Student startup talent was celebrated at the University’s third annual Southampton Dragon’s Den competition,聽where聽a smart academic search platform and a Japanese learning app secured 拢50,000 of investment.
Six startup schemes pitched in front of a live audience at The Cube in Union Southampton on Saturday 13 May. The event, run by the University鈥檚 and the聽听补苍诲听聽student societies, offered a snapshot of a mounting entrepreneurial culture, with record numbers of attendees hoping to follow the fortunes of the promising student businesses.
Computer Science, Geography and Acoustical Engineering students Maciej Szpakowski, Przemek Zientala and Mauro Cozzi Gasparotti led with a confident pitch for , an online academic search tool, and were offered 拢30,000 of investment from Apple Europe Director聽 and confetti.co.uk co-founder聽.
Web scientist Travis Ralph-Donaldson also secured 拢20,000 of investment for , a language learning app that uses intelligent stroke recognition and scoring algorithms to teach the Japanese writing system.
Other entrants included Computer Science student Varun Gupta with his 鈥楢ll in鈥� information-sharing app, PhD students Daniel Martinho-Corbishley and Jamie Lomeli with their聽startup, Mechanical Engineering student Landon Vago-Hughes聽with events app Igglu and International Relations student Andreas Ostrovsky-Pereira聽with social enterprise .
All applicants into the Dragons鈥� Den process were supported by expert advice and mentoring support from the Future Worlds network. Student entrepreneurs can find startup inspiration and support through innovations, articles and campus events published weekly at .
For more information about wider student enterprise opportunities at the University, visit the dedicated entrepreneurship section of the .
You can聽watch the two winning pitches below:
