4/18/2023 Urvashi Jha, TEC
The Cozad New Venture Challenge fosters supports the creation of new sustainable business ventures and has awarded over $2.5 million in funding, cash, and in-kind prizes to Illinois startups since its inception in 2000.
Written by Urvashi Jha, TEC
The Technology Entrepreneur Center in The Grainger College of Engineering is pleased to announce the seven finalists selected to compete in the finals event of the campus-wide Cozad New Venture Challenge 2023 that will be held at the Discovery Partners Institute in Chicago on April 19. The experiential program that is focused on fostering an entrepreneurial mindset and supports the creation of new sustainable business ventures has awarded over $2.5 million in funding, cash, and in-kind prizes to Illinois startups since its inception in 2000.
At the Cozad New Venture Challenge 2023 Finals event, the seven finalists will present their startup ideas to a panel of judges for the top placement prizes. All the teams, including the finalists that took part in the Demo Showcase, will be eligible for prizes totaling over $300,000 in funding, cash, and in-kind prizes.
This year, the campus-wide competition kicked off in early February with over 100 competing teams representing 10 colleges. The teams attended four workshops on customer discovery, value proposition, financials, and presentation skills besides optional skills development workshops. Nearly 90 startup teams made it to the Demo Showcase that took place on April 13 at Illinois Conference Center in Champaign. The teams pitched their startup ideas to about 105 past Cozad alumni, investors, mentors, faculty, sponsors, and partners of the thriving University of Illinois entrepreneurship ecosystem who served as judges.
Two of the seven finalists teams include students from Illinois Computer Science:
Beacon: The medical startup is developing a light therapy through a transcranial implant to help patients with aggressive brain tumors live longer by destroying cancer cells that can’t be surgically removed. The team members represent the Gies College of Business, Carle Illinois College of Medicine, School of Information Sciences, and Grainger Engineering (CS and ECE).
Hatch: Hatch is an AI university recruitment platform that allows recruiters to rank hundreds of applicants in seconds. The team members represent the Gies College of Business and Grainger Engineering (CS).
Who will win the Cozad New Venture Challenge? Register for the Finals Event to find out. Register here.
And don’t miss the Entrepreneurship Celebration and Awards ceremony on April 26 at the Campus Instructional Facility. We will be awarding many more Cozad New Venture Challenge prizes. RSVP here.
Read the original article from the Technology Entrepreneur Center with information on all seven finalist teams.