NeuroVigil Sleep Scientists Win $250,000 DFJ Venture Challenge

Emerging entrepreneurs crossed swords on Wednesday at the fourth annual Draper Fisher Jurvetson Venture Challenge. Unlike most startup competitions and launch events, the Venture Challenge is for more than just the prestige - DFJ guarantees a $250,000 investment into the winner. This year, the (literally) giant check was snapped up by the beaming sleep scientists at NeuroVigil. Among the other five finalists, I was most intrigued by Athleon and Cascade Clean Energy.

Here's the complete finalist roundup:

NeuroVigil (born at UC San Diego) plans to help the 40 million Americans with sleep apnea. Each year, $3 billion in medical reimbursements goes to hospitals and sleep clinics for sleep testing. NeuroVigil makes it possible for sleep scoring to happen at home, without all of the wires. The company's solution (a Breathe Right-like strip that you stick to your forehead) measures your progress through sleep stages. Data goes to the NeuroVigil server and is run through their proprietary algorithm. 

On the business side: Patients currently get sleep center referrals from primary care physicians, who will soon have the added option of referring NeuroVigil's home device. The company also plans to provide analysis services to sleep centers, who can also send data directly to the NeuroVigil servers. The secondary product offering is a cap version of the product that truckers (or sleep-deprived coders) can wear while driving in order to be warned when they are about to fall asleep. The company has already assembled a large and impressive-sounding scientific board of sleep experts, and is currently raising a $2M round of funding.

Advanced Enological Closures (out of UC Davis) has developed a premium wine screw cap that breathes. Cork seeps in the right amount of oxygen to mature wine over time, but will ruin one out of every 20 bottles of wine. Typical metal screw caps don't let in enough air for reduction, and synthetic corks let in too much oxygen. AEC's solution is a layered screw cap with the same permeability as cork, which they have initially targeted at manufacturers of caps for $3-14 red wines in Australia and New Zealand. This team has the right background for the business, and is looking for a $500K seed round to pay for testing, patents, and bottle aging trial. A Series A of $1M will follow.

Athleon (University of Washington) is a web site for managing sports teams. Coaches need a better way to communicate, motivate, and track performance when players are off the field. Athleon's players-only team network enables players to use the same account across teams they belong to, while preserving privacy within each team group. The founder cited other sites such as MaxPreps (acquired for $43M) as public and stats-focused, rather than allowing for coach privacy and team management. The company is six months into its beta, and has attracted over 450 teams via word of mouth. The current fundraising is for a $300K bridge round now, followed by a $1.5M equity round in the fall.

Cascade Clean Energy (Stanford) has developed an energy-efficient solution for wastewater treatment. The company's numbers show that ~ 5% of US electricity goes to wastewater treatment, at a cost of $10-11 billion per year. CCE's alternative solution combines electrogenic bacteria with a microbial fuel cell to clean wastewater. These patented microorganisms (also used by the US Army) metabolize waste products, then are attracted to the fuel cell. CCE touts that this actually produces net energy while it cleans water. The working prototype is at a Navy facility, cleaning over 2500 gallons per day. The company is seeking $250K now to develop a larger prototype, then another $5M later this year. A number of next-stage pilots are in the pipeline, with $2M in projects under discussion.

CityMedia (UCLA) wants to provide branded, premium libraries across India. The company believes that Indian professionals, for whom reading is a popular hobby, want a clublike environment rather than the coffee shops or basic bookstores that are currently available. Premium memberships will be $25, and online memberships (a la Netflix) $7.50. The company is looking for $250K to establish an initial pilot location of 3000 square feet and 10,000 titles, which would take 1300 customers (half of each type) to break even. Post-pilot, they hope to raise a $4M Series A that will enable them to reach 15 locations in 3 cities.

Impel NeuroPharma (University of Washington) is developing a direct nose-to-brain drug delivery technology that bypasses the blood-brain barrier. By delivering drugs to the brain rather than into the bloodstream, prescription drug abuse potential can be reduced. Their "POD" delivers drugs through the olfactory region as a nasal spray with a patent-pending vortex flow. Safety and absorption are the company's top issues to address, and their initial target market is fast-onset cancer pain. Impel plans to license the delivery device to partners and is working to be approved as an FDA Class III Medical Device. The company is raising $1-2M in seed capital in order to scale up the device, and to conduct both human and animal studies.