FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Lapovations LLC, a University of Arkansas entrepreneurship team developing a platform of innovative products that improve minimally invasive surgery, won first place at the Brown-Forman Cardinal Challenge business plan competition in Louisville, Kentucky, on Feb. 17.

Lapovations beat 11 teams from across the United States and Canada after a selective entry process, bringing home $15,000 for their first-place win.

“The Lapovations team has worked extremely hard to achieve this success,” said Carol Reeves, associate vice chancellor for entrepreneurship. “Their victory is an important validation of that effort, and it also highlights the value of an interdisciplinary team that combines technical innovation with business acumen. I couldn’t be prouder.”

The Lapovations team has accepted $50,000 in seed funding from the Delta I-Fund, an Arkansas program designed to help early stage, knowledge-based businesses develop through intensive customer discovery and mentoring.

Jared Greer, Lapovations’ chief executive officer and a master’s student in biomedical engineering, brings 15 years of medical sales experience to his role in the venture. He also is a successful entrepreneur, having built prior ventures.

“As an entrepreneur, I am a perpetual student, so I know the value of the world-class coaching and mentoring we’ve had as part of the New Venture Development program at the university and as participants in the Delta I-Fund program,” Greer said. “There is no substitute for hard work, but the value of that work is greatly magnified with so much expertise at hand.”

In addition to Greer, the team includes Walton College M.B.A. students Flavia Araujo and Michael Dunavant.

The University of Toronto took second place in the Cardinal Challenge, followed by the University of Louisville for third, and the University of California, Los Angeles, came in fourth.

The Cardinal Challenge offers students an opportunity to present innovative business plans to potential investors, while providing investors with an advanced look at up-and-coming entrepreneurs and new ventures. Lapovations is the fourth team from the University of Arkansas to take top honors in this competition; others include BiologicsMD (2010), SpatiaLink (2012), and VivImmune (2016).

This award adds to more than $2.8 million in prize money that teams in the university’s graduate-level New Venture Development program have been awarded since 2009.

About the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The mission of the University of Arkansas' Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation is to catalyze entrepreneurial activities and innovation across the university and throughout the state in order to build Arkansas' knowledge-based economy and support healthy, sustainable communities. Since 2009, University of Arkansas students have won more national business plan competitions – 23 in all – than any other institution.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.