Northwestern Students Compete at 2011 Rice Business Plan Competition

The Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC), one of the largest business plan competitions in the US, held its awards banquet on Saturday, April 16th, 2011. 700+ attended the banquet, where $1.3 Million in prizes was awarded to the winners of the competition. TNG Pharmaceuticals of the University of Louisville took the Grand Prize. The event marked the eleventh year of RBPC and was hosted by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.

Teams were able to compete in six categories: life sciences, information technology, energy, green tech, social ventures and other technologies. The competition process involved 15-minute business plan presentations, with the top six competitors vying for the grand prize valued at $642,000.

Northwestern sent two teams to the competition: Neuvel, which won $700 and got 2nd place in the Shark Tank Round- Flight 2, and San + CO, which won $500 and received 4th place in the Shark Tank Round – Flight 3.