Purdue student startups win money at International Business Model Competition
FlykeART, a Purdue University-affiliated student startup developing a lighter and smarter galley cart for airplanes, has won $5,000 for placing in the top 10 in the International Business Model Competition held at Brigham Young University. Federico Brandt, a junior computer engineering major in Purdue ECE, is a member of the FlykeART team.
FlykeART received honorable mention, meaning the team finished in a group ranked in the top 10 in the competition, which drew 40 teams to Provo, Utah, earlier this month.
“We are very happy to see that our company is recognized by many different participants, including the judges, and that they believe that we can be very successful,” said Yuhan Roh, one of the founders of FlykeART and a graduate assistant in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
FlykeART is developing an aircraft galley cart that will help airlines save millions of dollars on operations costs because it is lighter and has an optimized food serving system that operates through data-driven interactions. It also is designed to minimize the risk of accidents on flights when there is turbulence while passengers are being served.
Global Sign, another Purdue-affiliated student startup, which created a platform to make content more accessible to people who are deaf or have limited hearing through use of American Sign Language, won $3,000 for being selected as a semifinalist.
More than 8,000 student startups took part in the competition, which started with competitions at universities around the world. Teams from Myanmar, Jamaica, Malaysia, the West Indies, India and Japan took part in the competition at BYU. FlykeART was selected by the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship to represent Purdue and Global Sign earned an at-large berth.
“It was great to see two teams from Purdue finish in the top 20 against such prestigious competition,” said Arnold Chen, managing director of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship. “The only other American university to do that was host BYU. It’s a clear indication of the vibrant student startup ecosystem we have here at Purdue.”
The trips by the two Purdue teams were sponsored by the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.
Global Sign previously took first place in the Burton D. Morgan Center’s Business Model Competition in the Social Entrepreneurship track in February, as well as winning the Schurz Innovation Challenge in March. FlykeART won the The Anvil’s Boiler Demo Day competition, took second in the Schurz Innovation Challenge and third in the Business Model Competition business-to-business track.
“We are absolutely grateful for all the support and trust we got from the Burton D. Morgan Center, the Purdue Foundry, and all associated organizations,” Roh said. “It was a really humbling moment for us to be able to represent Purdue and do well.”
Teams pitched their business ideas to various panels of judges at each stage of the competition. The final round of the competition was judged by the keynote speakers, who also got the chance to address the teams and offer advice.
In addition to Roh and Brandt, the FlykeART members are Juan Pablo Mascaretti, a senior in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Ignacio Lay, a junior in supply chain management in the Polytechnic Institute; and Mason Pellegrini, a doctoral student in rhetoric and composition in the Department of English in the College of Liberal Arts.
FlykeART is looking for potential partners, venture capitalists, and investors who are interested in collaborating with FlykeART. Those interested are invited to contact Roh at rohy@purdue.edu.
Source: Two Purdue student startups win $8,000 at international business competition