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September 24, 2018

2019 Top Gun applications due by Nov. 9

Photo / Claudia Dricot Tom Rainey, executive director of Maine Center for Entrepreneurs, left, and Brian Whitney, president of Maine Technology Institute, presented a $25,000 cash prize for the 2018 Top Gun Showcase to Erica Schmitz, founder of the Portland startup MyBodyModel. This year's showcase competition features an additional $25,000 cash prize, donated by David E. Shaw. co-founder of IDEXX and Covetrus.

Who will be next year’s Top Gun startup star? The Maine Center for Entrepreneurs is now accepting applications for its 2019 Top Gun competition for Maine’s most promising early stage, high-growth potential companies between now and Nov. 9.

The highly selective program will accept between eight and 10 companies in Portland, Bangor, Lewiston-Auburn, Rockland and Waterville.

The Waterville location will offer a new Top Gun Program specifically for companies in the food and beverage sector, including farmers, producers, processors and businesses that provide support services.

After completing a short online application, prospective companies are required to submit a pitch deck and present a live pitch to the interview committee in their location of choice. Optional PreFlight Workshops will be offered before the November deadline to help applications prepare pitch desks and polish live pitches.

The contest culminates with two regional pitch-off events, and the top two semi-finalists in each region will move on to the statewide showcase to compete for a cash prize sponsored by the Maine Technology Institute.

This year’s winner of a $25,000 cash prize, awarded in May, was Erica Schmitz, founder of Portland startup MyBodyModel, a web app that creates fashion-sketching templates unique to the user's body measurements.

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