Student Business Pitch for Investment

Posted on: 10 September 2015

Student business pitched for investment at the finale of Trinity College Dublin's LaunchBox programme in Trinity’s Science Gallery on Wednesday, September 9th, 2015.

The event was the culmination of Trinity’s three-month student startup accelerator programme which saw 11 teams of Trinity students take up residence in the iconic Regent House above Trinity’s Front Arch over the Summer months to develop their early-stage business ventures into investor-ready business.

As part of the programme all teams were given the space and facilities needed to test out and launch their new ventures. The programme, which included mentorship from successful entrepreneurs, focused on product validation, product development and future strategy. Eight teams received funding in addition to office space and the mentorship programme. Three more boot-strapped teams received programme support without the funding.

Now in its third year, Launchbox has progressed from a three-month accelerator to a 12-month programme. The expanded programme includes an ‘idea workshop’ series and a pre-accelerator element to help potential applicant teams develop from early idea stage to prototype stage. LaunchBox is supported by Trinity College Dublin, Trinity angels and Citi Group, the 2015 programme sponsor.

At this evening’s event the startups pitched their businesses to private and professional investors and to the business community in the hope of securing investment to take their startups to the next stage of development. On the night a panel of judges the award for the best pitch went to Unituition and the second prize went to Sitespy.  

Speaking at the event, Dr Patrick Prendergast, Provost of Trinity, said: “Now in its third year, Trinity’s LaunchBox has been extended to a 12 month programme with additional supports to help Trinity students develop early business ideas into viable ventures. Our strategy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is about creating a new generation of entrepreneurially minded graduates.  We believe that by acting as a focal point for innovation and education in Dublin city centre, Trinity can help support the growth of entrepreneurship across the economy. Our accelerator programme LaunchBox fosters that culture of entrepreneurship by creating an environment for students to tap into the enterprise ecosystem and use their creativity to turn ideas into jobs.”

The Teams:

• SiteSpy is a hardware device to help telco companies report live data information to engineers.
• Blazer is a new system to remove the dangerous varroa parasite from honey bees.
• Aerocion is developing a payment system for on-board aircraft retail purchasing.
• Stageville is a crowdfunding platform to help up and coming musicians raise funds from fans.
• Composure is developing software to automatically transform audio from a guitar into tablature.
• Unituition an online market place for third level students and tutors.
• Visual Learners Studios is a platform for teaching pharmacology and medicine using visual mnemonics (visual word association).
• Sooskan is developing an app for shoppers and tourists to receive specific hyper local marketing offers.
• Bachelor’s Box is a subscription product for men to receive monthly essentials.
• Trinity Global Gateway is an online platform to link students with overseas NGO placements.
• Sensa FX is a health tool to help people form healthier habits using scent associations.