University of Texas at Austin Venture Labs Investment Competition Announces Global Champion to Close the NASDAQ Stock Market

NASDAQ OMX Educational Foundation Continues to Support Venture Labs Investment Competition


AUSTIN, Texas, June 11, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rob Adams, director of the Venture Labs Investment Competition at The University of Texas at Austin, and the winners of the 2010 Venture Labs Investment Competition will preside over the Closing Bell at the NASDAQ Stock Market on Friday, June 11th.

Adams will do the honors along with the BiologicsMD team from the University of Arkansas. BiologicsMD won a $135,000 prize package after being named the Venture Labs Investment Competition Global Champion on May 8th, 2010.

BiologicsMD holds the exclusive worldwide license to a new prescription osteoporosis solution, OsteoFlor(TM), a unique patent-pending compound that binds to bone and stimulates new bone growth. Team members are Robyn Goforth, Paul Mlakar, Jr., Misty Stevens and Michael Thomas. See www.biologicsmd.com/ for more information.

"The national exposure of ringing the NASDAQ Closing Bell is an excellent platform for the team's business venture and is a rite of passage for the world's most innovative companies," said Adams.

The NASDAQ OMX Educational Foundation has been a major sponsor of the Competition since 2000. The Competition was awarded a five year grant for $30,000 a year which helps cover the cost of hosting the Global Competition in Austin, Texas each May.

"The NASDAQ OMX Educational Foundation supports entrepreneurship and capital formation through innovative educational programs like the Venture Labs Investment Competition," said Joan Conley, Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary of the NASDAQ OMX Group. "NASDAQ OMX is a global exchange group with innovative listed companies which, like BiologicsMD, have a vision to improve quality of life. We were thrilled to invite BiologicsMD to the NASDAQ MarketSite to preside over the Closing Bell."

In addition to announcing its Global Champion, the competition also announced it is changing its name to the "Venture Labs Investment Competition" and repositioning itself as "The Super Bowl of Investment Competition." It will continue to use its former name, "Moot Corp," as part of its tagline for the foreseeable future.

Rob Adams, director of the Venture Labs Investment Competition, explained the renaming as "reflective of the true nature of what Moot Corp had turned into, a forum where MBAs from around the world launch their ventures by raising capital. This competition is far from moot, and parallels the real-world process and realities of developing and launching a venture backed company. This renaming and repositioning aligns the competition with that mission."

"This 'Super Bowl of investment competition' is a highly competitive competition and a rich environment of people, cultures and interesting businesses," said Adams.

This year, 39 teams from universities around the world competed. The teams represented colleges from the leading MBA programs in 12 countries with seven universities fielding two teams.

The Venture Labs Investment Competition simulates the process of entrepreneurs soliciting startup funding. More than 100 venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, attorneys, CEOs and accountants judged the teams over the three day competition. About half of each year's teams go on to launch their ventures.

A live webcast of the NASDAQ Closing Bell will be available at: http://www.nasdaq.com/about/marketsitetowervideo.asx

About NASDAQ OMX Educational Foundation:

The mission of the NASDAQ OMX Educational Foundation is to promote learning about capital formation, financial markets and entrepreneurship through innovative educational programs. It was established in New York City in 1994 and is supported entirely by contributions from The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.

About NASDAQ OMX:

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world's largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, with more than 3,600 listed companies. NASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market, NASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMX Baltic, NASDAQ OMX First North, and the U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and exchange-traded funds. NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries.  NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMX exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com. Please follow NASDAQ OMX on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/nasdaqomx and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/nasdaqomx).

Venture Labs Investment Competition:

Venture Labs Investment Competition – The Super Bowl of Investment Competition (formerly Moot Corp) is the premier world-wide investment competition hosted annually at The University of Texas at Austin. Begun at the University of Texas at Austin by MBA students in 1984, the competition is the oldest new venture competition in the world, providing graduate student teams with a chance to simulate the real world process of raising venture capital. Visit www.mootcorp.org for more information, including a list of world-wide ventures that have launched out of the contest.

About University of Texas at Austin:

The University of Texas at Austin is one of the largest public universities in the United States. Founded in 1883, the university has grown to a 350-acre main campus with 21,000 faculty and staff, 17 colleges and schools and more than 50,000 students. It is a diverse learning community, with students from more than 100 countries and a student body that reflects the face of society.

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