TAMPA, MIAMI & ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Florida Venture Forum hosted its Third Annual Statewide Collegiate Business Plan Competition and Sixth Annual Early Capital Conference at the Reunion Resort in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 before a record number of attendees.
The Conference began with the statewide collegiate business plan competition and included participation from University of Florida, Rollins College, University of Miami, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida State University, Florida Institute of Technology, University of Central Florida and University of South Florida. “The caliber of innovation and ideas, and the poise and preparation of the presenters is great testament to Florida’s public and private universities,” said Kevin Burgoyne, Executive Director of the Florida Venture Forum.
The winner of the Statewide Business Plan Competition was Florida Gulf Coast University. The team, under the direction of Dr. Sandra Kauanui, Ph.D. Director, Institute for Entrepreneurship at Florida Gulf Coast University, won over the judges with a flawless presentation and a very compelling product and business plan. Robby Donnelly, COO of Aqua Ramp, gave the presentation. The AquaRamp is an innovative design for an aquatic lift system that provides a simpler, more reliable mode of moving people into and out of swimming pools, spas, and other aquatic recreation areas. The product is an alternative to other aquatic lifts on the market. Instead of imitating its competitors by lifting a person into the air and lowering them straight into the pool, the AquaRamp uses an inclined system to lower a person into the water from wheelchair height. The highlight feature of this product is that it conforms to the newly-revised standards for ADA.
The AquaRamp team went on to present at the Early Stage Conference later in the afternoon, and received a gift certificate for pro bono legal services from the Helping Innovators Thrive (HIT) program of Edwards Wildman. Edwards Wildman’s HIT is designed to help qualifying entrepreneurs and young companies avoid costly mistakes and chart their course to success by providing support and affordable access to strategic legal advice.
After the luncheon with keynote speaker Rob Wight, CEO of myList, the Early Stage Conference began with 18 companies presenting to a room full of potential investors. The winning Early Stage presenter was Coletta Dorado, Founder, President and CEO of AZZLY. AZZLY is a “Platform as a Service”, an end to end medical office system that benefits the three major stakeholders in healthcare - patients, providers and payors. AZZLY delivers a real-time conversion from a patient encounter (visit) to a claim, improving profits, cash flow and revenues. By eliminating manual processes, redundancies and human error, burdensome administrative costs are reduced because a “clean” claim is created and submitted for reimbursement. AZZLY’s ground up approach is to serve office based medical practices and clinics building a large central database of providers and patients for centralized messaging, communication, education and research efforts. Unlike other solutions that offer disparate electronic health record or practice management systems, AZZLY is an all-inclusive revenue cycle management system that includes a progressive electronic health record, a robust practice management and real-time patient health record - a $30 Billion+ industry opportunity.
As winner of the early stage conference, Ms. Dorado will get to present again at the Florida Venture Forum’s 2014 Florida Venture Capital Conference, to be held January 28-29, 2014 in Orlando. In addition, AZZLY also received a gift certificate for pro bono legal services from the law firm of Edwards Wildman through their HIT program.
Investors were impressed with the quantity and quality of the presentations at this year's conference. Timothy J. Cartwright, Chairman of the Tamiami Angel Fund, one of Florida’s most active early stage investors, commented, "The quality of the dealflow is easy for me to measure. Of the companies that presented, the Tamiami Angel Fund has invested in one, is currently in due diligence on another, possibly inviting three to present to us, and, the Fund covered the costs of the winner of the Collegiate competition from FGCU or Dunk City."
About The Florida Venture Forum
The Florida Venture Forum is Florida’s oldest, largest and most prestigious statewide support group for entrepreneurs, helping emerging growth companies come together with sources of capital from across the country. The Florida Venture Forum provides monthly programs throughout the state in addition to an early stage Conference and a mid to later stage Conference. For additional information, please visit the web site at http://www.floridaventureforum.org.
