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Local Start-ups Win $100K in Prize Money

Sheryl Rich-Kern, NHPR

The New Hampshire High Tech Council and the non-profit abi innovation hub , hosted the state's largest high tech start-up competition  at the second annual Tech Out competition in Nashua this week.

A tech-savvy crowd came to network and pitch their grand ideas to investors.

One of the 20 accredited investors, Jesse Devitte of Borealis Ventures says that, "We’re interested in smart, passionate people that have an idea that can make a material change in the market, where there’s real pain, and we’ll invest in those people."

Judges awarded UltraCell Insulation in Manchester the first prize of $50,000. The company  produces cellulose insulation from recycled cardboard. Founder Dan Thompson says, "The cartons you have coming to your door from Amazon are growing in number all over the world and nobody has found  a way to make them into cellulose insulation until we did. And we now have the patent."

The second, $30,000 award went to a company that offers a cleaner and cheaper alternative to stripping corrosion from surfaces like concrete and asphalt.

Steven Graves is the CEO of Kinetic Surface Control of Newmarket. He says that, "We spun this out of a navy project, working with the Portsmouth Navy Shipyard. We can do anything from aircraft carrier decks to ships to industrial tanks to bridges. It’s a huge market and it hasn’t seen change in decades and decades.

An audience of around 200 people voted on the third finalist.

CranioVation of Concord – which makes a biomedical product used in neurosurgery – took home $20,000. 

The annual 

Credit Sheryl Rich-Kern
Dan Thompson of UltraCell Insulation

  competition is open to companies that have been in business for fewer than three years, raised less than $250,000 in funding and have less than $250,000 in revenue. 


Sheryl Rich-Kern has been contributing stories for NHPR since 2006, covering education, social services, business, health care and an occasional quirky yarn that epitomizes life in New Hampshire. Sherylâââ
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