Venture Competition 2020
The Venture Competition is an opportunity for Brunel University London students and alumni to develop their entrepreneurial skills and ideas with a chance to win up to £10,000 of start-up funding generously supported by Santander Universities and the Brunel Development Fund.
This year the Entrepreneur Hub selected 10 fantastic finalists out of a huge 99 applicants, to go through to the Venture Competition Pitching Finals. The competition had 2 categories this year - a ‘Social Impact’ category alongside a ‘Commercial’ category, of which 3 of the finalists entered in the ‘Social Impact’ and 7 ‘Commercial’.
On Thursday 27th February 2020, 10 budding entrepreneurs pitched their innovative ideas to a panel of experts competing to win a share of £10,000! After a 15-minute pitch including a question and answer session with the panel, 4 finalists were chosen as the 2020 Venture Competition Winners alongside 2 runners up.
Applications for Venture Competition 2021 are now open. Please request an information pack here. If you have any enquires you can email us at hub@brunel.ac.uk.
Meet our 2020 winners ...
Anil Puri, founder of Pet Instincts
Winning £5000 in the ‘Commercial’ category was Brunel University alumnus Anil Puri, a product design graduate and founder of ‘Pet Instincts’, they are developing a well-being monitoring service that bridges the gap between dogs and owners when separated. They believe that “a pet’s mental health is just as important to care for as their physical health and are building technology-based solutions that improve the health & well-being of all pets” (Pet Instincts, 2020). Moreover, Anil plans on using the prize money to get him one step closer to product launch.
Niamh Cogley-Rock, founder of Fight Back
Winning £3000 of the prize fund in the ‘Social Impact’ category, Industrial Design and Technology final year student Niamh Cogley-Rock, has been working on her business idea ‘Fight Back’, an app that supplies the support system and structure for people suffering with OCD to enable them to continue ERP treatment individually to prevent relapses. She aims to use the prize money on further app development.
Matt Bacarese-Hamilton, founder of EAS-E
Winning £1000 in the ‘Commercial’ category, final year Mechanical Engineering student Matt pitched his innovative business idea, 'EAS-E'. His idea revolves around an External Acoustic Shutter that lets air in through windows but keeps noise out to decrease noise disturbance. He said that "It’s not often you get to showcase an amazing project you’ve been working on to industry professionals. It’s been an incredible experience from the teaching in workshops to giving the final pitch. I’ll be back next year, and I hope the competition is even more fierce; meeting so many enthusiastic innovators is inspiring"
Victor Harabari, co-founder of CardioCrown
Alumnus Victor Harabari, Biomedical, Biomechanics and Bioelectronics Engineering (MSc) graduate and co-founder of ‘CardioCrown’ also entered the competition in the ‘Social Impact’ category, winning £1000. His business idea revolves around the development of his product ‘CardioCore’, a wearable smart medical system designed to prevent the formation of blood clots in the venous system and reduce the risk of venous thromboembolism. He aims to launch his product in January 2022 and has been endorsed and supported by the NHS (University Hospitals Birmingham), NatWest and FFWD.
Gracen Rubo and Katie Price
This year we had 2 runners-up at the Venture Competition, both won spaces on FastForward, a leading pre-accelerator programme by Capital Enterprise.
Gracen Rubo, a current Sustainability, Entrepreneurship and Design (MSc) student, pitched her business idea 'IMPRINT', which creates bespoke 3D printed shoes for women.
Katie Price, currently studying Industrial Design and Technology (BSc), pitched her business idea, an app used to help manage chronic skin conditions.