The Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development has revealed the 10 startups that will compete on Wednesday for a $10,000 prize.

The 10 finalists were chosen from a field of 35 startups that were members of the center’s 2015 Top Gun program, which consists of five months of classes and mentoring aimed to help entrepreneurs grow their ideas into viable businesses.

The finalists will vie for the prize in the organization’s annual Top Gun Showcase event, which will be held on Wednesday at the University of Southern Maine’s Abromson Center in Portland.

This year’s finalists competed in both online and live pitch semifinal competitions in each of the Top Gun locations: Portland, Rockport and Bangor. Judges chose two winners from each location, as well as four wild card spots for the entrepreneurs who held the next four highest scores, according to a news release from the center.

The finalists from Portland are Rapport and Vetro FiberMap. The two Bangor finalists are RockStep Solutions and Course Storm. The two midcoast finalists are Pemaquid Mussel Farms and American Unagi. The four wild cards are Zeomatrix, Downeast Dayboat, Parent Technology Group LLC, and LooHoo LLC.

While Top Gun has been around for five years, this is the first year that a cash prize will be awarded. The center in October announced the creation of the cash prize courtesy of Blackstone Accelerates Growth, the three-year, $3 million initiative of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation to grow entrepreneurship in Maine.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.