Innovate@BU New Venture Competition 2025 (up to $80,000 in prizes) – YOA

Deadline: January 29, 2025

Applications for the New Venture Competition 2025 at the moment are open. Innovate@BU welcomes all Boston University college students and sophistication of 2024 alumni to apply to the New Venture Competition. The competitors invites founders with thrilling enterprise concepts to take their startups to the subsequent stage. Qualifying groups get entry to teaching, suggestions on their concept and pitch, founder and staff ability-constructing, media publicity, and extra. Plus, all semi-finalists and finalists will obtain a bit of the $80,000 prize. If you’re prepared to take your enterprise to launch, that is the OPPORTUNITY for you!

Competition Structure

The New Venture Competition has two separate tracks: one for common startups, and one for social affect ventures.

• General Track: Focused on for-revenue ventures that purpose to remedy market issues or create worth for a big viewers. These ventures ought to have a scalable enterprise mannequin, that means their resolution can develop and attain a broader market with out requiring proportional will increase in sources. If your concept is centered on constructing a profitable enterprise with excessive progress potential and profitability, then this monitor is for you.
• Social Impact Track: Focused on ventures—whether or not for-revenue, non-revenue, or hybrid fashions—that prioritize making a optimistic difference in society, the financial system, tradition, or the atmosphere. These ventures embed their mission for affect into their core operations and determination-making processes, guaranteeing that creating change is on the coronary heart of what they do. If your concept is designed to handle societal challenges or drive significant change as its main aim, then this monitor is for you.

Once accepted to a monitor, individuals will progress by way of three rounds of competitors between February and April 2025. The competitors will get extra selective with every spherical of cuts, so ensure to deliver your A-sport to each pitch!

Prizes

Each monitor awards prizes to the highest three groups. There’s even an opportunity to win an viewers selection award at Innovator’s Night! 

• 1st Place: $20,000
• 2nd Place: $10,000
• third Place: $6,000
• Audience Choice: $500

Additionally, each semi-finalist receives $500.

Eligibility

• At least one founding staff member should be a present BU scholar (undergraduate or graduate) or an alum who graduated throughout the previous 12 months. This particular person should maintain a key administration function, actively contribute to creating the enterprise, and be a principal presenter if the enterprise advances to subsequent rounds.
• Your startup has not raised greater than $250,000 in funding or grants.
• Your startup has not had greater than $500,000 in revenues in the prior 12 months.
• Your startup has not gained first, second, or third place in a earlier Innovate@BU New Venture Competition.
• Teams should apply with an unique concept and agree to not violate any contract or third occasion rights together with any patent, copyright, commerce secret, proprietary or confidential info, trademark, publicity or privateness rights.
• For at present enrolled BU PhD college students solely: The enterprise you might be making use of with just isn’t related to your thesis work.
• The application should be submitted by the BU scholar or Class of 2024 alum who’s the founder/co-founder and can act as the first staff contact.

Application

Each staff or particular person is restricted to submitting one application. They encourage you to focus your efforts in your strongest concept.

Click here to apply

For extra info, go to New Venture Competition.