Pitch Competition 2026

 

Dr. Josh Bendickson, Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, is excited to again sponsor, offer & lead the 2026 Inn-eaux-vate Pitch Comptetition.

This year's competition will include more than $50,000 in prize money, with $10,000 going to the overall winner.

The goals of the competition are to provide an opportunity for students to pitch business ideas to a panel of UL Lafayette alumni judges....and to possible earn seed money to help them start, commercialize and scale their business innovations.

APPLICATION LINK COMING SOON

Key Dates:
Applications Due: October 16, 2026
Semifinalists Announced: October 27, 2026
Semifinals & Finalists Announced: November 10, 2026

Final Pitch Competition: November 17, 2026
from 4:00-6:00 at the LITE Center

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Congratulations to all of the finalists for the Inn-eaux-vate Fall 2024 Pitch Competition!

1st Place ($4,000)
Jakob Cantrelle
PRIYSIM

2nd Place ($3,000)
Caleigh Meche & Isabelle Chapman
Roommate

3rd Place ($2,500)
Lane Darby
Jammo Cans

4th Place ($2,000)
Prashant Basnet
Unisala

5th Place ($1,000 each)

Overpower Gore
Student Fusion

Kia Batiste
The PlayGround Clothing



Finalists ($500 each)

Nana Firdausi Hassan
Feednah Modest & Mane

Ethan Ly
Rice Dynasty

Leila Gheisi
AI-Powered Navigation Assistant

 

 

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