The New Venture Championship (NVC) is an international entrepreneurial investment competition for graduate students presented by the University of Oregon's Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship.
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Teams from across the world come to Portland, Oregon, United States to present and defend business plans to a panel of judges for the chance to win the grand prize of $25,000. All NVC competitors receive invaluable advice from world class judges and will receive various cash prizes to help them turn their plan into a successful business.
The 2014 New Venture Championship will be held April 3rd-5th.
History
The first ever NVC was held in 1992. Only three teams competed and it was held in a university classroom at the University of Oregon campus. The grand prize was $300.
In 2008, over 70 teams submitted entries to compete for more than $70,000 in prizes and for a spot in both the 2008 Global Moot Corp. and the 2009 NVC Competition. Only the top 20 teams of about 60 applicants are selected to present in Portland each year.
In April 2007, Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle and his wife, Mary, donated a total of $5 million to the University of Oregon. $3.5 million went to the New Venture Championship.
Past Winners
In 2013, NVC unexpectedly had two first place winners. Both AGcerez from Thailand’s Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration and Awair from Stanford University were named 2013 NVC co-champions. AGcerez introduced a fruit syrup with helpful bacteria to aid digestion and Awair presented Wyshbone, a device that delivers local anesthetic to patient’s throats using breathing tubes.
Other past winners include KT Tape, Klymit Backpacking Gear, and Split Engineering.
Structure
Teams of graduate students come from across the nation and from around the world to participate. 16 teams compete in the 6-round business competition during which teams present their business ideas, give a 60 second elevator pitch, create and staff a trade show booth, and receive extensive feedback from our team of the best new business plan competition judges. Judges are a mix of business professionals, many from sponsoring companies.
Sponsors for NVC have changed and the number increased during the 23 years of the competition. The 2014 sponsors include Columbia Sportswear, Viewpoint, Tektronix, OEN, Blue Star Gas, Palo Alto Software, and Rogue.
Prizes
First Place and Official New Venture Champion
$25,000 Automatic berth for 2012 Venture Labs Investment Competition
Presented: Reinmuth Cup
Second Place
$10,000
Runner-Up Finalists (2)
$2,500
Other Awards
Best Written Business Plan
$1,500
Palo Alto Software Executive Summary Award
$1,000
Tektronix Trade Show Award
$1,500
Tektronix Elevator Pitch Award
$1,500
OEN Lightning Round Prizes
Prize pool of $12,000 awarded among the twelve teams.