Qualcomm announces finalists in QPrize business plan competition
Regional companies each earn USD 100,000 in early-stage funding and advance to final round of competition
SAN DIEGO — 05-10-2009 — Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies, products and services, today unveiled its regional finalists in Qualcomm Ventures' QPrize™ international business plan competition. The four early-stage companies representing Europe/Israel, China, India and North America stood out among a pool of competitors to each receive USD 100,000 in venture financing to grow their businesses. As finalists, the companies will now advance to the final round of competition to compete for the Grand Prize of an additional USD 150,000 in funding. The QPrize Finals will take place at Qualcomm Ventures' CEO Summit, 3 November 2009 in San Diego.In a series of regional QPrize competitions, business plans submitted by entrant companies were evaluated based on product innovation, financial viability and the strength of management teams. The four regional finalists were selected by diverse judging panels consisting of independent venture capitalists, QPrize sponsors and Qualcomm Ventures investment managers.
“Entrepreneurship is the engine driving new technical breakthroughs and business models that are transforming various industries through the use of mobile technologies,” said Nagraj Kashyap, vice president of Qualcomm Ventures. “These four QPrize finalists are bringing new capabilities to market and show great potential to truly impact their competitive landscapes. We congratulate these companies on their achievements.”
· Europe/Israel Region:
Panoramic Power
Panoramic Power has developed a family of wireless sensor products that give enterprise customers the ability to deploy Smart Grid technologies within their existing facilities. The company's sensors accurately measure power consumption at the individual circuit level and are designed to be small, non-obtrusive and maintenance free.
www.panpwr.com
· China Region:
Cootek
Cootek has developed TouchPal, an innovative user interface for touchscreen mobile devices that effectively makes typing easier and more accurate. TouchPal utilises a prediction engine that can contextually determine word sequences, greatly improving mobile search capabilities. The company has licensed its TouchPal software to several carriers and handset manufacturers.
www.cootek.com
· India Region:
Capillary Technologies
Capillary Technologies provides an end-to-end mobile CRM platform and mobile marketing services to a variety of retail companies in the Indian market. The company has successfully deployed its products in more than 400 stores in 75 cities throughout India.
www.capillary.co.in
· North America Region:
txt.eagle
txt.eagle has developed a mobile crowdsourcing platform that enables mobile phone subscribers to earn small amounts of money or airtime by completing simple tasks for corporate clients. The types of tasks range from translation and image tagging to market research surveys. Most txt.eagle tasks are text-based and can be completed via SMS or WAP sessions.
www.txteagle.com
The 2009 Qualcomm Ventures QPrize competition provides USD 550,000 in total seed funding to help entrepreneurs transform their innovative business plans into reality. Additional details on regional finalists and the Grand Prize event is available at www.qprize2009.com.
About Qualcomm Ventures
Qualcomm Ventures was launched in the United States in November 2000 with an initial USD 500 million allocation. Qualcomm Ventures' aim is to support Qualcomm's mission of enabling and fostering 3G CDMA and wireless Internet markets through strategic investments in privately owned startup ventures. These strategic investments include companies focusing on wireless communication technologies and products serving consumer, enterprise and vertical markets worldwide. For more information, please visit www.qualcomm.com/ventures.
About Qualcomm
Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Qualcomm is included in the S&P 100 Index, the S&P 500 Index and is a 2009 FORTUNE 500® company. For more information, please visit www.qualcomm.com.
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Qualcomm is a registered trademark and QPrize is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Press Contacts - Regional:
Richard Tinkler
Phone: +44 (0) 7720 060619
Email: rtinkler@qualcomm.com
Suzi Whyte
Phone: 44-20-8237-7158
Email: swhyte@qualcomm.com
Qualcomm Contacts :
Emily Kilpatrick
Phone: 1-858-845-5959
Email: corpcomm@qualcomm.com
John Gilbert
Phone: 1-858-658-4813
Email: ir@qualcomm.com
