Fifteen San Diego County companies looking to expand their global presence were awarded $10,000 each Wednesday by the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp.
The winners were selected out of 64 applicants for the MetroConnect Prize, which was funded by JPMorgan Chase.
"Opportunity starts in San Diego and with MetroConnect, we are helping out successful, home-grown San Diego startups so they can share that opportunity across our local economy and spread San Diego's innovative products and services across the world," San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said. "I look forward to seeing these San Diego companies thrive and grow, as we continue to tell San Diego's success story to the rest of the world."
The winners are:
• AirStrip, a La Jolla wireless health and health information technology company with 17 local employees
• Applied Membranes, a maker of water membranes that employs 175 in Vista
• Aventyn, a San Diego digital health company with 54 workers
• Bounce Composites, a seven-person company that makes standup paddleboards in Oceanside
• Cypher Genomics, a spinoff of The Scripps Research Institute that employs 10 workers in La Jolla
• Edgewave, a firm with 65 workers in San Diego that's involved in cyber security
• Entra Health, a 20-person, San Diego-based digital health company
• Irisys, a San Diego pharmaceutical development firm with 43 employees
• Portfolium, a five-person company based in San Diego that created a platform for students to showcase their work, skills and projects
• Robo 3D, a maker of 3D printers that employs 10 workers in San Diego
• Total Communicator Solutions, which employs 20 people in wireless analytics in San Diego
• VAVi Sport & Social, an organizer of coed social sports leagues on the West Coast, with 34 workers in Pacific Beach
• Verve Mobile, a Carlsbad mobile analytics firm with 150 employees
• VisionTree Software, a health IT/health software company in San Diego that employs a dozen people
• Wearable Sensing, which makes headsets that sense the brain's electrical activity, and employs seven people in San Diego
The funds can be put toward travel to a foreign market, participation in a trade show, establishment of a foreign subsidiary to operate in the market of interest, foreign language translation of marketing materials, and export plan development, among other uses.
The prize is not designed to cover all such expanses, but serve as an incentive for companies to kick start global efforts or explore a new foreign market, according to the EDC.
The winners will be eligible for a $50,000 grand prize to be determined later this year.
