Top Gun finalists prepare their pitches for $10,000 Prize

The 2015 Top Gun finalists have been chosen and they’re now preparing their best pitch to win the $10,000 prize* at the Top Gun Showcase on June 3 at USM’s Abromson Center in Portland. To get to the grand finale, this year’s finalists competed in both an online and live pitch Semi-Final competitions in each of the Top Gun locations, Portland, Rockport and Bangor, ranked by both local and national judges. Two winners from each location were chosen as well as four wild card spots for the entrepreneurs who held the next four highest scores.

The Top Gun Showcase finalists are: 

From Bangor: RockStep Solutions, Course Storm

From Rockport: Pemaquid Mussel Farms, American Unagi

From Portland: Rapport, Vetro FiberMap

Wild Card: Zeomatrix, Downeast Dayboat, Parent Technology Group LLC, LooHoo LLC   

And the money doesn’t stop there for this year’s Top Gun entrepreneurs.

“Top Gun graduates have gone on to win other competitions, such as the CleanTech Open, as well as receive funding from MTI, Maine Angels, Maine Venture Fund and other outside investors,” said Top Gun Program Manager Susan Ruhlin.

    

ABOUT TOP GUN MAINE

Top Gun is an annual five-­month program for competitively selected entrepreneurs that combines mentoring with high-impact bi-weekly gatherings held in Portland, Bangor and Rockland. The Top Gun program is coordinated by the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development and made possible by the Blackstone Accelerates Growth initiative, the Maine Technology Institute, as well as many local business sponsors, program advisors and mentors. Special thanks for the generous support of the Maine SBDC and UROCK! as well as many local and corporate sponsors.

ABOUT MCED

The Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development is a private non-profit founded in 1997 that assists entrepreneurs building scalable innovation based businesses in Maine. With roots as a traditional incubator that offered entrepreneurs space located on an academic campus, MCED is now a leading edge virtual resource for the most promising startups, regardless of their Maine location.

ABOUT BLACKSTONE ACCELERATES GROWTH

Launched by the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, Blackstone Accelerate Growth builds an intentional community and culture of innovation and entrepreneurship throughout Maine.  The collaborative partnership catalyzes growth of innovative businesses by connecting companies and entrepreneurs with the resources they need. For more information, visit www.blackstonegrowth.com.

* As a condition of winning, the cash and in-kind prizes must be used solely for the business described in the pitch. The cash and in-kind prizes awarded to the winning company do not represent an investment of any kind by the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development, the University of Maine, the Maine Technology Institute, the Blackstone Charitable Foundation or GWI.