Last week four current ESTEEM students participated as finalists in the 2016-2017 McCloskey Business Plan Competition at the University of Notre Dame.
These students reached the finals through a long process that began in October 2016 with over 130 teams submitting ideas to judges for Round 1. Teams making it to Round 2 were submitted a business plan in February. These were judged and semi-finalist teams were announced in mid-March. Of these 20 semi-finalist teams, 8 included ESTEEM students.
On Thursday, April 20, the semi-final (Round 3) judging occured and the eight finalists were chosen.
These eight teams had the opportunity to pitch their business plan to a public audience on Friday, April 21, after which the awards were announced. ESTEEM students were awarded the following:
- Plug and Play Startup Camp Award ($50k in program services, 10-week Startup Camp experience in Silicon Valley): $25k cash investment): SVEME Diagnostics, Cole Cravath
- Innovation Park at Notre Dame Accelerator Awards (1 year of complimentary space at the Greenhouse; up to $12k in space and consultation services): Gen4, Madeline Zupan; Structured Immunity, David Hardwicke; SVEME Diagnostics, Cole Cravath; PrevAllergy, Constanza Lengerich
- Riddi IP Prize (1 provisional patent application, value of $6k): SVEME Diagnostics, Cole Cravath
- Office of Technology Transfer Awards ($10k in patent reimbursement award awarded to the ND Technology with Best Commercial Potential): Structured Immunity, David Hardwicke and ($5k toward patent expenses): PrevAllergy, Constanza Lengerich and SVEME Diagnostics, Cole Cravath
- Elevate Ventures Award (Opportunity to pitch to High Potential Start Up Fund Board): Structured Immunity, David Hardwicke; PrevAllergy, Constanza Lengerich; SVEME Diagnostics, Cole Cravath
- IrishAngels Award (Opportunity to pitch to the IrishAngels Investing Group): Gen4, Madeline Zupan
- $5k Klau Family Prize for Greatest Social Impact Runner Up: Gen4, Madeline Zupan
Finally, the 2016-2017 McCloskey Business Plan Competition Grand Prize was announced and this year, two teams share that honor -- one of which was Structured Immunity and ESTEEM Student David Hardwicke.