Six teams advance to final round of Haas Social Venture Competition at University of California, Berkeley 12 March 2001 By Ute Frey, Haas School of Business* Prisma Microfinance, which provides loans in small amounts to businesses in the developing world, which are profitable but do not have access to capital from traditional financial institutions.
* Sea Power & Associates, which plans to develop, test, and integrate technology that converts ocean wave energy into electricity.
* Wise Toad, which addresses the problem of adult literacy by providing hand-held technology and curriculum materials to literacy providers, public libraries and low-literate adults.
Finalists will present their business plans to judges in the final round on April 14, with announcement of the winner at a 6 p.m. celebration at the Claremont Hotel.
The winner will take $10,000 in prize money. Second- and third-place winners each will receive $2,000. All three ventures will have their plans circulated in the Investor's Circle, a group of 150 individual social venture investors.
The competition judges include top venture capitalists, social venture investors, philanthropists, and social venture business leaders.
In addition to Beldy, first-round judges were Cathy Clark of the Flatiron Future Fund, Penelope Douglas of Silicon Valley Community Ventures, Brian Dunn of Investors' Circle, Michael Fox of Internet HealthCare Group, Shelly Herman of Shorebank Advisory Services and Chicago Ventures Fund, Dan Hoversten of Sustainable Jobs Fund, Mitch Kapor of Accel Partners, David Likins of Venture Strategy, Stephen Moody of the Calvert Group, Herve Pluche of Internet Incubator US, Will Rosenzweig of Hambrecht Vineyards and Winery, Jim Schorr of Juma Enterprise Center, and Kimberley Smith of New Schools Venture Fund.
Competition sponsors are The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Juma Enterprise Center, Community Foundation Silicon Valley, Flatiron Foundation, Mitchell Kapor Foundation, The Price Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, Calvert, Shorebank Corporation, Sustainable Jobs Fund, and Walden Asset Management. Honest Tea, Investors' Circle, and John Bishop contributed in-kind donations.
