Three University of Central Florida seniors won the school's 2023 Joust New Venture Competition with a hard seltzer company.
VIP Hard Seltzer got $12,000 in a competition hosted by the UCF College of Business’ Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership on April 13 at the Celeste Hotel.
The product — created by Connor Huseman, Nicholas Martins and Mazen Youness — features a 7% alcohol content and includes collagen protein as part of its efforts to appeal to a health-conscious audience.
Why this matters: Venture funding can help companies grow as they look to scale up the production of a new product or provide a new service.
“We had nearly 50 applications at the start of this process and are incredibly proud of VIP Hard Seltzer and our other finalists for all the hard work they put into their startups and presentations for each step of the Joust,” Cameron Ford, director of the UCF Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, said in a prepared statement. “All four finalists were highly regarded amongst our judges and the competition was incredibly close."
The competition has a similar structure to the NBC show "Shark Tank," with the four teams selected out of a pool of 16 semifinalists to participate pitching to a panel of five judges.
The judges included retired Deloitte Vice Chairman Jessica Blume, retired Boeing President Laurette Koellner, Voloridge Investment Management Chief Marketing Officer Sean Hayes, Voloridge Investment Management President Barry Miller and Addition Financial CEO and President Kevin Miller.
Companies were judged on four equally weighted categories, including financial model, social and economic impact, execution plan and proposed product.
Three other students and their companies also won as part of the competition:
- Tyler Worrall's PostFlight: This company won $7,000 in second place for its mobile app, which would allow pilots to share flight times and reduce both their carbon footprints and training costs.
- Justin Press' Hire Match: The third place company won $4,000 for its idea, which helps companies prevent under-qualified job applicants from making it through hiring systems by tracking applicants.
- Arash Raftari's Certusa AI: The fourth place company won $2,000 for its AI technology, which can evaluate the risk and value of life insurance policies from both policyholder and provider information.
Editor's note: Orlando Business Journal was an in-kind sponsor for the event, along with Seacoast Bank, The Orlando Law Group PL and Think Integrated.
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