Jungle Media Group, Fenwick & West LLP, Knob Creek Bourbon & Gevril Announce Winners
(NEW YORK and MOUNTAIN VIEW, May 2, 2006) – Jungle Media Group, publisher of award-winning
Jungle magazine, Fenwick & West LLP, the leading law firm for venture funding and technology startups, Knob Creek Bourbon and Gevril watches announce the winners for the 2006 Jungle Business Plan
Challenge. This was the sixth year for the prestigious international competition.
As in previous years, the Challenge was open to entrepreneurs from around the world; with the criterion
that one of the founding team members must be a current candidate for a master in business
administration (MBA). Judges first narrowed the field to 24 teams from nearly 200 from across the
country and from as far away as Israel, India and Pakistan. The 24 semi-finalist teams flew to Fenwick &
West’s Silicon Valley offices to pitch their business plans live in front of a distinguished panel of judges
comprised of leading VCs, entrepreneurs and attorneys. Firms such as Hummer Winblad Venture
Partners, Allegis Capital, Right Hand Partners, Levensohn Venture Partners, Walden Venture Capital,
Capital Valley Ventures, Formative Ventures, Mayfield Fund and Adobe Ventures were among the elite
organizations represented among the judging panel.
Knob Creek Bourbon and Fenwick & West also hosted a high-powered cocktail party on the evening prior
to the Challenge. Attending were all competing teams, the judging panelists, attorneys, entrepreneurs,
technology executives, and VCs from Silicon Valley.
In a grueling 1-day pitch off, the judging panel first cut down the field to 8 finalists, and then chose the
winner: SunPhocus Technologies of the University of Chicago. SunPhocus was formed in September of
2005 to commercialize an innovative solar concentrator that reduces the cost of building- integrated
photovoltaics (BIPV). Generally, solar concentrators are bulky and opaque. The SunPhocus concentrator,
however, is a virtually transparent thin-film. Known as HoloSun, the concentrator currently improves the
output of a variety of solar cells by 25%. SunPhocus maintains an exclusive, worldwide license from the
patent holder, the Illinois Institute of Technology, to commercialize the concentrator in the BIPV market.
The company seeks to sell HoloSun film to multiple producers of solar windows, skylights, shingles and
spandrel.
The 2nd place prize went to Savium Technologies of the University of Michigan. Savium Technologies, a
spin-off of research from the University of Michigan, engages in the design and production of low-cost,
high-performance electronically scanned array (ESA) radar systems. Savium intends to market its
technologies to both the automotive industry and the defense industry. The University of Michigan has
won the competition in 2003 and 2005 and was runner up in 2001.
Among US schools, University of Chicago was the most represented at the Challenge, with four teams
making the semi-finalist cut. Past winners include University of Michigan (2005 & 2003), Harvard
(2004), Berkeley (2002), and MIT/Duke (2001).
Besides the considerable prestige, SunPhocus Technologies bagged $35,000 in cash and legal services
from Fenwick & West, a dinner for eight with Jim Beam’s great-grandson from Knob Creek Bourbon and
$10,000 worth of Gevril gift certificates. Savium Technologies received $15,000 in legal services. All
semi-finalists and finalists received gifts from all of the sponsors, as well as a great deal of exposure and
contact with VCs as a result of the competition, with several businesses receiving direct interest in
funding. The general caliber of the competitors has been high, with more than half of past competitors
receiving some kind of start-up funding.
“Fenwick & West is the leader in representing today’s entrepreneurs and the venture capitalists who
back them. This competition is about tomorrow’s leaders,” stated Sam Angus, a partner in the firm’s
start-up and venture capital group, “By working directly with the Challenge, we are tapping into
tomorrow’s visionaries, and presenting an outlet for top investors to meet them, and vice versa.”
“This year’s event attracted top-level entrepreneurs,” stated Jonathan McBride, a co-founder and
Publisher of Jungle. “We are thrilled to be providing a platform for these dynamic entrepreneurs to build
the next group of innovative, successful companies.”
About Fenwick & West
Established in 1972, Fenwick & West LLP is one of the nation's premier law firms providing
comprehensive legal services to national and international high technology and life sciences clients. The
firm was recently ranked by Dow Jones as the third most active U.S. law firm in helping IT clients raise
venture capital and by MergerMarket as the #1 U.S. law firm for technology sector M&A.
About Jungle Media Group
Jungle Media Group's mission is to inform and entertain young, affluent professionals, and to provide
them with the tools they need to master the Art of Success. Jungle's properties include award-winning
Jungle and Jungle Law magazines, Web sites, conferences and books. Jungle Media Group is also a
leading publisher of diversity and diversity recruitment titles, including Savoy Professional, a career and
lifestyle magazine for African-American executives, and Hispanic Professional, which it publishes in
partnership with the National Society of Hispanic MBAs. In 2004 JMG published Your Career, in
partnership with the Wall Street Journal. Jungle Media Group also publishes on behalf of over 20 top
universities and educational institutions around the world.
Finalists
Team Name, School
Adaptive Hearing Solutions, Stanford Grad School of Business
Cellugen Inc. , University of Waterloo
IDA Technologies, UC Davis Grad School of Mngmt
Krasis, Lahore University of Management Science
Nanodrivers, University of Waterloo
Savium Technologies, U Michigan, Ann Arbor
Silicon Servo Inc, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
Sun Phocus Technologies, U Chicago
Semi-Finalists
Administrata, Pepperdine U Graziadio School of Business
Avanti, MIT, Sloan
Best Opportunity for Reliable Business Reporting, U Virginia, Darden
Cytex Therapeutics, Duke, Fuqua
dayStreamer, USC Marshall School of Business
Fantasy Sports Gaming Network, UC Davis Grad School of Mgmt
Healthcare Research Group, American U, Kogod
Intellitoys, U Penn, Wharton School
Labor Fair, Duke, Fuqua
LiquidTalk, U Chicago
OneWorld Medical Devices, MIT, Sloan
Power Control Solutions, U Virginia, Darden
PrepMe Premium Test Preparation, U Chicago
Progressive Cooling Solutions, U Cincinnati
Recovered Pulp Technologies, University of Waterloo
RocketJot, U Chicago