Rice Business Plan Competition is a Win for Innovation in Business Technology

The Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University recently held their annual Rice Business Plan Competition, awarding several students for successful and innovative pitches for technology businesses, including a special distinction this year for winners.

Occurring annually since its first year in 2001, the Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC) has been coined by Fortune magazine as “the Super Bowl and World Series of business plan competitions”. In 2015, forty-two teams from universities across the globe gathered in Houston to pitch business technology ideas to judges. Including over 275 investor and venture-capital judges, each pitch was evaluated based on investment potential.

In its fourteen year history the RBPC has created an important legacy, with more than 154 competitors ultimately launching their ventures and remaining in business until this day. From these successful business ventures, $1.2 billion in funding has been raised and over 2,000 new jobs created. Roughly 15 of these businesses have exited with a market value exceeding $375 million.

This year, the Brigham Young University company KiLife Tech took home the top earnings for the Kiband- created for parents trying to keep track of their children in crowded public spaces. Of more than $1.5 million invested at the competition, KiLife Tech received almost $620,000 in cash and prizes for their work.

In addition, the winning team were awarded the opportunity to ring the Nasdaq stock market closing bell on October 14th. Also present for the Nasdaq closing will be Bill Glick, dean of Rice’s Jones School, as well as Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship.

regions: Houston

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