Two start-up teams from the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship are racking up a string of successes--and some nice cash prizes, too. At the Stuart Clark Investment Challenge held in Winnipeg, Canada, Sonas LLC took second place and $10,000 for their presentation of a business concept based on a technology that uses acoustic waves to precisely identify any liquid in sealed containers. Sonas had previously competed at the University of Cincinnati's Spirit of Enterprise, where they won the trade show competition. View a brief presentation by Sonas LLC.

Meanwhile, last fall's Graduate Venture Quest winner VisiRay Inc. nabbed third place in two separate competitions: the Cardinal Challenge at the University of Louisville and the technology track of Carnegie Mellon University's McGinnis Venture Challenge--where they also came in fourth in the elevator pitch competition.

And just last week, VisiRay qualified for this May's Willamette Angel Conference by winning the three-minute pitch competition put on by local entrepreneurship group SmartUps. Check out VisiRay's turbo-charged SmartUps pitch in a Facebook video and see them at the Cardinal Cup.