The 11th annual New Venture Challenge Championships were held at the Boulder Theater on April 3. The road to the championship began with a kickoff in the fall of 2018, with 119 teams competing across five unique tracks: Creative Industries, R&D, Hardware, IT and General. The winners from each track, plus a wildcard winner from the R&D track—six in total—competed in the final event.
The Leeds School of Business was well represented by three teams, one led by two undergraduate seniors, Nathan DePuy (´19MKTG) and Nikki Minzenmayer (´19MGMT) and the others by two MBA candidates: Kelsey Kinzer and Robert Brazell.
Ms. Kinzer won the Audience Choice award and $1K to help fund her company Gaia Glam, which manufactures biodegradable cosmetic glitter gel that helps glitter aficionados “sparkle responsibly” as she puts it. Kinzer also took second place in the Creative Industries Track finals, which earned her an addition $2K for Gaia Glam. The Audience Choice award was chosen via text messages sent from the crowd in real time.
After winning $20K in the General Track finals for their specialized transportation company KartWheel, Nathan DePuy (´19MKTG) and Nikki Minzenmayer (´19MGMT) took 6th place in the championships, winning another $5K in funding. KartWheel was established to transport students with disabilities and injuries from their homes to specific buildings on campus. The pair pitched their company together, noting that mobility challenges can (and do) happen to all of us. KartWheel offers those with disabilities (permanent and temporary) a way to get from their residence to classes and other campus resources.
Bright Wearables, a fashion-focused tech startup headed by Robert Brazell, took fourth place in the championship, winning $10K in funding, adding to the $3K the team received for taking first place in the Creative Track finals. Bright Wearables’ other team members include: Conner Thompson, Alex Kalla, Kevin Li, Jonathan Coll, Aditi Tripathi & Devin Shay. The company is aiming to revolutionize the way we share contact information while networking, eliminating the need for business cards that often get misplaced or thrown away after exchanged.
The winner of the NVC11 Championship was Stride Tech, a company innovating for safer senior care with Smart Step, an accessory for walkers that detects and corrects dangerous walker use habits. It can also and monitor walking to provide healthcare providers with actionable insights. Their team was headed by Engineering student Timothy Visos-Ely, who applied lessons he learned in the New Venture Creation class he took at Leeds, which is offered in partnership with the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship.
In total, Leeds students took home $41K in funding for their business ventures, including the track finals and the championship.
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