Two MoCo Startups Receive $100K in InvestMaryland Challenge

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley awarded $100,000 each to two startup companies from Montgomery County in the InvestMaryland Challenge, a national business competition which offered nearly $1 million in cash and in-kind awards.

The grand prizes were funded by the state-run Maryland Venture Fund and the BioMaryland Center, part of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.

The winner in the Life Sciences category was Brain Sentry, a Bethesda-based company that has developed an innovative helmet-mounted sensor to help identify players of team sports who should be assessed for a concussion.

Topping the IT (hardware/software) category was ClickMedix, a Gaithersburg-based global mobile health social enterprise founded by faculty and students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University to increase capacity of physicians and health organizations to serve more patients.

“Congratulations to the winners of the InvestMaryland Challenge, all the companies that participated and the members of Maryland’s vibrant and growing entrepreneurial community that have made the InvestMaryland Challenge such a success,” O’Malley said. “Maryland is more committed than ever to supporting the entrepreneurs and innovators who develop cutting-edge technologies, start new companies and create family-sustaining jobs that will employ citizens of our state for generations to come.”

“We are proud to award these top prizes to four deserving companies and are very thankful to the sponsors who donated the additional awards and the judges who offered invaluable feedback and advice to all the companies,” DBED Secretary Dominick Murray said. “This competition helps build a pipeline of new investment opportunities for the state’s Maryland Venture Fund and private investors, and forges new bonds across Maryland’s entrepreneurial community, connecting companies to potential advisors, partners and customers.”

The Challenge drew 260 entries from around the country, including 29 out-of-state companies from 11 state and Washington, D.C.

the InvestMaryland program has raised $84 million to support small, high-tech startups. Two-thirds of the funding – $56 million – is being managed by carefully screened private venture firms that will invest the funds and, if successful, return 100 percent of the principal and 80 percent of the profits to the state’s general fund. The remaining third of the InvestMaryland capital is largely allocated to direct investments by the Maryland Venture Fund.