Brevard County company gets $100,000 boost

Published in Florida Today on Wednesday, September 8, 2011 - Business Section

C2C LLC receives award at Igniting Inovation Showcase

 CAPE CANAVERAL — Ask most any fledging high-tech company what it needs most and the answer is usually the same: money.

So Wednesday was a big day for the three employees of Melbourne-based C2C LLC. Their company was awarded $100,000 Wednesday at the Igniting Innovation Showcase at the Radisson Resort at the Port here.

"This will really give us a leg up,"said Matt Solar, president of the C2C, located at the Technological Research and Development Authority incubator at 1050 W. NASA Blvd.

The company, which formed in 2008, is developing a piece of equipment and it will use the funds to get production parts for further testing.

The award was the finale of the all-day event, which highlighted some of Florida's high-tech start ups and entrepreneurs and exposed them to potential investors.

Space Florida and the Technological Research and Development Authority were lead sponsors.

C2C, which designs specialized medical equipment and helps other companies get their equipment into the marketplace, was one of 10 Florida businesses vying for the $100,000. The money comes from Space Florida, the state agency charged with promoting space business development and other high-tech ventures statewide.

The companies made their pitches to a three-member committee of Bernie McShea, Space Florida's vice president of business development, Keevin Williams, senior director of business development for Space Florida, and Charles Resnick, managing partner of Inflexion Fund, an early-stage venture capital fund headquartered in Orlando.

McShea said the committee judged the companies with the same discerning eye used by any credible venture capitalist: they looked at the management team, their product, their markets and how well their intellectual property was protected. They also wanted to know how the companies would use the money.

"All of that went into the evaluation," McShea said.

Besides the 10 making pitches for the $100,000 prize, 11 other companies, all involved in clean technologies, presented themselves to "angel investors" or venture capitalists who provide start-up money.

About 250 people attended the event.