The first-ever GradVenture pitch competition took place last night at Senate House in London. The competition saw students and recent graduates of the University of London pitch their business idea for a chance to win a share of £5000 and expert mentoring sessions.
Pitching companies faced a judging panel made-up of: Sarah Wood, co-founder of Unruly, Frank Meehan, co-founder of SparkLabs Global seed fund, Sam Wigan, co-founder of Beluga Bean and campaigner and consultant Emma Johnson.
The winning pitch was Twipes, eco-friendly toilet wipes that disperse within three hours. Founders Alborz Bozorgi and Ellenor McIntosh will receive £4000 and a private networking and mentoring session with Coutts & Co.
'there can only be one' says @michaelhayman! Congrats to @ace_twipes from @CityUniLondon #gradventure
— UCL Innovation & Enterprise (@UCLEnterprise) November 16, 2017
The runner up was Hexad, a brewing business that creates custom, small-batch craft beers for events, festivals and celebrations.
The audience had their say on the night by voting for the crowd pleaser. This award went to Focus, a productivity tool for designers. Co-founder Lukas Ondrej will have a private lunch with expert investors Octopus Ventures, London’s premier firm that has invested in GymBox, Graze, Swiftkey, Secret Escapes and Zoopla.
Seven Hills looks forward to many more GradVenture events. Watch this space.