UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State undergraduate students and local entrepreneurs will compete for $30,000 in funding to help grow their businesses in a student-pitch competition that will premiere Thursday night on WPSU-TV.

WPSU Penn State’s “The Investment” will premiere at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 4, on WPSU-TV and on wpsu.org/live. The six finalists will make presentations to judges, similar to the ABC show “Shark Tank,” and will be awarded a total of $30,000. The grand-prize winner will receive $15,000, and teams finishing second and third will be awarded $7,500 each. The funding can be used for product development and commercialization.

The six competing companies include:

• Mod Zero (Luke Yost, junior, mechanical engineering),
• Musical Minds (Alexander Patin, junior, computer science),
• Phospholutions LLC (Hunter Swisher, fall 2016 graduate, plant science),
• Rain Reality LLC (Elaine Demopolis, senior, biomedical engineering),
• Reflexion Interactive Technologies (Matt Roda, sophomore, health policy and administration),
• Sicuro Innovations LLC (Nicholas Pisciotta, senior, mechanical engineering).

Penn State students must own at least 50 percent of their respective company to be eligible for funding. The competition was open to current Penn State undergraduate students and fall 2016 graduates who were in good academic standing. Fifteen teams applied for funding.

“The Investment” is part of the Inc.U development and entrepreneurial initiative that is designed to help support and grow local businesses. The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program manages the initiative in partnership with Invent Penn State and the Penn State Commonwealth Campuses. The initiative is funded by a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

The show will re-air at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 7, on WPSU.TV.

Visit the WPSU Penn State website for more information.