性视界

Winners of 2023 Raymond von Dran iPrize and Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award Announced

Winners of the School of Information Studies鈥 (iSchool) Raymond von Dran (RvD) Fund for Student Entrepreneurship competition, the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award and the Compete CNY regional qualifier for the New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC) were announced at the student entrepreneurship competition held on March 24聽 at Bird Library.

three people holding giant check
Scott Warren, of 性视界 University Libraries (left), and Bruce Kingma, of the School of Information Studies (right), present a check to Ben Ford 鈥23, founder of Fundwurx.

The concurrent competitions were coordinated by the Blackstone LaunchPad at 性视界 University Libraries (LaunchPad).

The following nine student startup teams each won $2,000 in RvD funding:

  • Ben Ford 鈥23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Fundwurx
  • Adya Parida 鈥25 and Oliver Raycroft 鈥25 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), co-founders of Scale Sense
  • Motolani Oladitan 鈥24 (College of Arts and Sciences), founder of Ta
  • Jeremy Shinder 鈥24 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), founder of Jere Bear Films, LLC
  • Travis Ghirdharie G鈥22 (Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs), founder of Many Hands
  • Sai Krishna Bolla G鈥23 (School of Information Studies), founder of Cognition X
  • Aidan Mickleburgh 鈥23, G鈥23 (College of Engineering and Computer Science and Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Intervea
  • Kai Patricio G鈥23 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), founder of Farm Loop
  • Rob Goldblatt 鈥23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), Paul Sausville and Nicole Byrnes (SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry), co-founders of Tree-Spun

The 2023 Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award was given to four students who best exemplify 鈥淭he Spirit of Entrepreneurship.鈥 Prizes honor the memory of Hunter Brooks Watson, a University student who died tragically in a distracted driving accident. Winners of $2,500 each are the following:

  • Rabia Razzaq G鈥23 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), Kai Patricio G鈥23 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), Priscilla Cruz 鈥24 (School of Information Studies) and Peyton Sefick, members of Re-mend team
  • Motolani Oladitan 鈥24 (College of Arts and Sciences), founder of Ta
  • Jeremy Shinder 鈥24 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), founder of Jere Bear Films, LLC
  • Ethan Tyo 鈥17, G鈥22 (David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics), AlterNative Project and cookbook author