The Study Melbourne Future Founders Pitch Competition was held as part of the annual Future Founders Festival presented by Study Melbourne and StartSpace on 22 November.
Open to current and former international students (up to 5 years post-graduation) working on an idea for a new business or venture, the pool of applicants was shortlisted to five international student startups.
The shortlisted startups had three minutes to pitch their businesses, followed by rapid-fire questions and answers from the judging panel.
The winners of the 2024 Pitch Competition are:
- 1st place: Rally (Fey Shue & Varshith Meesala) – connecting people with their next sports competitor or partner.
- 2nd place: Huddled (Davin Karunanayake & Archer Simmonds) – improving communication between students and education providers.
- 3rd place: AUS BIOS LABS (Peter Francis Mathew Elango & Ying Zhi Cheong) – enabling portable breast screening in the comfort of a woman’s home.
They will each receive prize money to kickstart their business idea. The first-place winner will also receive a StartSpace Loft membership.
For the first time, the audience was also able to vote live for their favourite and the Audience Choice Award went to Rally. Rally will also receive mentorship from Usman Iftikhar from Catalysr – Accelerator for Migrants & Refugees.
Image courtesy of Study Melbourne.
