By Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute staff

Seven teams from the University of Utah have made it into the top 20 in the 2017 Utah Entrepreneur Challenge and are vying for $100,000 in cash and prizes — including a $40,000 grand prize.

The competition requires teams to submit a full business plan for a startup idea and/or product. The annual event is managed by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, a nationally ranked division of the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, and sponsored by Zions Bank.

Student startups advance to the top 20 by either winning a qualifying event at their individual colleges during the Opportunity Quest series or by entering the open round judged by professionals across Utah.

The next round of the competition involves online video voting, which is open to the public from March 28 at 8 a.m. until April 14 at 5 p.m. Vote online at: lassonde.utah.edu/ued/vote2017. The top teams also advance to a final round where they will meet for a judging event and a public awards ceremony on April 15 at the Lassonde Studios.

The U teams in the top 20 are:

EMJ Medical: Creating a simple, mechanically driven medical device that will be applied to laparoscope lenses and restore the vision field of the operating team while the device is still in the patient

Hashtaggy: Provides a new and innovative way for students to find fun stuff to do with their friends

LIT Outdoors: An outdoor company that focuses on the emerging opportunities in the outdoor recreation industry

Neiybor: A peer-to-peer marketplace for storage

Portal Cord: Portal Cord creates a simplistic portable charger

SunShine Sync: An app improving transfers of value between medical salespeople and physicians

XLynk Surgical: A faster more effective postoperative adhesion barrier

To read more about the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, click here.