May 13, 2010
A handful of Northwest start-up companies are competing today for a $165,000 investment prize at the Willamette Angel Conference in Eugene, Ore. You can join the action via Twitter by following the official event handle, @WAC10, or by searching for the hashtag #wac10 on www.twitter.com.
The morning session of Ignite-style pitches produced one "wild card" winner, Seattle-based Hydrovolts, which advances now to the final competition. Hydrovolts' 3.5-minute pitch was chosen by audience vote from five other wild card entrants.
Now seven other finalists chosen in a competition held before the conference each have 10 minutes to pitch their businesses to attendees and investors. All eight contenders in the "main pitch" session will square-off to win the grand prize, a minimum investment of $165,000. The winner will be chosen by a panel of investors.
Here's a blurb about Hydrovolts from the company's website:
"Hydrovolts grew out the most advanced study of tidal power feasibility in the USA to date. In 2005 the City of Tacoma, Washington proposed a 16 MW renewable tidal power project in the Tacoma Narrows of Puget Sound in Washington State. Tacoma Power, the city electric utility, hired Hydrovolts founder Burton Hamner and his company Puget Sound Tidal Power LLC (now Hydrovolts, Inc.) for the Tacoma Narrows Tidal Power Feasibility Study in February 2007."
