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Wisconsin Technology Council: Milwaukee Firm With Novel Wound-Care Treatment Wins Third Governor’s Business Plan Contest
6/8/2006

Contact: Tom Still at 608-695-7557 or Liz Stephens at 217-8935
To learn more: http://www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com

MILWAUKEE -- MatriLab, a biotech start-up company with origins in Madison but strong business and clinical roots in Milwaukee, is the grand prize winner in the 2006 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest.

The company, which makes an innovative drug delivery product for wounds, will collect prizes of at least $50,000 as a result of winning the contest. About 200 entries were received for the 2006 contest cycle, which began in late January. A total of $150,000 in cash and in-kind prizes will be awarded.

“If ever a company exemplified the technology corridor linking Madison and Milwaukee, it’s MatriLab,” said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. “The company is working with scientists at UW-Madison, the Medical College of Wisconsin and St. Lukes Medical Center, as well as management consultants at Milwaukee’s TechStar Early Ventures. It demonstrates that great business plans know no geographic boundaries.”

While conventional bandages cover the surface of an injury, the MatriLab technology conforms to the irregular, “English muffin”-like contours of a wound. MatriLab’s first product is a spray-on biomaterial used in the treatment of chronic wounds. While the basic scientific research was carried out by Dr. John Kao and his team on the UW-Madison campus, clinical work has taken place in Milwaukee under the leadership of scientists such as Dr. Jeff Niezgoda. Brian Thompson and Kathleen Kelleher lead the company’s business operations.

MatriLab won the Life Sciences category in the contest, which was judged by 48 business, investment and technology experts. Winners in other categories were:

Advanced Manufacturing: Plasma Devices, Madison. Plasma Devices has developed its first product, “Safe-Mail,” a patented plasma reactor that produces large volumes of low-temperature plasma at exceptionally low costs for use in the decontamination of packages and letters for a wide variety of biological and chemical agents, including anthrax, smallpox, SARS and flu strains.  “Safe-Mail” decontaminates post and packages without causing damage to the items being shipped. The contestant is Magesh Thiyagarajan of Madison.

Business Services: Pragmatic Construction, Milwaukee. Pragmatic Construction is a start-up business founded to advance sustainable development within the urban environment.  By integrating Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, an innovative, primary building material, with other green and traditional energy-efficient technologies, Pragmatic Construction obtains the optimal ratio of low construction costs, high quality, and superior energy efficiency. The contest team included Juli Kaufmann, Steve Servais and Nikolai Usack.

Information Technology: Get IPIC, Madison. The mission of GetIPIC is to secure the e-consumer’s privacy and prevent online identity theft by giving the e-consumer the ability to make anonymous purchases through the use of its proprietary methodology, the IPIC™ (Internet Privacy and Identity Credential™). GetIPIC’s technology gives consumers the ability to control their personal information and conduct private and secure e-transactions; enables online merchants to increase sales without changing existing point-of-sale systems; and increases bank revenues while ensuring regulatory compliance. The contest team included Khaja Din, Curt Szymanski and Brent Newport.

Second place winners by category are: Joral Devices, LLC, Waukesha (Advanced Manufacturing); GreenLeaf Market, Madison (Business Services); U.S. Trail Maps, Wausau (Information Technology); and Salus Discovery, Madison (Life Sciences).

Third place winners by category are: New Type Milking System, Hortonville (Advanced Manufacturing); Project-Based Learning Systems, LLC (Business Services); GuestBridge Inc., Milwaukee (Information Technology) and Ratio, Inc., Madison (Life Sciences).

In late January, 188 plans from 144 individuals in 60 communities were submitted. From the initial submissions, 55 semi-finalists were chosen to write and submit summary business plans of no more than 1,000 words. That field was then narrowed to the 27 finalists, who wrote 20-page business plans. Some finalists entered the contest through contests runs by Marquette University, the UW-Madison and the Northeast Wisconsin chapter of the Wisconsin Innovation Network.

All plans included eight elements: an executive summary, product and service description, customer definition, market size, sales and marketing strategy, management team, financial highlights, capital requested and planned use of funds.

Communities with plans represented in the final round were: Appleton, Madison, Milwaukee, Manitowoc, Hortonville, Waukesha, Menomonee Falls, Neenah, Oconomowoc, Onalaska, Racine, Rothschild, Sun Prairie and Wausau.

Sponsors of the contest are: Aberdean Consulting LLC, American Transmission Co., Associated Bank; Axley Brynelson LLP, Career Momentum Inc.; Fintel, Foley & Lardner LLP, J.P. Cullen & Sons, Loughrin Accounting & Tax Service, Madison Gas & Electric Co., Makin’ HEY! Communications, Mason Wells Private Equity, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, Quarles & Brady LLP, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, s.c., Smith & Gesteland LLP, State of Wisconsin Investment Board, The Boldt Company, University Research Park, Wisconsin Department of Commerce, WisBusiness.com, Wisconsin Angel Network and the Tech Council.  


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