Winners of entrepreneurial competitions

BYU'S Business Plan Competition winners:

First place: Xeromax Sciences Inc.

Winners received $50,000 in prize money and in-kind donations. Second-year MBA students Chris Bryant, Jonathan Ward and Jason Huntsman took a chemical waterproofing technique that uses covalent bonds to repel water, as developed by a BYU professor, and applied it to fabrics. A spray coating before clothing is manufactured will transform it into waterproof apparel without changing the look or feel. The group placed second in the Wake Forest Elevator Competition in late March and will compete in Moot Corp. in May.

Xeromax is in the pre-funding stages and is pitching the idea to several companies. "We've considered pitching in Silicon Valley," Ward said. "We have some contacts there, but right now we are focusing on the Intermountain West. We're a home-grown invented and startup Utah company and want to try to keep it that way."

Second place: KT Tape of Lumos Inc.

Winners received $30,000 in prize money and in-kind donations. Group members include executive MBA student Reed Quinn and cousin Michelle Quinn, a second-year MBA student.

Their group made available to the general public kinesiology tape initially used by athletes to relieve pain and speed healing. Previously, it was sold only to chiropractors, physical therapists and medical professionals.

KT Tape is a new, improved flexible kinesiology tape that functions like a giant "muscle Band-aid," to take some of the strain off the affected area. It lifts the top layer of skin to reduce pressure and pain and correct biomechanics, said Jim Jenson, one of the founding partners of Lumos Inc. The product has been endorsed by beach volleyball gold-medalist Kerri Walsh, who had been using kinesiology tape for a torn rotator cuff and declared KT Tape a superior product, Jenson said.

The product is already in Foot Locker and Eastbay and the group is talking with major sports retailers and big-box stores.

KT Tape won first place in the Venture Challenge at San Diego State University and will also attend Moot Corp.

Third place: Terra Nova Biosystems

The developers received $20,000 in prize money and in-kind donations.

Group members, all second-year MBA students, Chris Johnson, Dan Mondragon and Mark Spencer, created a process for bio-remediation of contaminated lands that doesn't involve hauling away dirt or require months of remediation.