Chris Wentz threw keys behind his back and used fire to light up a piece of paper Tuesday evening at Magnet's first pitch competition for hardware startups. Two hours later he walked away with $12,000 in funding to help launch Everykey, an electronic wristband designed to replace keys and passwords.

XPRIZE, the global leader in incentivized prize competition, today announced the 11 finalist teams selected for the $2.25M Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE, a competition to develop breakthrough medical sensing technologies that will ultimately enable faster diagnoses and easier personal health monitoring.

A Cleveland-based biotech startup has invented a new medical device that fights oral bacteria linked to bad breath and gum disease in dogs – a health problem that affects 80% of our canine friends by the age of three. The device, called Zumby™, is disguised as a dog toy and uses a very small, safe and undetectable amount of electrical stimulation, known as micro-current technology, to eliminate harmful oral bacteria. In lab testing at Case Western Reserve University, micro-current technology eliminated 70-99% of harmful oral bacteria.

October 15, 2014: A Cleveland-based biotech startup has invented a new medical device that fights oral bacteria linked to bad breath and gum disease in dogs – a health problem that affects 80% of our canine friends by the age of three. The device, called Zumby™, is disguised as a dog toy and uses a very small, safe and undetectable amount of electrical stimulation, known as micro-current technology, to eliminate harmful oral bacteria. In lab testing at Case Western Reserve University, micro-current technology eliminated 70-99% of harmful oral bacteria.

The makers of the product, Cleveland-based Animal Oralectrics, have developed a prototype and expect to be on the market in spring 2015. Beginning today, the company is taking preorders as part of an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign at go.myzumby.com.

Micro-current technology has actually been used for generations in humans to accelerate bone growth, rehab muscles after injury and treat Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMJ). Except with Zumby, the electrical stimulation is much lower and is not detectable. The stimulation is activated when Zumby™ comes in contact with the dog's saliva. To be effective, the dog needs to play with the device two to three times a week for 10-20 minutes.

About Animal Oralectrics
Zumby is owned by Animal Oralectrics LLC, a Cleveland-based company that develops oral hygiene devices for animals. Oralectrics licensed the technology from another Cleveland-based company, Biolectrics LLC, which is applying the same technology to treat oral problems in humans. The human version has undergone clinical trials at the University at Buffalo, showing significant reductions in harmful oral bacteria after prescribed use. The Animal Oralectrics licensing agreement grants the company exclusive worldwide field of use to treat oral problems in animals. Zumby is Animal Oralectrics' first product. For more information about Zumby, visit http://go.myzumby.com. For more information about Animal Oralectrics, visit oralectrics.com.

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Nikola is the brain child of Nick Stevovich from Rocky River, Ohio. Stevovich took his background in speed skating and applied that to the bicycle pedal and has developed a laterally moving pedal that he developed in an effort to increase power and speed.

September 2, 2014: The Innovation Fund, Northeast Ohio's most active and successful pre-seed fund for technology startups, has committed $475,000 to seven Northeast Ohio companies in its latest quarterly funding round. Four companies received $100,000 awards meant to prove out business models while three received $25,000 awards intended to validate technologies.

The Innovation Fund has maintained its quarterly funding pace since its 2007 founding. With these most recent awards, the Innovation Fund has made 161 funding awards to 137 companies totaling $9.2 million.

"The Innovation Fund is consistently the first place Northeast Ohio startups go for external financing," said Cliff Reynolds, co-director of GLIDE, the incubator that administers the fund. "Every quarter without fail, the Innovation Fund is awarding critical early-stage funding to several of our region's innovative, young companies. We're giving as many startups as we can a chance to prove their potential, raise some more money, and create jobs."

The startups receiving Innovation Fund awards are:

Full Circle Technologies ($100,000 | Pepper Pike)
Full Circle Technologies has developed a patented chemical mechanical process to devulcanize old tires, turning them back into sticky, elastic rubber which is then made into a free flowing pellet. The end product, called Ecorphalt, is used as a polymer modifier in asphalt roads to make it last longer, more durable and create a smoother surface.

Intwine Connect ($100,000 | Chagrin Falls)
Intwine Connect has created an automated building energy management system that integrates electronic hardware and software, allowing devices to communicate and make intelligent decisions with respect to their environment. This unified IT system enables energy efficiency through automated, intelligent, and intuitive web and mobile applications. intwineconnect.com

LARAD ($100,000 | Wooster)
LARAD is using virus-like-particle technology to produce universal multivalent vaccines and diagnostics for food-animal diseases. LARAD's initial focus is on products licensed from The Ohio State University for an immunosuppressive disease in poultry caused by the infectious bursal disease virus.

Complion ($100,000 | Cleveland)
Complion increases the quality and efficiency of clinical trials at hospitals with a comprehensive Regulatory e-System. complion.com

Beegit ($25,000 | Olmsted Township)
Beegit is a web platform to create, manage and measure your content. Write all of your content in one place and get the benefit of simple version control, universal export to print and digital formats, and
insight and data from user activity metrics. beegit.com

Brilliency ($25,000 | Cleveland)
Brilliency transforms the energy ecosystem by redefining the role of residential consumers and creating new monetary transactions around electric conservation, generation, and consumption. The Brilliant Efficiency platform allows electric, gas and water utilities to develop value-added relationships with the consumers by rewarding them for making behavior changes that enable utilities to implement new technology roll-outs, pricing structure changes, and infrastructure reinvestment. brilliency.com

PROJiTECH ($25,000 | Hinckley)
PROJiTECH works with businesses that design and build civil projects by providing project-specific applications that allow them to quickly and easily access project information. The company's app, OnStation, provides features that increase awareness and understanding of the project design, helping businesses organize, communicate, and direct work throughout the project. projitechllc.com

About the Innovation Fund
The Innovation Fund, founded by the Lorain County Community College Foundation, is Northeast Ohio's most active and successful early-stage fund. It awards technology-based startups up to $100,000 so they can validate their technologies and business concepts. The Innovation Fund averages six funding awards each quarter and fills the capital needs of businesses at the earliest stage of development, before they can attract angel and venture capital funding. Innovation Fund awards are made with funds from the Ohio Third Frontier, which have been combined with matching support and contributions from the Innovation Fund partners. These partners include the University of Akron, the University of Akron Research Foundation, Cleveland State University, the Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE), the Lorain County Community College Foundation, Stark State College, Youngstown State University, the Youngstown Business Incubator, and Northeast Ohio Medical University.

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Frank Jackson was a on a tour of a relatively new company near Cleveland's mid-town area. Cleveland Whiskey, a producer of bourbon, sold its first batch of bourbon in March, 2013. Since then, using a quicker high-tech process to side-step the traditional aging process of bourbon, its sales have reached seven states.

Complion increases the quality and efficiency of clinical trials at hospitals with a comprehensive Regulatory e-System.

The company received a $25,000 Innovation Fund A award in September 2013 and a $100,000 B award in August 2014.

Website: https://complion.com/

PROJiTECH works with businesses that design and build civil projects by providing project-specific applications that allow them to quickly and easily access project information. The company’s app, OnStation, provides features that increase awareness and understanding of the project design, helping businesses organize, communicate, and direct work throughout the project.

The company received a $25,000 Innovation Fund A award in August 2014.

website: projitechllc.com

Brilliency transforms the energy ecosystem by redefining the role of residential consumers and creating new monetary transactions around electric conservation, generation, and consumption. The Brilliant Efficiency platform allows electric, gas and water utilities to develop value-added relationships with the consumers  by rewarding them for making behavior changes that enable utilities to implement new technology roll-outs, pricing structure changes, and infrastructure reinvestment.

Beginning with Consumer Engagement, the "Brilliant Efficiency" (BE) online service engages and activates residential users to build strong and meaningful relationships with their utilities through two-way communication, data display, gamification and behavior transformation towards conservation and energy management.  The platform also improves day-to-day transactional concerns such as bill payment and peak demand management.

Brilliency works in partnership with utilities to offer consumers an online service for understanding and tracking their home’s electric, water and gas usage and developing meaningful relationships that do not exist today between the utility and their consumers.

The company received a $25,000 Innovation Fund A award in August 2014.

website: brilliency.com