WCB Robotics Team from BITS Pilani Hyderabad Shines in Rice Business Plan Competition
12 April 2018
WCB Robotics from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani – Hyderabad Campus won the $5,000 People’s Choice Competition sponsored by SoFi in Rice Business Plan Competition. The winner was determined by more than 8,000 people who voted for their favorite team via a Facebook survey.
WCB Robotics, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Hyderabad Campus got seventh place and more than $450,000 in individual prizes, including a $300,000 prize awarded by the GOOSE Society of Texas and $150,000 TiE Houston Angel Group Investment Prize at the banquet.WCB Robotics is developing window cleaning robots for cleaning the façade of high-rise skyscrapers. More than 140 corporate and private sponsors support the business plan competition.
According to Brad Burke, Managing Director of the Rice Alliance, this year the competition was among the most diverse in the history of the competition and came from top universities around the globe. The teams were chosen from more than 300 entrants to compete in four categories: Life Sciences, Information Technology/Web/Mobile,Energy/Clean Technology/Sustainability and Tech Innovation. Each team made its case in 15-minute investment pitches and a rapid-fire 60-second elevator-pitch contest on the first night of the competition.
Selected by 300 judges from the investment sector as representing the best investment opportunity and taking home nearly $500,000 in cash and prizes. The prizes were presented at a banquet at the Westin Galleria that concluded the three-day event, which began on April 5, 2018. At the banquet, an additional $565,000 in prizes was awarded, bringing the total amount awarded to more than $2 million.
The Rice Business Plan Competition is the world’s richest and largest graduate-level student startup competition. It is hosted and organized by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, which is Rice University's internationally-recognized initiative devoted to the support of entrepreneurship, and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business. This is the 17th year for the competition and over a period of time, it 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 $1.5 million in cash and prizes.The goal of Rice Business Plan Competition is to provide the best overall educational and entrepreneurial experience of any business plan/new venture competition.