The Minnesota Cup competition allows emerging Minnesota
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
s and
start-up companies
A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...
to compete for the opportunity to meet investors and win prizes, including
seed capital
Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' su ...
.
History
The Minnesota Cup competition started in 2005 by entrepreneurs
Scott Litman
Scott Litman (November 18, 1966) is a Minnesota entrepreneur, co-founder of The Minnesota Cup and previous CEO and co-founder of Imaginet. Today, he serves as the co-founder and managing partner of Minneapolis-based Magnet 360.
Career
In 1998, Li ...
and
Dan Mallin
Dan Mallin is a Minnesota entrepreneur, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Magnet 360, Co-Founder of The Minnesota Cup, Entrepreneur-in-Residence of the Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management, and a Board Me ...
. The first competition drew 600 entries who competed for $37,500 in prize money and professional services. The second annual competition introduced a student division and began on May 26, 2006.
[Suzukamo, Leslie Brooks (2 April 2006)]
"Prize offered for bright ideas,"
''Pioneer Press'' (St. Paul
archived on breakthroughideas.org
/ref> The competition has grown over time with the top prize increasing to $50,000 in 2008.[Suzukamo, Leslie Brooks (31 March 2008)]
"Minnesota Cup doubles top prize to $50,000,"
''Pioneer Press'' (St. Paul
archived on breakthroughideas.org
/ref> In 2009, the competition expanded with the inclusion of categories for High Tech, Clean Tech and Renewable Energy, Social Entrepreneurship and BioSciences to go along with the existing General and Student Divisions. Additionally, prize money grew to $130,000.[Grayson, Katharine (30 March 2009)]
''Minneapolis/Saint Paul Business Journal'' (Minneapolis). In 2016, The prize money for division winners and runners-up was $30,000 and $5,000, respectively. The grand prize winner got additional $50,000.
Winners
*2005: ArcSwitch, Inc.[Diggins, Arthur F]
"Breaking New Ground"
''Twin Cities Business Magazine,'
archived at breakthroughideas.org
/ref>
*2006: Vast Enterprises[Kennedy, Patrick (8 September 2006)]
"Eden Prairie paver firm wins innovation prize"
''Star Tribune'' (Minneapolis
archived at breakthroughideas.org
/ref>
*2007: Muve Inc.[Johnson, Adam (12 September 2007)]
"Minnesota Cup Winner Thinks it Has a Better Idea For Weight Loss"
''Finance and Commerce'
archived at breakthroughideas.org
/ref>
*2008: CoreSpine Technologies[Minnesota Cup 2008: Breakthrough Entrepreneurs](_blank)
''Twin Cities Business'' December 2008
*2009: Alvenda Commerce Advertising[Minnesota Cup 2009: Most Promising Entrepreneurs](_blank)
''Twin Cities Business'' December 2009
*2010: EarthClean
*2011: AUM Cardiovascular
See also
* OrthoCor (2012), BioScience Division winner
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minnesota Cup
Economy of Minnesota
2005 establishments in Minnesota
Awards established in 2006