Hyde Expedition LLC, an Elm Grove start-up company that is developing a sleek, patented life jacket, took the top prize in the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest on Wednesday.

As the largest such contest in the state, the competition is key to identifying high-potential start-ups that might help boost Wisconsin’s lackluster performance in forming new businesses.

Hyde, which raised more than $67,000 in a Kickstarter campaign last year, isplanning to release its first product this summer. The thin life jacket — which Hyde co-founder Pat Hughes wore under his suit jacket while presenting his plan at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference — is designed so that users pull a ripcord to puncture a CO2 canister, causing the gas to inflate a built-in bladder that makes the life jacket buoyant. Read the full Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story here.