth 978-283-0346 karenbarth@earthlink.net

 Meddart: William Abbott 978-998-4225 AbbottWF@aol.com

Center for Business Planning (www.centerbp.com )– A Lynnfield based technology company that out-sources virtual business services to clients.

Differential Proteomics (www.differentialproteomics.com )– A biotechnical company with offices in Ipswich that uses its patented technology to identify specific diseases and cancer.

 Enterprise Homes LLC (www.enterprisehomestanzania.com )– an Andover based international housing developer.

 Hotz1.net (www.hotz1.net )- a Gloucester based internet service provider that provides affordable wireless connection to communities and individuals.

 Meddart – a Medical Imaging company located in Beverly that is developing an X-ray computed tomography (CT) medical imaging contrast agent to help doctors with diagnostic information. 

Poshers.com (www.poshers.com) – a Salem based online shoe store with innovative search technology and other revolutionary concepts. 

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors:

Media:

And a Special Thank you to the North Shore Technology Council for their continued support