Texas A&M New Ventures Competition goes virtual: 16 semifinalists announced for May competition

The Texas A&M New Ventures Competition (TNVC) is hosting its annual competition completely online this year to protect competitors, judges and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sixteen semifinalists and eight alternates for the 2020 competition will compete May 14 for hundreds of thousands in startup funds during online rounds of pitch competitions and judging.

“These are unprecedented times for the nation, and it’s important for us to not only focus on the health and safety of our participants and judges, but also to support the economic health of Texas during this time,” said Chris Scotti, entrepreneur-in-residence for the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station and chair of the competition. “These startups are not only providing the opportunity to support the local and state economies, but their ideas have the potential to improve the health and well-being of our citizens and the environment.

“It was important to us, and to them, to hold this year’s event. Since most of the pre-event judging takes place virtually anyway, it was a logical progression to host all of it online,” Scotti said.

Aimed at promoting the commercialization of emerging technology to the marketplace, TNVC recognizes engineering- and science-based technology companies with high-growth potential and provides seed funding to help them take their ideas to market.  

This year’s competitors come from a wide spectrum of fields including health care, IT/software, digital health, transportation and clean energy technology. These semifinalists have undergone a rigorous screening, due diligence and a coaching process that identified them as top prospects from a pool of 87 applicants. The awards will allow the deep technology startups that receive them to create economic impact and job growth. 

See the complete list of semifinalists and alternates, as well as their home cities, at the TNVC website.