Three Corridor companies advance in John Pappajohn competition

Three Corridor companies have been selected as among seven finalists in the 2013 John Pappajohn Iowa Business Plan Competition.

Higher Learning Technologies and Memcine Pharmaceuticals Inc., both based in Coralville, and TelePharm of Iowa City will be interviewed by a panel of judges on Sept. 5.

"Based on those presentations, we will choose the top three finalists to recognize at a special awards ceremony on Sept. 26 at Drake University," said Randy Pilkington, director of University of Northern Iowa's John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center and competition judge.

"We're very excited because we know that a lot of companies competed for this," said Adam Keune, a co-founder of Higher Learning Technologies and its chief marketing officer. "We're excited to be selected as one of the best business plans in the state of Iowa because it isn't just the university, it's actually the entire state.

"We're very honored to be in that realm of people with these other great businesses."

Keune said the company, which makes test-preparation apps for dental and nursing students, plans to release 10 new apps by the end of the year.

The competition is intended to stimulate business development. This is the third round of competition. In the first round, businesses submitted information about their business plan, according to a news release.

Judges then chose 16 entrepreneurs to submit their full business plan. The 16 business plans were narrowed down to the final seven.

A total of $50,000 will be awarded to the top three submitted business plans: $25,000 for the first prize, $15,000 for second and $10,000 for third.