Aspiring entrepreneurs enter final round of UB competition

By Jacqueline Molik Ghosen

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Five teams will vie for more than $60,000 in startup funding and in-kind services in the final round of the Henry A. Panasci Jr. Technology Entrepreneurship Competition (Panasci TEC) on April 13 at UB’s Center for the Arts.

The finalists, pared down from 22 initial entries, feature a diverse array of ventures: 

• Angiograft LLC - a medical product company that proposes a superior healing alternative for conventional tissue vessel grafts in vascular surgery
• Buffalo Automation Group - a robotics startup that develops self-navigating technology for boats
• Memory Fox - a cloud-based application to capture and preserve a family’s oral history
• SpeakAlley - a social network for learning new languages
• Shay Bioproducts - a precious metal retrieval unit used to recover and reuse pricy metals

Each team will deliver a 10-minute, public presentation at the competition’s final round from 4-8 p.m. on April 13 in the Center for the Arts Screening Room on UB’s North Campus.

They will be evaluated on how well they describe the feasibility and marketability of their venture, prove the need for their product or service and present potential sources of capital.

Winners will be announced at a reception immediately following the last team presentation.

This year, the team that presents the best plan for launching a viable new business in Western New York will earn $25,000 in seed money.

In addition, the winning team will receive in-kind awards worth $27,000 for legal services from Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC; accounting services from Kopin & Co. PC; human resource startup services from the People Plan by HR Foundations Inc.; business development services from the UB Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach; and office space from North Forest Office Space.

The second-place team will collect $10,000 in startup funding, and all teams will be offered co-working space in dig, within the Thomas R. Beecher Jr. Innovation Center.

Now in its 16th year, Panasci TEC was created by the UB School of Management and the UB Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach, and is funded with a $1 million endowment from the late Henry A. Panasci Jr. to facilitate and promote the commercialization of UB-generated technologies.

Hosted by the School of Management’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL), the event brings together UB students from science, technology, business and other disciplines to maximize their potential and create viable businesses in Western New York.

Anyone interested in attending the presentations on April 13 should register with the CEL at 716-885-5715 or mgt-cel@buffalo.edu.

Details and photo opportunities:

• 4:30 - 4:45 p.m.    Welcome remarks 
• 4:45 - 6:30 p.m.    Team presentations
• 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.    Reception
• 7:30 - 8 p.m.        Presentation of awards and closing remarks