Description

The Rice Business Plan Competition is the world’s richest and largest graduate-level student startup competition. It is hosted and organized by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, which is Rice University’s internationally-recognized initiative devoted to the support of entrepreneurship, and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business.

The competition is designed to give collegiate entrepreneurs a real-world experience to fine tune their business plans and elevator pitches to generate funding to successfully commercialize their product. Judges will evaluate the teams as real-world entrepreneurs soliciting start-up funds from early-stage02 investors and venture capital firms.

Eligibility

Are you eligible to apply to the Rice Business Plan Competition?

Yes, if your startup:

• is student-driven, student-created and/or student-managed
• has at least two current student founders or management team members, and at least one of those is a current graduate degree-seeking student
• falls into our sector categories of Energy/Cleantech/Sustainability, Life Science/Digital Health/Medical Devices, Tech/Digital/IoT, Other Innovations
• has not raised more than $250,000 in equity capital prior to July 1, 2019
• is seeking funding and is a potentially viable investment opportunity

Awards

In total, more than USD 1.5 Million in investment and cash prizes is expected to be awarded to the teams at the 2020 Rice Business Plan Competition.

• 1st Place Overall – given by the GOOSE Society (Investment) USD 350,000 investment
• 2nd Place Overall – given by Rice University USD 125,000 investment
• 3rd Place Overall USD 7,500 cash
• 4th Place Overall USD 5,000 cash
• 5th Place Overall USD 4,000 cash
• 6th Place Overall USD 3,500 cash
• 7th Place Overall USD 3,000 cash