2022 NEW YORK BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Statewide intercollegiate entrepreneurship competition awards $50,000 in cash prizes to over 20 teams from more than 200 that competed
New Paltz, NY - The New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC) announced its 2022 Grand Prize winner, along with special prize winners at Venture NY, the marquee event for early-stage companies, investors and innovators hosted by the Upstate Capital Association of New York. Six top teams, from the more than 200 that entered, participated in a live, in-person pitch competition as part of Venture NY.
Photonect, a startup from the University of Rochester, was selected as the NYBPC Grand Prize Winner. The company provides fiber-to-chip attachment solutions for companies like CISCO with proprietary technology that offers a 10X time savings compared to current standards. The team founders, Juniyali Nauriyal and Sushant Kumar, will be awarded with $15,000 in cash to bolster their startup’s growth, as well as mentorship and connections from industry leaders throughout Upstate Capital’s ecosystem of innovators.
Upstate Capital has led the NYBPC, a statewide intercollegiate entrepreneurship competition, for the past five years to support New York’s next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders. The NYBPC has three goals: to develop entrepreneurial mindsets and skills, to build personal networks connecting students to organizations in New York, and to launch new ventures. The program started in 2010 and has served more than 6,000 students and helped launch hundreds of ventures.
The NYBPC is supported by over 100 people and organizations with personal donations and corporate sponsorships, including NYSTAR, the SUNY Research Foundation, NY Ventures and the Techstars Foundation.
Upstate Capital President and CEO Noa Conger-Simons said, “This program has impacted more than 6,000 students since its inception in 2010, with more than $150 million of economic impact that can be attributed to student-led ventures that have gone through the program and hundreds of innovations that have led to commercialization over the past decade.”
Since March, student teams from across the state competed first at the regional level and next through two rounds of competition at the state level. Every team competed in one of six industry tracks: Food & Agtech, Safety, Power & Mobility, Health & Wellbeing, Media, Art & Entertainment, Software & Services, and Products & Hardware.
The top team from each of the six tracks then competed for the Grand Prize in person during the Venture NY event. Five special prizes were awarded, three of which supported under-represented founders, sponsored by organizations that helped to establish the criteria for the award. In total, the NYBPC awarded $50,000 in cash prizes to more than 20 teams from more than 200 teams that competed.
2022 New York Business Plan Competition Results
First Place Track Winners
Health & Wellbeing: BioSpire, University of Rochester – Bio-Spire aims to improve healthcare outcomes for patients by filling in the technological gap present in the early detection of sepsis in hospitals.
Food & Agtech: Happy Loose Leaf Tea, Syracuse University – Happy Loose Leaf Tea company provides a portable, flexible tea ball with a proprietary mechanism that stops the steeping process when your tea is done.
Safety, Power & Mobility: KLAW Industries, Binghamton University – KLAW Industries operates a dual-sided revenue model where it processes waste glass sent to landfills into a cement replacement for concrete called Pantheon™.
Media, Art & Entertainment: Open Beats, University at Buffalo – Open Beats is a collaborative music production tool and social media application that allows artists to work on music projects synchronously and remotely regardless of their geographic location. Open Beats also helps artists find new artists to collaborate with using machine learning.
Software & Services: Lawn Admin, Siena College – Lawn Admin is a landscape business application that assists with essential administrative responsibilities by increasing internal efficiency through email invoicing, estimate follow-ups, organized scheduling and equipment maintenance logs.
Products & Hardware: Photonect, University of Rochester – Selected as the Grand Prize Winner, Photonect provides fiber-to-chip attach solutions to optical transceiver companies like CISCO, and Luxtera. It provides a 4X performance improvement and a 10X time savings as compared to current industry standards. Its laser fusion technique is unique and is patent protected.
Special Prize Winners
The KeyBank Healthcare Founder – which is awarded to an under-represented founder in the healthcare space – was presented to Maternal Health Monitoring Service, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, a nonprofit remote maternal health monitoring service for pregnant & postpartum black women.
The Gryt Award – which is presented to a founder that focuses on building a community as part of their business model – was awarded to Step 2,3, SUNY Purchase, an online community for artists, performers, and creative entrepreneurs to communicate, collaborate, and create opportunities for each other.
The Tech Garden Special Prize – which is awarded to a historically under-represented founder who may become a Tech Garden resident and is based in Central NY or a neighboring region. AI Learners, Cornell University, was selected for the prize. The company makes learning math accessible and engaging for students with cognitive, physical, and behavioral disabilities through personalized computer games and analytics. It helps students succeed academically and ensures their parents and educators can understand their abilities and progress.
The Genius NY Prize – which is presented to a founder leveraging drones, autonomous systems, robotics and/or big data in their business model – went to Small Farm Automation from SUNY Polytechnic Institute. To help small farmers maximize their limited time, effort, and resources, the company provides automation solutions to clients allowing them to survey their operations to gather data and detect issues before they evolve into large problems.
The Concept Stage Award – which is awarded to an undergraduate competitor with a very strong concept, to encourage continued advancement for the venture – went to Safe Sips from SUNY at New Paltz, a manufacturer of a biodegradable disposable cup that detects when hot beverages are safe to consume.
Venture NY Connects the Statewide Innovation Ecosystem
At Venture NY, which featured the NYBPC Grand Prize Finals, over 150 people gathered to connect with startups and investors, explore topics related to entrepreneurship's future, and find practical knowledge and insights. Among the day’s highlights:
Meg O’Connell and Eric Allyn from the Allyn Family Foundation hosted a conversation moderated by Somak Chattopadhyay, founder and managing director of Armory Square Ventures.
Sydney Bagrou from Grasshopper Bank moderated a panel on Sources of Capital for Startups with Marcia Mitchell from NY Ventures, Adie Akuffo-Afful of Wefunder, Amora Miller of Republic, and Olivia Goldstein of Startfast Ventures. The conversation largely focused on venture capital and equity crowdfunding.
Entrepreneurs who are building high-growth companies across New York provided 15 quick company pitches to investors in the audience.
Upstate Capital members and invited guests took a walk across town guided by the “grandfather of Syracuse innovation,” John Liddy, as well as some of the region's most prominent supporters of entrepreneurs, including Meg O’Connell and Eric Allyn from the Allyn Family Foundation. Stops on the tour also featured TCG Player, the Technology Garden, and Density.
Venture NY culminated with a keynote conversation featuring Elizabeth MacBride and Seth Levine, who discussed their book, “The New Builders,” which dispels common myths about entrepreneurship in America today and helps lay the groundwork for building systems for more diverse and inclusive entrepreneurship in the future. From Boulder, Colorado, Seth Levine is a partner at Foundry Group, a firm he co-founded in 2006, which as of the end of 2020, had almost $3 billion in assets under management. As a passionate advocate for entrepreneurship, Seth also spends time as an advisor to venture funds and companies worldwide. Elizabeth MacBride, of Washington, D.C., is a freelance writer and editor who frequently writes about personal finance, investing, entrepreneurship, and the economy. Her work has appeared in CNBC, BBC, Crain’s New York, HBR.com, Newsweek, and many others.
About Upstate Capital: The Upstate Capital Association of New York connects investors across the capital stack to opportunities across New York. The member-driven organization increases access to capital for companies and deal flow for investors by maintaining a robust, statewide network of capital providers, professional advisors and supporting organizations. Through regular events and educational content, Upstate Capital facilitates the development of relationships and knowledge to support the PE + M&A community and the VC + Growth ecosystem.
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