Alumni New Venture Challenge (ANVC)

Overview

The Alumni New Venture Challenge (ANVC) is the track of the Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge supporting all University of Chicago alumni who are in the process of launching early-stage ventures.

Currently, the Polsky Center is running the ANVC in six regions: Midwest (Chicago), East Coast (NYC), West Coast (Bay Area), Europe (London), Asia-Pacific (Hong Kong), and Latin America (São Paulo). The Phase II teams and descriptions can be found here. Top finalist teams from each region will compete for $100,000 in investment on Thursday, May 6, 2021. Tune in live to watch the team compete. Throughout the day, the ANVC finalists will present to a panel of judges comprising of top investors, entrepreneurs, and others. Winners will be announced the following morning, May 7, via email. Be sure to subscribe to the Polsky Weekly 10 for updates.

2020 Winner

Congratulations to Speeko, winner of the 2020 Alumni New Venture Challenge! Founded by Scott Newman, MBA ’20, Nico Aguilar, Arjun Patel, BA ’20, and Will Field-Thompson, BS ’18, Speeko is a B2C technology company helping the 70% of people who struggle with public speaking. Its app provides AI-driven speech coaching by analyzing recorded speech, highlighting areas for improvement, and providing fun, interactive exercises. The company received $50,000 from the Polsky Center and an additional $25,000 from the judges.