And the winner is...Kevin Truong of Locongo.com!

Kevin Truong won the Open Pitching Contest for a "well structured" pitch on Locongo.com, an online venture which offers local experiences direct to international and domestic travellers.

Kevin, (pictured with Sydney Angels member Mathias Kopp), a student of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CIE) at the University of NSW's Australian School of Business in Sydney, will have an opportunity to pitch to the Deal Screening Panel of Sydney Angels. "There's a real need and great market potential," Mathias Kopp said of Kevin's business venture. 

First runner-up and also winner of the People's Choice awards were William Tan and Eric Hercog for their student textbook rental and sales service Teebi.com. Their venture will not only save students money but enable them to quickly and conveniently acquire and dispose of textbooks via their course selections. Will and Eric won two hours of Mentoring by Bill Bartee of Southern Cross Venture Partners.
 
Amin Kroll of Car Pilots was second runner-up for "giving a complete overview of the business, had a finished product and the market size is significant, but there is competition," the judges said. 

Sydney Angels is the largest angel investor association in Australia. Its investment strategy is to select the "best in class process, but we are at the beginning of the journey."

"We bring together angel investors who have done it before, made money or want to invest. We invest in businesses which are already generating some cash and need an injection of cash. We select those in the pipeline based on our one page very structured summary, which is available on our website," Mathias said. Entrepreneurs must pitch their business idea for 10 minutes to six entrepreneurs at a deal screening meeting before they pitch to approximately 60 Sydney Angel members.

To date, Sydney Angels has raised approximately $50 million and funded 10 deals mainly in web services and travel. Its Sidecar Fund is the first of its kind in Australia and one of only a few around the world, which gives it an opportunity to become a leading investor group. 

"Often, angel investors want to roll up their sleeves and get involved in the growth and establsishment of the business," he said.