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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 9 J U N E 1 5 , 2 0 1 5 Maine Startup and Cr Cr C e re r ate We We W ek www.mainetechnology.org TechWalk 2015 JUNE 22! MONDAY 4:00—7:00 PM Join us at the Holiday Inn By the Bay in Portland for an engaging evening - start-ups. Meet Maine entrepreneurs, investors and innovators for this unique networking opportunity as over 45 companies exhibit their products and services that they have successfully brought to market! Learn more and register at: Plug into Energy Savings with Heat Pumps Learn more at emeramaine.com/heatpumps. • Save up to 50% or more relative to heating with oil, natural gas, and propane. • Qualify for a lower Emera Maine distribution rate for heating. • Receive $500 rebate from Efficiency Maine on eligible units. www.emeramaine.com Microsoft surprises 3 Top Gun fi nalists with $60K each in services Sustainability software company Rapport took the $10,000 prize at the Top Gun Showcase the night of June 3 at the University of Southern Maine. What stole the show, however, was the extra $60,000 in in-kind software and services Microsoft Corp. offered each of the top three companies: Rapport, American Unagi and RockStep Solutions. The award is from Microsoft's BizSpark program, which provides technology, support, visibility and community to promis- ing startups and entrepreneurs. American Unagi of Thomaston is growing locally harvested eels to market size in Maine, and RockStep Solutions of Bar Harbor develops advanced infor- mation management systems. John Rooks, CEO of the Portland-based Rapport, and Justin Jaffe, COO, gave the winning fi ve-minute pitch before a panel of judges, an audience of mostly other entrepreneurs and nine other Top Gun program fi nalists. Rapport makes a platform that helps small- and medium-sized businesses manage their sustainability efforts so they can let customers know key metrics behind their conservation efforts, such as the amount of energy and water used and carbon equivalents. "The easiest way for you to think of this is QuickBooks for sustainability," Rooks said. He said the company is interested in sustainability efforts at large corpora- tions as well as the 8 million smaller U.S. companies in their supply chain. "An increasing number of them are feeling the ripple effect of this new requirement to supply environmental and social metrics up to their largest competitors." The company is looking to raise $250,000 to use as the match for a Maine Technology Institute commercial development loan. "I love the concept. I think you have a great niche," Heather Blease, CEO of SaviLinx, a Brunswick-based call center company, told Rooks and Jaffe. Blease was among the 12 judges at the event. Following each pitch, a judge commented on a company's pitch. Some companies were looking for funding, while others sought marketing or other help. Don Gooding, executive director of the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development, which coordinates the Top Gun program, also gave the fi rst Top Gun Compass Award to Jason Cianchette, the founder of Liquid Wireless. Cianchette graduated from the fi rst Top Gun class in 2009, and Liquid Wireless had the largest revenue growth of any Top Gun company so far. He founded it in 2008 an d sold it a few years later to Publishers Clearing House for an undisclosed amount. His current company is Huzzapp. — L o r i V a l i g r a P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y M A I N E C E N T E R F O R E N T R E P R E N E U R I A L D E V E L O P M E N T Don Gooding, executive director of Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development, left, with the winners of Microsoft's BizSpark program.

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