Nana Younge, Innovate@BU program director (from left); Betty Zhao (Questrom’25), Epoch Labs cofounder, New Venture Competition General Track winner; and Siobhan Dullea (CAS’91), Innovate@BU executive director.

Innovation

25 Years of Innovate@BU’s New Venture Competition Showcases Decades of BU Innovation

10 student groups competed for a prize pool of $80,000 at University’s largest pitch competition

A crowd of over 500 donned their best business attire and headed to the George Sherman Union Metcalf Ballroom April 16 to celebrate student and alumni entrepreneurs at Innovators’ Night—Innovate@BU’s largest celebration and pitch competition, with a prize pool of $80,000. 

The New Venture Competition, which supports student innovators in transforming their business proposals into tangible start-ups, celebrated its 25th year at Boston University. Over the past two decades, Innovate@BU has seen more than 1,000 applications and awarded more than $500,000 in equity-free prizes, according to Siobhan Dullea (CAS’91), executive director of Innovate@BU.

“You’ve heard this before tonight, you’ll probably hear it again, but it deserves repeating: Innovate@BU exists to help all BU students build innovation skills and an entrepreneur mindset, so you can make meaningful change in your lives, careers, communities,” Dullea (CAS’91) said. “Tonight you’re going to hear about a lot of change and a lot of innovation—that’s why we exist.” 

BU President Melissa Gilliam delivered opening remarks, drawing on her own experiences of using models to teach young people and patients about medical jargon into an up-and-running company. Gilliam underscored the University’s long history of innovation, dating back to Alexander Graham Bell, who was a BU professor from 1874 to 1879, and invented the telephone during his time here.

“BU is such a place of innovation. We see it across all of our campuses, we see it in our labs, we see it in our classrooms,” Gilliam said. “We are the home of Alexander Graham Bell… I leave you with that thought so you just have a sense of how proud the tradition of innovation at BU is, and that you, as you do your work, are joining this proud tradition.” 

Gilliam emphasized the alignment of the start-ups with BU’s “ethos and spirit,” a part of BU’s Living Our Values Project, by “seeing a world other people don’t see and being driven by the values, care, and concern and innovating something totally different,” highlighting her excitement at seeing projects centered around sustainability, AI, and convergent research between disciplines. 

In the New Venture Competition, current students and 2024 alumni chose between two tracks to vie for funding for their group or individual for-profit start-ups. The General Track helps support ventures from all sectors in maximizing revenue potential, while the Social Impact Track is open to “all business models with innovative solutions for large-scale, beneficial change.”

Competitors submit written applications by the end of January, with 10 teams from each track chosen to advance to the semifinals, each earning $500. From there, teams work on internal pitch presentations, with mentoring from Innovate@BU staff, in hope of advancing to the finals round. Each track then has the opportunity to compete for a $20,000 first-place prize, $10,000 for second place, and $6,000 for third place. On Innovators’ Night, audience members are invited to scan a QR code to vote for two Audience Choice winners from each track, with a prize of $500 each.

The BU Pep Band kept spirits high as audience members mingled among student innovation tables, hors d’oeuvres and drinks in hand, before the competition finalists took the stage to deliver 60-second speed pitches on stage.

The General Track first-place prize of $20,000 was won by Epoch Labs, an AI analytics platform that uses portable cameras to provide real-time feedback and injury prevention data for tennis players. Betty Zhao (Questrom’25) and Farida Abdelmoneum (ENG’24) are the founders.

“We have a pilot program starting and the issue is we have partners, but we don’t have the funds yet to fulfill whatever deals/negotiations we have with them in order to move forward with the pilot program. This award money will help us to do that,” Zhao said. “This has been a really great experience.”

The Social Impact Track’s $20,000 first-place winner was Idori, which teaches children about sustainability through eco-friendly storybooks, toys, and hands-on activities. Preschool teacher and founder Noah Sorin (Questrom’24), who won last year’s Innovate@BU’s Student Innovator of the Year Award, said the first-place win was so exciting.

“This is going to allow us to scale so much faster and create so much more of a positive impact in the world,” Sorin said. “One of our biggest focuses is on donating our books to as many underserved communities as possible and going into schools to offer as much free environmental education programming as we can, and this funding will allow us to do that on such a larger scale, which means the absolute world to us.” 

BrightBook, founded by Tommy Ross (Questrom’24), won the General Track’s second-place prize of $10,000. BrightBook is an AI-powered platform that creates customizable lesson plans aligned with state standards, designed to help teachers “amplify their voice, not replace it.”

The Social Impact Track’s second-place winner of $10,000 was Culinary Commons, founded by Andrea Catania (MET’24). Culinary Commons builds public kitchens to foster a sense of community in urban areas like Boston, focusing on food justice and social cohesion. 

Agrinova won the General Track’s third-place award of $6,000, along with the Audience Choice award of $500. Founders Meritxell Ortodo (ENG’26) and Trinity Olander (CAS’26) said they established Agrinova to “make sustainable agriculture a reality” through microbial biosensors, which detect bioavailable heavy metals in soils and plants. 

Udaya won the $6,000 third-place award in the Social Impact Track and the $500 Audience Choice award. Udaya, founded by Tanya Shizan (Questrom’26), is a crowdfunding platform designed to support high school entrepreneurs in India with tailored campaign tools and mentorship opportunities. 

Besides the New Venture Competition winners, other awards, among them the BU Student Innovator of 2025, were given throughout the night. Sorin, last year’s winner, presented the award to Prianna Sharan (CAS’25), cofounder of Popple, an AI-powered social platform designed to connect college students with events in Boston. Sharan thanked the Popple team and its cofounder, and the evening’s emcee, Remi Chester (Questrom‘25).

While Innovate@BU awards outstanding students for their contributions to innovation, this year was the first time other schools and departments could also nominate students. Ben Gardiner (CAS’25), creator of Talentora, an AI-powered platform to streamline candidate interviews in the hiring process, was nominated by BU Spark! Nominated by the BU Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) was Luca Pungan (ENG’25), who is developing biosensors for at-home fertility testing hormones in the Microbial Integration Group, led by Miguel Jimenez, a College of Engineering assistant professor of biomedical engineering. Jiayou “Leon” Lin (SHA’24) was nominated by the School of Hospitality Administration. He is the winner of SHA’s 2025 Hospitality Innovation Competition grand prize ($50,000) for Behold Juice—a natural citrus juice replacement that eliminates kitchen waste.

A Special Recognition award was given to Ian Mashiter, Innovate@BU’s director of curriculum and BUzzLab creator, who is retiring this year. The Mentor of the Year Award, which recognizes mentors with unwavering commitment to BU students and innovation, was given to Rhoda Serafim (GRS’10). 

The Henry Morgan Award, named for former Questrom School of Business Dean Henry Morgan, is given to a faculty member or a prominent alum for his or her advancement of innovation at the University. Peter Marton, Questrom director of entrepreneurship partnerships and a lecturer in strategy and entrepreneurship, accepted the award virtually.

“It’s for the students that we do this, it’s the students that provide the core energy for all of this,” Marton said. “Let’s all keep working hard for the students for which all this has been created.”

Dullea announced a new award, which will be a part of next year’s New Venture Competition. The $5,000 Abdullah Almarzouq Environmental Entrepreneurship Award is focused on innovations that improve the environment by innovators willing to share their solutions with others for replication.

Austin Boyer, Innovate@BU associate director of marketing and communications, said Innovators’ Night is an interesting space to see varying levels of industry. “It’s one of our favorite events,” he said, “because it showcases all the different kinds of innovation going on all across campus.”