David Starr, president and CEO of Beaverton-based Sonivate Medical, received the grand prize of $265,000 for the launch-stage competition at the Bend Venture Conference Friday evening.

The 2012 Bend Venture Conference marked a night of superlatives Friday on Northwest Wall Street: the most capital ever awarded the winning enterprise, the most startups vying for the prize and the first time angels poured money into more than just the winner.

Three companies still in the launch stage together carried away a record $335,000 at the ninth annual conference.

David Starr, CEO and president of Beaverton-based Sonivate Medical, took the $265,000 grand prize for his ultrasound technology company and its finger-tip mounted ultrasound probe.

“There were six great companies there, and anyone could have won the conference,” Starr said. “I was hoping it would be me because I’ve seen these other companies that came before us and they used the Bend Venture Conference as a spring board for doing bigger and better things.”

About 400 conferees heard the finalists make their pitches for capital. Keynote speaker Daymond John, nationally renowned entrepreneur and judge on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” praised Central Oregon’s entrepreneurial potential.

Six launch-stage finalists from throughout the state, and six Central Oregon concept-company finalists competed in separate categories. The finalists were drawn from a pool of 70 applicants — the largest number the competition has ever received, said Ruth Lindley, marketing manager for Economic Development for Central Oregon.

Several months of winnowing preceded the conference, at which independent investors further narrowed the field and on Friday chose Sonivate as the winner.

For the first time since the conference started in 2004, the angel investors not only invested in the winner, but two other Bend launch-stage companies, as well: JettStream Inc., which is developing a treatment delivery system for children with asthma, and RallyCause, a mobile app company that allows customers to donate to nonprofits when they shop at local businesses.

“We think the six finalists this year were probably the highest quality we’d ever seen,” said Jim Coonan, venture catalyst manager for EDCO, and lead conference organizer. “Picking a winner was very tough and certain angels felt so motivated that they felt like hey, let’s write a check for a couple of these other companies.”

Independent investors, combined with a $50,000 match from the Oregon State Treasury’s Oregon Growth Account and $25,000 in matching investment from The Oregon Community Foundation, funded the launch-stage competition purse.

Beyond the $15,000 increase over last year’s grand prize, $40,000 went to RallyCause and $30,000 to JettStream during the awards presentation at the Liberty Theater, 849 N.W. Wall St. Contestants made their pitches in the Tower Theater two doors away from the Liberty.

“Not all of our angel investors live in Central Oregon, a lot of them come from Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, so for them to give that sign of approval for those two local companies is a big deal.”

Concept-companies wooed the audience, which judged them for a $10,000 grant from BendBroadband. Dr. Rick Cuddihy won the grant for ziPede, a service to improve children’s health by producing and delivering medical content to patients through cloud-based technology.

For Starr and the others, the prize money means they can accelerate their companies’ growth.

Sonivate has received a significant number of grants from the U.S. military to help fund product development, Starr said. But, the grants have not covered the marketing of the technology.

He plans to use the conference money to break into the market, fund manufacturing, integrate with ultrasound company partners and increase the marketing and sales of the product.

Sonivate is doing a local rollout in the Portland area, as well as regional rollout that could include Bend, he said.

Carolyn Eagan, business advocate for the city of Bend, said she was excited to see local companies receive money at the conference.

“The fact that local companies were funded shows we have the potential for good companies here, for growth and new opportunities of employment for the people who live here,” she said.

The energy behind the Bend Venture Conference identifies Bend as a place where venture capitalists should look for investment, she said.

John, the keynote speaker, agreed, saying he was pleasantly surprised by the pitches he heard at the conference.

“I think it is already an entrepreneurial hub … I’m excited about it and there’s a reason to be excited about it,” he said. “Bend and Central Oregon is accurately a good place to start a business and be an entrepreneur.”