42 graduate student-led startups to compete for more than $1 million in prizes
The 2025 Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC) announced today the 42 startups invited to compete for more than $1 million in prizes April 10-12 at Rice University and the Ion in Houston.
The RBPC, presented by Rice Business and hosted by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, brings together the best student ventures from top universities across the world to compete for prizes in front of more than 300 angel, venture capital and corporate investors and members of the business community.
In its most competitive year yet, the event’s judges, made up of venture capitalists, corporate leaders and entrepreneurs, selected 42 of the most investable startups among the applicants to compete in Houston. These ventures represent the very best in graduate student entrepreneurship from universities across the country and world — they are building cutting-edge solutions in energy, cleantech and sustainability; life sciences and health care; hard tech; digital; and consumer products. This year’s invited startups represent 34 universities from four countries.
The student entrepreneurs gain real-world experience to pitch their startups, enhance their business strategy and learn what it takes to launch a successful company. With a goal of not only competing for cash but also understanding what it takes to secure investment, raise awareness and launch a successful venture, these graduate students will pitch their companies through three rounds and three days of competition in hopes of taking home the grand prize.
The 42 ventures for RBPC 2025:
3rd-I, University of Miami AG3 Labs, Michigan State University Arcticedge Technologies, University of Waterloo Ark Health, University of Chicago Automatic AI, University of Mississippi Bobica Bars, Rowan University Carbon Salary, Washington University in St. Louis Carmine Minerals, California State University, San Bernardino Celal-Mex, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education CELLECT Laboratories, University of Waterloo ECHO Solutions, University of Houston EDUrain, University of Missouri-St. Louis Eutrobac, University of California, Santa Cruz FarmSmart.ai, Louisiana State University Fetal Therapy Technologies, Johns Hopkins University GreenLIB Materials, University of Ottawa Humimic Biosystems, University of Arkansas HydroHaul, Harvard University Intero Biosystems, University of Michigan Interplay, University of Missouri-Kansas City MabLab, Harvard University | Microvitality, Tufts University Mito Robotics, Carnegie Mellon University Motmot, Michigan State University Mud Rat, University of Connecticut Nanoborne, University of Texas at Austin NerView Surgical, McMaster University NeuroFore, Washington University in St. Louis Novus, Stanford University OAQ, University of Toronto Parthian Battery Solutions, Columbia University Pattern Materials, Rice University Photon Queue, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign re.solution, RWTH Aachen University Rise Media, Yale University Rivulet , Dartmouth College Sabana, Carnegie Mellon University SearchOwl, Case Western Reserve University Six Carbons, Indiana University Songscription, Stanford University Watermarked.ai, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Xatoms, University of Toronoto |
The 2025 competition marks the 25th year for RBPC. Since its inception, the competition has grown from nine teams competing for $10,000 in prize money in 2001 to 42 teams from around the world competing for more than $1 million in cash, investment and in-kind prizes. Over the event’s two decades, 868 teams have raised more than $6.1 billion in capital with 59 successful exits.
For more information about this year’s RBPC, visit rbpc.rice.edu.
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