HOUSTON – (Mar. 4, 2024) – The 2024 Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC) has announced the 42 startups that will compete for more than $1 million in prizes Apr. 4-6 at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
The RBPC, hosted by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and the Jones Graduate School of Business in its 24th year, brings together the best student ventures from top universities across the world to compete for prizes in front of more than 350 angel, venture capital and corporate investors and members of the business community.
After a rigorous and competitive application process, the judging team selected 42 startups led by students who are pushing to create new possibilities in technology, energy, health care and building solutions that shape a better future. This year’s invited startups represent 35 universities from four countries.
“We had an excellent field of candidates this year, making it incredibly difficult to narrow down the pool of applicants to 42 and double the amount of judge screeners joined in to help identify the best startups, showing us just the level of excitement around this year’s competition,” said Catherine Santamaria, director of the RBPC. “I commend all the student startups who took the time and effort to submit an application and look forward to meeting the stellar startups who will join us on campus in April.”
The student entrepreneurs gain real-world experience to pitch their startups, enhance their business strategy and learn what it takes to launch a successful company. With a goal of not only competing for cash but also understanding what it takes to secure investment, raise awareness and launch a successful venture, these graduate students will pitch their companies through four rounds of competition over three days in hopes of taking home the grand prize.
The 42 ventures for RBPC 2024:
|
|
Over 23 years, the RBPC has grown from nine teams competing for $10,000 in prize money in 2001 to 42 teams from around the world competing for more $1 million in cash and prizes. It is the largest and richest student startup competition in the world. Over two decades, 826 teams have raised more than $5.5 billion in capital with 56 successful exits and five public companies.
The RBPC is hosted and organized by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, Rice’s internationally recognized initiative devoted to the support of entrepreneurship, and Rice Business, which has been nationally recognized as the No. 1 graduate entrepreneurship program.
For more information about the 2024 Rice Business Plan Competition, visit rbpc.rice.edu.