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Five Fairfield University student teams pitched their business ideas to a panel of five business experts before a live audience at Fairfield University’s annual StartUp Showcase on Tuesday, April 18.
The celebration of student entrepreneurship and innovation was held at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts in Fairfield and hosted by the Charles F. Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University.
“This year we had a great mix of products and big ideas,” said StartUp Program Director Chris Huntley, Ph.D.
Several teams spent last semester in workshops prepping presentations with help from mentors. The five competing last night had to pass a qualifying round to make it to the big event where they had five minutes to pitch their business ideas to the panel of investors for seed money.
The finalists were:
- Ad-XR is an advertising network looking to reach extended-realty audiences.
- Affluential Clothing is a clothing brand that wants to change how you think about wealth.
- Copula is a community-building social media platform that helps users find places, activities, and those who share similar interests.
- Golden Guardian Solution provides peace-of-mind services for families caring for elderly relatives.
- Pantry+ is an intuitive app that can provide you with recommendations on your next food purchases based on dietary needs and health goals.
The panel of business leaders included:
- Joseph Bronson, currently principal and CEO of The Bronson Group, LLC, a business advisory group focused on operational and financial consulting;
- Chris Hillock, vice president and head of portfolio development at Dell Technologies Capital, the venture capital arm of Dell Technologies;
- Padriac “Packy” Kelly, an audit partner with KPMG, based in San Francisco and serving tech companies in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, New York, and Tampa Bay;
- Mary Anne Rooke, founder of Rooke & Associates, a boutique management consulting firm that specializes in helping early-stage tech companies;
- Ted Yang, serial entrepreneur and president of Daily Voice’s parent company Cantata Media, who has more than 14 startups under his belt.
Pantry + won the grand prize, earning $12,500 in seed money. The app uses state-of-the-art technologies in AI and machine learning to read barcode data on food items users purchase to then provide purchasing recommendations going forward.
“It was a great crowd,” said Yang about the event. “We look forward to seeing great things from all the participants."
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