Notre Dame students pitch new business ventures
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For the 25th consecutive year, University of Notre Dame students gathered to pitch their ideas for the best new venture at the McCloskey New Venture Competition.
The annual competition took place at Notre Dame in late April and saw nearly $1 million dollars in cash, in-kind, and pitch-for-investment prizes awarded.
Groups of graduate and undergraduate students were given six minutes each to pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges that included representatives from Alloy Partners (formerly High Alpha Innovation), Notre Dame-specific investment group Irish Angles, Victory Park Capital, retail data startup Gro Flo, and project management site ClickUp.
The judges gave the grand prize of $50,000 to Runawayz—a platform that helps high school graduates figure out their next steps, whether that be finding a job, going to college or doing other service. Runawayz’s pitch was presented by Notre Dame graduate student Teresa Covarrubias, who highlighted the platform’s use of artificial intelligence in matching young people with employment opportunities.
Other winners included Routora, an app that uses AI to optimize route planning with an eye towards reducing emissions, travel time and fuel costs. The company was founded by Notre Dame undergraduates Luke Blazek and Brian George, together with their childhood friend Tom Vazhekatt, and won the $10,000 prize for best undergraduate pitch.
The best graduate student venture award, along with another $10,000, went to Pi Squared. Pi Squared is an educational app that founders David Carr and Chris Fakhimi pitched as “Wordle for math.”
Rental clothes marketplace DressyClub Inc. won a $10,000 prize for best female-led venture and rapid cancer-screening app Vectorgram Health won $5,000 for best minority-led venture.
The McCloskey competition is open to all Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College students and is meant to give students experience pitching investors and making presentation decks.