Winner named in ACS business-plan pitch competition

Phytoption took first place in the American Chemical Society’s business-plan pitch competition at the fall ACS national meeting in San Diego. Yuan Yao (pictured), principal investigator at Phytoption, received a $5,000 cash prize, a 1-year ACS membership, and 6 months of access to ACS’s SciFinder database tool to support Phytoption’s continued growth. The competition marked the culmination of an intensive National Science Foundation I-Corps training for five preselected entrepreneur teams. For commentary from the judges and competitors, visit www.acs.org/pitchnews.