The Minnesota Cup competition allows emerging Minnesota
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.
An entreprene ...
s and
start-up companies to compete for the opportunity to meet investors and win prizes, including
seed capital.
History
The Minnesota Cup competition started in 2005 by entrepreneurs
Scott Litman and
Dan Mallin. 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.
Grand Prize 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