Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DFJ Frontier, and Zone Ventures Award $250,000 to NeuroVigil in Fourth...

UC San Diego Startup Bests 16 Teams from 12 Universities in Competition for Seed Funding

MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Leading early-stage venture capital firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) and its network partners DFJ Frontier and Zone Ventures hosted the fourth annual DFJ Venture Challenge

in Menlo Park on Wednesday. With a grand prize of $250,000 in seed stage funding, the competition is believed to be the largest winner-take-all business plan competition for university students. During the morning session, 16 teams from 12 universities on the West Coast presented business plans to a panel of 10 judges, comprised of venture capitalists from the DFJ Network. Six teams were selected as finalists and presented extended versions of their business plans and answered further questions from the judges in a second round of competition in the afternoon.

Following the final round of judging, NeuroVigil was awarded $250,000 in seed funding. NeuroVigil is poised to revolutionize brain analysis and plans to target the sleep, transportation, and pharmaceutical industries. The company, which comprises several Nobel Laureates and leading business strategists, was founded in 2007 by Dr. Philip Low, who, as a graduate student at the Salk Institute, developed a new way to analyze brain activity using a single non-invasive probe. Dr. Low has formed collaborations with organizations ranging from MIT to Novartis to use sleep patterns as indicators of illness.

Other finalists included Advanced Enological Closures (UC Davis), Athleon (University of Washington), Cascade Clean Energy (Stanford University), City Media (UCLA), and Impel Neuropharma (University of Washington).

"Every year, the competing teams present more innovative ideas and stronger business plans than the previous year," said Tim Draper, managing director, DFJ. "With a number of potentially successful business plans covering a wide range of industries, it always comes down to a tough choice, but this year, NeuroVigil stood out from the pack. We're excited to have chosen NeuroVigil, and we look forward to helping them flourish."

"We are honored to receive this recognition, especially given the strength of the other teams and the experience of the judging panel," said Dr. Philip Low, chief executive officer and founder of NeuroVigil. "We are eager to work with the DFJ team and network to launch NeuroVigil into higher orbits."