Varsity Pitch winners announcement
Yesterday, six teams of Oxford and Cambridge student entrepreneurs pitched their ideas for a total of £10K prize money in a fiercely contested Varsity Pitch competition at Saïd Business School, Oxford. (www.varsitypitch.com).Three prizes were awarded as follows:
Oxford Entrepreneurs runners up prize of £2,500 was awarded to Matoke Matoke the brainchild of Jessica Mather-Hillon and Brad Chen (from the Saïd Business School Executive MBA programme) who have set up a fair trade company to sell embroidered napkins made by women displaced in the civil war in Northern Uganda.
Jessica commented: 'We are delighted to win this prize. The prize money enables us to travel again to Uganda to build our contacts and expand the venture. Our napkins are unique in that they are not only beautifully handmade but include a photograph and a short biography of the woman who made it. Each napkin will therefore tell a powerful story. Revenue will be used to finance local business and health initiatives in Uganda as well as create a sustainable and profitable UK enterprise'.
The Cambridge University Entrepreneurs runners up prize went to RemRom Medical Devices who specialise in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of pathbreaking medical devices designed for surgery through the mouth (minimally invasive surgery or MIS).
The overall winner of the competition with a prize of £5,000 was TouchSight from Cambridge, who have developed a unique mobility aid for the blind and visually impaired. The glove-based system, called the TouchSight Vision Mitt, enables the user to 'sense' their surroundings using ultrasonic sensors and vibration feedback actuators, providing a low cost alternative or supplement to guide dogs or white sticks.
The student teams presented to a highly experienced and formidable panel of judges including:
Peter Jones (Entrepreneur of Dragon's Den fame)
Martha Lane Fox, (Co-Founder of Lastminute.com)
Michael Birch (Co-founder and CEO, Bebo.com)
Ian Lobley (Senior Partner, 3i)
Jim Lawn (Head of Microsoft Innovation Strategy in the UK)
Rajeeb Dey, President of Oxford Entrepreneurs, Oxford University's student society for entrepreneurs said 'The competition was a huge success and we had an exciting and inspirational evening of commercially viable entrepreneurial ideas. Tonight was a real testament to the entrepreneurial spirit at Oxford University. The quality and diversity of the entries was superb and all contestants did a fantastic job. Often great business ideas lie dormant; by providing a rewarding platform, we hope to germinate a company of real significance. We look forward to seeing this competition go from strength to strength in coming years - and to watching the success of the winners'.
Cambridge president Rahul Vohra said 'The Varsity Pitch has been a tremendous success. I am delighted that the overall winner this year is from Cambridge - a start up company TouchSight. They have the potential to touch the lives of millions of people.'
The other shortlisted ventures in the competition final were:
Camerge, from Oxford, who have developed an algorithm that enables modern CCD/CMOS cameras to be used to their full potential by adjusting for varying light conditions
Design the Time, also from Oxford, which is a social networking site designed for people to watch and share time through a unique web experience, by buying minutes to store personal content. In the Oxford heat for the competition, Idea Idol, Design the Time so impressed judges Dan Wagner, founder of Venda Ltd, and Sháá Wasmund, founder of mykindaplace.com, that they offered the team funding from their own venture capital boutique Bright Station Ventures and offered a cheque for 'whatever it takes' to develop the business. The team are already coming to the attention of a wider audience and were profiled in Monday's Daily Telegraph.
NeoHeal, from Cambridge, who will employ nanotechnology, as an alternative to traditional sutures, to promote tissue repair and wound recovery.
The overall winner will also win a trip to Monaco where they have the chance to access further funding in a competition called The Next Generation Entrepreneurship Forum.
The Varsity Pitch competition is sponsored by NESTA, 3i, Microsoft, Saïd's Science and Enterprise Centre, MindBench, and Equity Fingerprint and supported by Social Media Consensus and Purple Media.
For further information please contact the Josie Powell, Public Relations Coordinator, Saïd Business School. Tel: 01865 288403 or Email: josie.powell@sbs.ox.ac.uk