Tulane Business Model Competition names semifinalists for $25K top prize

Tulane University’s A. B. Freeman School of Business has named the six student teams that will face off in the qualifying round of the 2018 Tulane Business Model Competition during the 10th annual New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW).

Presented by the Freeman School’s Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the contest will award over $40,000 in cash prizes to university-based startups and early-stage ventures that demonstrate high growth potential and a market-tested ability to adapt to customer needs.

“On behalf of all of the judges who helped us select these six companies, I want to congratulate our six semifinalists,” said Rob Lalka, executive director of the Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “The competition was fierce, but these business models truly stood out. We look forward to hearing them pitch at the start of New Orleans’s weeklong celebration of entrepreneurship and innovation.”

This year’s qualifying round will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. on March 19 in the newly constructed Goldring/Woldenberg Business Complex. Each semifinalist will have 10 minutes to pitch its venture to a panel of judges. Three teams will be chosen to advance to the competition’s final round to be held on April 19 at Tulane University.

The winning team will receive a grand prize of $25,000 and earn the right to compete in the International Business Model Competition, which will take place at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, on May 10-11. The runner up will receive a $10,000 prize, and the third-place team will receive $2,500.

The six semifinalists:

• AssistENT (Johns Hopkins University) is developing Schnozzle (patent pending), the first nasal dilator designed for use during the day.
• Boost Linquistics (Drexel University) develops artificial intelligence that works alongside marketing teams to help produce content that engages customers.
• Eye C You (University of Missouri) develops vision devices to assist the population of individuals with simple and chronic sensory perception impairments.
• Imperent (Tulane University) is an app-based peer-to-peer documentation and payment technology that simplifies rental payments and keeps security deposits safe.
• STEM Library Lab (Tulane University) is a resource center that lends science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) material and trains teachers and schools to improve inquiry-based learning in the classroom.
• Uchooze Lunchbox (University of Arkansas) provides healthier kid-chosen school lunch options through engagement of an on-line platform.

For more information about this year’s Tulane Business Model Competition, please contact Stephanie Kleehammer, Lepage Center director of strategic initiatives, at 504-865-5462 or skleeham@tulane.edu