Justin Ferranto, Denis Pharis and Sean Nichols and faculty mentor Matt Westfield.
Dragonfly Energy from the University of Nevada, Reno took top honors recently in a multi-state business competition.
The graduate-level entrepreneurship team won first place and $30,000 in the Donald W. Reynolds Tri-State Governor’s Cup, held May 23 in Las Vegas.
The competition involved teams from Nevada, Arkansas and Oklahoma. UNR’s winning team included students Denis Pharis, Sean Nichols and Justin Ferranto and faculty mentor Matt Westfield.
The team also won the 90-second elevator pitch and was awarded an additional $2,000, according to an announcement from UNR.
Dragonfly Energy is a Reno-based company focusing on the energy efficiency of lithium-ion batteries. Their business plan includes a process to streamline battery manufacturing to reduce costs by 50 percent. Dragonfly was the first team from Nevada to win at the tri-state competition.
“It was an honor and a privilege to represent the state of Nevada,” team member Nichols said in the announcement. “It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and it added a lot of value to my college experience.”
The team was also a finalist in the University’s Sontag Entrepreneurship Competition in March and came in second in the Nevada’s Governor’s Cup Graduate School competition in April.
The competition is funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.
Complete list of winners of the 2014 D.W. Reynolds Tri-State Governor’s Cup:
Undergraduate
- 1st – Owlpal – University of Tulsa
- 2nd – BioBonic Solutions – University of Arkansas, Fayetteville & Hendrix College
- Pitch – Owlpal
Graduate
- 1st – Dragonfly Energy, LLC – University of Nevada, Reno
- 2nd – Driven Analytics – University of Oklahoma, Norman
- Pitch – Dragonfly Energy, LLC
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