A Davidson College senior looking for ways to connect long distance with her mother fighting cancer won $25,000 to fund her business idea at the Nisbet Venture Fund pitch competition.
Carson Crochet, a German and Arab Studies double major and member of the Honor Council, will use the winnings to grow CA’Buddy, which provides cancer patients with care packages and plush treatment buddies.
The event, held live on campus on April 21, is the signature event of the Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Davidson College. The Nisbet Venture Fund is an annual pitch competition that gives Davidson students and recent alumni the opportunity to compete for up to $25,000 for their innovative, for-profit ventures. The competition was established in 2014 with support from Marian Nisbet and her son, Chip. It provides finalists with six weeks of coaching and mentorship from seasoned entrepreneurs and business professionals before pitching to a panel of investors and entrepreneurs.
Students also competed for $2,500 in the incubation track competition, which funds very early-stage ideas, and for $5,000 as the audience favorite.
Crochet was a junior at Davidson when her mother was diagnosed with brain cancer. To stay connected, Crochet sent her mom a stuffed bunny rabbit and told her it was her cancer buddy to be there when Crochet could not be.
“I would call and say, ‘How is little bunny doing?’ and she would say, ‘Little bunny just got back from radiation,’” Crochet said during her pitch. “You see, this little plush created a safe space to talk about something that is otherwise very scary.”
Crochet’s business idea evolved beyond the bunny to include a plush naked mole rat, an animal that scientists have discovered is resistant to cancer. Crochet is working with overseas manufacturers to produce the plush animal.
CA’Buddy aims to support the more than 1.7 million people in the U.S. who are diagnosed with cancer every year. A CA’Buddy Care Package can be sent for $35, including the plush mole rat, a journal and a personal letter. A portion of the proceeds will go to cancer research. Crochet also hopes to produce a children’s book on cancer through the perspective of the mole rat and build a social-media community for those battling cancer.
Other competitors in the acceleration track competition were:
- Portfolio Kings, a crypto-consulting services company guiding customers through the new and continually changing world of cryptocurrencies and digital assets
- YMLX by Yami, an online clothing brand offering more than 100 in-stock clothing items to women to build their confidence
Business entrepreneurs also competed in the incubation track, pitching their very early-stage idea for a new business.
Davidson NFTickets was the winner in the incubation track, winning $2,500. Davidson NFTickets is a decentralized system to sell and purchase college sports tickets as NFTs with a resell royalty going back to the college. The business was conceived by Olsen Budanur, a Davidson junior, and Dan Oukolov, Niya Ma and Andrew Beamer, all from the Davidson class of 2024.
“Our plan is to eliminate high service fees from third parties with NFTs, where Davidson can collect royalties on the resale, where before the third party would take all of the profit,” Oukolov said.
Other business ideas in the incubation competition were:
- My Access Abroad, a platform that aims to help international students navigate the intricacies of work visas
- Black Is Womxn, an organization that seeks to create a diverse community participating in NFTs
- GZM, an organization providing digital-media marketing services to small businesses to engage with Gen Z
The winner of the audience choice award was Rise Together, a job-search application aimed at connecting youth with employment in Greece, which has the highest unemployment rate among youth in Europe. Christos Koumpotis and Tasos Pagounas, both Davidson juniors, came up with the idea.
“Our passion to spark change in the suffering Greek economy fuels our desire to innovate and provide the opportunity our peers lack,” Koumpotis said.
Judging the competition were Anjali Shah, head of innovation strategy for Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC); Kristi Mitchem, CEO of BMO Global Asset Management and member of Davidson’s Board of Trustees; W. Spencer Mitchem, a Davidson alum and corporate lawyer in Florida for 40 years; and Jay Hurt, a graduate of Davidson College and former president and CEO of The Hurt Co. Inc., one of the nation’s largest privately held oil marketing and distribution companies.
