Demo Day hosted by the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute, empowers students in the Venture Devils program to compete for their share in seed grant funding to continue developing their ventures. More than 77 startups competed in the pitch competition this year, where $332,500 was awarded through seven different funding tracks.
One of the most competitive funding tracks was the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, where $150,000 was awarded between 9 ventures. Captivate, founded by Abysxsinia Bizuneg, which is shaping the future of ADHD treatments took home the first-place prize. Captivate is prototyping a headset alongside an app that will help increases users’ focus through haptic vibrations and feedback. From their development of this innovative idea, they secured $40,000 in funding to push their venture to the next level. Other notable ventures that won big were Thrively Foods ($30,000), which develops innovative food and beverage products, and Canned Goods ($20,000), which creates sustainable food packaging. There were also six $10,000 winners: Astro Seed, DocYou, Foodtrax, Greenloop, Lake Litter Solutions, and the Molecules Company.
Click here, to read more about the winners from the other six funding tracks: Edson E+I MedTech Venture Challenge, Edson E+I Social Impact Challenge, The eSeed Challenge, Mastercard Foundation Scholars Scholarship Entrepreneurship Fund, Sarsam Family Venture Challenge, and Veteran Ventures.