Tennibot Video from Haitham Eletrabi on Vimeo.

Six Alabama startups from Huntsville to Mobile will compete for a share of $250,000 in two months.

Alabama Launchpad, a program of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, announced the six teams still competing for the prize money after culling from the top 10 teams following Friday’s first pitch event at Birmingham’s Evonik Industries.

The finalists are:

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  Emil Jovanov, a University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) electrical and computer engineering associate professor, pitches euHydrate, a smart water bottle invention.

  editBIO LLC: A Hoover-based firm that aims to create an efficient, Web-based marketplace to connect global biological and medical scientists with freelance editors to communicate clearly their science through English publications.

• euHydrate LLC: Huntsville-based startup with a University of Alabama in Huntsville affiliation that manages personalized optimum hydration for health, wellness and medical applications.
• IllumiCare Inc.: Birmingham-based company that created a nonintrusive ribbon of information that hovers over a hospital’s electronic medical records, showing physicians real-time, patient-specific costs and risks associated with tests and medications when they are about to order the next test or medication.
• Open Frame LLC: Mobile-based firm that created NitroPCR, mobile electronic patient charts for emergency medical services.
• SimplyProse: Opelika-based startup with an Auburn University affiliation that developed a collaborative writing platform that affords all writers a space to create, critique and market their work for profit or personal enjoyment.
• Tennibot: Auburn-based startup with an Auburn University affiliation that developed a robotic tennis ball collector that allows the player to focus on having fun and hitting balls, not collecting them. (See video above.)

G.T. LaBorde, CEO of IllumiCare, pitches the non-intrusive ribbon of information that hovers over any inpatient electronic health record and provides physicians real-time, patient-specific information on medication cost and risks associated with tests and medications.

“We grow more impressed every competition with the caliber of startups and level of participation from the entrepreneurial community in Alabama,” said Greg Sheek, Alabama Launchpad programs director. “We congratulate the finalists and wish them much success at the finale in August. Starting a company is a difficult task; entrepreneurs need a variety of elements to be successful including mentorship, encouragement, funding and a network of contacts. Alabama Launchpad is pleased to help give early-stage startups momentum to create new jobs and important innovation for the state of Alabama.”

The Alabama Startup Cycle B Competition will culminate in a finale on Aug. 27 at WorkPlay Theater in Birmingham.

The final teams were selected after all 10 startups made eight-minute pitches before judges, who also provided feedback to all teams.

Judging the competition are Bob Crutchfield, general partner with Harbert Venture Partners; Mickey Millsap, co-founder of uShip in Austin, Texas, who now leads Birmingham-based K-12 Lean Labs; Antonio Montoya, founder of Huntsville-based Rocket Hatch; Dean Parker, founder and CEO of Mobile-based Callis Communications; Ashok K. Singhal, principal founder and chairman of the Huntsville-based CFDRC; and Jason Thomas, executive vice president and general counsel of the Atlanta-based Total EHR and the company’s technology partner, Total Dental.