2021 HBCU New Venture Challenge
Business Plan Competition

December 2021 Newsletter

The inaugural HBCU New Venture Challenge (NVC) was a resounding success!

HBCU NVC was created by BearWay Capital to fulfill the vision of nurturing student entrepreneurship within the HBCU community. This is a key component to achieving BearWay Capital’s mission: to invest in at least 50 underrepresented entrepreneurs and businesses within the next five years. As graduates of Morgan State University (Go Bears!), we are very aware of the extraordinary talent within this community that often gets overlooked. The HBCU NVC seeks to spotlight such talent.

A big thank you to all those who supported us in the execution of this year's HBCU NVC!

Read more below to get details on the 2021 HBCU NVC and subscribe to get the latest news and updates on our future plans.

Included in this Newsletter:

The HBCU New Venture Challenge: The Journey
Thank You Mentors and Judges
What's Next for the Winner and Our Other Finalists?
HBCU New Venture Challenge: Looking to the Future

The 2021 HBCU New Venture Challenge: The Journey

How the 2021 HBCU NVC unfolded… a timeline of key milestones:

Thank You Mentors and Judges!

Thank you to all the mentors and judges who offered their support. We appreciate your time
and effort in making the maiden edition of the HBCU New Venture Challenge a success. 

Mentors

Judges

What's Next For The Winner and Our Other Finalists?

Congratulations to the winner!
Inglish Hills of Save Cycle

Save Cycle seeks to make recycling more convenient by deploying automated pick-up services and deposit boxes for recyclables. In addition to providing seed capital of up to $25K, BearWay Capital will work with Save Cycle through its early stages as the business hypothesis is tested in the target market, and a first iteration of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is built out. Ultimately, this will position Save Cycle to join an established accelerator.

Congratulations to the runners up!
Camille Hohl & Miniya Williams of Vivuli and Ebony Jenkins of Rear & Release

Vivuli plans to build a digital hub of high quality and niche BIPOC-owned goods. Rear & Release is an early-stage laboratory focused on natural pest control solutions for farmers. BearWay Capital will also be making seed investments in both Vivuli and Rear & Release, and also plans to work with them through the early stages of opportunity hypothesis testing and MVP build out.

HBCU New Venture Challenge: Looking to the Future

Building on the success of this year’s HBCU NVC, we will double the number of participating colleges and universities from 21 to 40 in 2022. Our effort to grow this HBCU ecosystem involves the intentional engagement with students and faculty across campuses. We will leverage the inaugural class of the HBCU NVC student entrepreneurs as ambassadors on their respective campuses. Additionally, we will expand our pipeline of diverse mentors.

Finally, to balance this ecosystem, we will engage with vision aligned investors, to establish a structured funding channel for talented student entrepreneurs birthed by the HBCU NVC.

2021 HBCU New Venture Challenge
Business Plan Competition

December 2021 Newsletter

The inaugural HBCU New Venture Challenge (NVC) was a resounding success!

HBCU NVC was created by BearWay Capital to fulfill the vision of nurturing student entrepreneurship within the HBCU community. This is a key component to achieving BearWay Capital’s mission: to invest in at least 50 underrepresented entrepreneurs and businesses within the next five years. As graduates of Morgan State University (Go Bears!), we are very aware of the extraordinary talent within this community that often gets overlooked. The HBCU NVC seeks to spotlight such talent.

A big thank you to all those who supported us in the execution of this year's HBCU NVC!

Read more below to get details on the 2021 HBCU NVC and subscribe to get the latest news and updates on our future plans.

Included in this Newsletter:

The HBCU New Venture Challenge: The Journey
Thank You Mentors and Judges
What's Next for the Winner and Our Other Finalists?
HBCU New Venture Challenge: Looking to the Future

The 2021 HBCU New Venture Challenge: The Journey

How the 2021 HBCU NVC unfolded… a timeline of key milestones:

Thank You Mentors and Judges!

Thank you to all the mentors and judges who offered their support. We appreciate your time
and effort in making the maiden edition of the HBCU New Venture Challenge a success. 

Mentors

Judges

What's Next For The Winner and Our Other Finalists?

Congratulations to the winner!
Inglish Hills of Save Cycle

Save Cycle seeks to make recycling more convenient by deploying automated pick-up services and deposit boxes for recyclables. In addition to providing seed capital of up to $25K, BearWay Capital will work with Save Cycle through its early stages as the business hypothesis is tested in the target market, and a first iteration or Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is built out. Ultimately, this will position Save Cycle to join an established accelerator.

Congratulations to the runners up!
Camille Hohl & Miniya Williams of Vivuli and Ebony Jenkins of Rear & Release

Vivuli plans to build a digital hub of high quality and niche BIPOC-owned goods. Rear & Release is an early-stage laboratory focused on natural pest control solutions for farmers. BearWay Capital will also be making seed investments in both Vivuli and Rear & Release, and also plans to work with them through the early stages of opportunity hypothesis testing and product build out.

HBCU New Venture Challenge: Looking to the Future

Building on the success of this year’s HBCU NVC, we will double the number of participating colleges and universities from 21 to 40 in 2022. Our effort to grow this HBCU ecosystem involves the intentional engagement with students and faculty across campuses. We will leverage the inaugural class of the HBCU NVC student entrepreneurs as ambassadors on their respective campuses. Additionally, we will expand our pipeline of diverse mentors.

Finally, to balance this ecosystem, we will engage with vision aligned investors, to establish a structured funding channel for talented student entrepreneurs birthed by the HBCU NVC.

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