Nine companies will compete for cash prizes totaling $50,000 in the John Pappajohn Iowa Business Plan Competition, including three companies from Ames and one from Newton.

Aims BIO, EndoMetric and Ensoft Enabling Software, each of Ames, and Springboard Engineering of Newton are among the companies that will present their business plans to a selection committee later this month at Drake University. The top three business plans will receive prizes of $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000 during the Iowa Venture Capital and Entrepreneur Conference to be held Oct. 10 in Des Moines.

Other companies that made the cut were Express Auto Delivery, Cedar Rapids; Innovative Crop Solutions, Iowa Falls; Kempharm, Coralville; RENEW Energy-Briq Systems, Osage; and TMT Manufacturing, Davenport.

In its second year, the business plan competition is open to companies in the start-up phase or existing businesses that have operated for less than six years.