The Cleantech Open, a business plan competition that will provide more than $1 million in prizes for early-stage clean technology startups, recently announced the winners of its North Central regional competition (which includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin).
The winning teams were:
- EarthClean Corp. (Minneapolis, MN)
- Xolve, Inc. (Platteville, WI)
- Silicon Solar Solutions (Rogers, AR)
These teams will receive a "Startup in a Box" prize package of cash and in-kind services valued at up to $30,000. They will also be proceeding to the Cleantech Open national competition, which will award a grand prize of $250,000 in investment and services on November 17, 2010.
In addition, NewWater, based in Minneapolis, won the region's sustainability award, an honor given to the team that most effectively incorporated a triple bottom line approach to scaling their business.
"We were delighted to have more than 50 entries in this year's first North Central region competition – which was second only to the California region," said Justin Kaster, the regional director for the North Central region and an investment banker with Twin Cities-based Cherry Tree Companies. "While each entry was innovative and inventive, our four winners represent the best in cutting-edge clean technology and renewable solutions. With world-class training and extensive one-on-one mentoring, our winners now have the comprehensive tools to showcase their business. We're thrilled to see such success in the competition's first year in this region and believe the tremendous strides all our participant companies made will help our region lead in this emerging industry."