Hen Hatch

UD's Premier Startup Funding Competition

Entrepreneurial students make connections, collect feedback on ideas and compete for startup cash and prizes totaling $50,000. 

View full competition details

2024 Schedule

August 1, 2024

Hen Hatch registration opens

Oct. 4, 2024

Registration and submission deadline

Oct. 25, 2024

Semifinal round presentations

Dec. 5, 2024

Final round presentations

 

Eligibility

All University of Delaware undergraduate and graduate students who are in good standing and enrolled at least half time are eligible to apply. Doctoral students on sustaining status are also eligible. 

Any team with at least one current UD student may enter the competition. Only team members with a UD affiliation will be allowed to present during the semifinal and final rounds of the competition; other team members may participate in Q&A.

Only concepts that have generated less than $250,000 in total revenue by the preliminary round submission deadline will be considered.  

Process

Preliminary Round

Participants submit a 3-5 page written business concept for evaluation by seasoned entrepreneurs, investors and business consultants.

Semifinal Round

The 10 most promising business concepts present a 7-minute pitch and answer questions from a panel of judges comprised of entrepreneurs and investors.

Final Round

The 4 most promising business concepts present a 7-minute pitch and answer questions from entrepreneurs and investors in front of a live audience.

Registration Notes

Allow up to 30 minutes to complete the registration process. Include the following information:

  • You will need names, email addresses and phone numbers for all team members.
  • Student participants will need the following information for all team members: Student ID#, major(s), minor(s), expected graduation month & year.
  • You will be required to submit a file containing your written concept; you will have an option to submit a logo.

Finalists

  • Funky Rat: Amanda Membrado, BE'25, and Hunter Wills, BE'25
  • Heard Chef: Evyn Appel, CANR'25; Tommy Kramer, CANR'24; and Mikey Bocelli, CE'24
  • Maker Wear: Jenna Tomasch, CAS'25
  • Steampathy: Kevin Foerster, CE'25, and Claudia McCormick, CE'24
  • Legacy Loom, led by Ian Drogowitz, BE'23
  • Miss Boulevard, led by Samantha McGhee, BE'25, CAS'25
  • BonaFyde, led by Nicholai Williamson, BE'25
  • OBEnaturelle, led by Lauren Roberts, BE'26

Pre-Revenue Track

  • Little Bob Technologies, led by Garrison Davis, '18, G'22
  • Agreen Tech, led by Yuefei (Mike) Tao, G'23, and Sarah Megivern, G'24
  • Dear Volunteer, led by Isabella Duarte, BE '24

Post-Revenue Track

  • Stem So(ul)cial, led by N'Dea Irvin-Choy, G'23, and Camille Smith
  • CompSciLib, led by John Ye, BE  '24, and David Bichara, EG '23
  • SkipRope, led by Alexander Pugliese, BE '22

Pre-Revenue Track

  • Share Wallet, led by Jason Bangser, BE '22
  • Supremely Sweet, led by Santha Rani, AS '22 & Esha Shah, AS '23
  • Navigating Access, led by Amanda Zicherman, BE '23

Post-Revenue Track

  • Pick-Up Sports, led by Michael Meola, BE '23
  • Up Cycle Design, led by Sierra RyanWallick, BE  '23
  • Stemmer, led by Samuel Goetz, EG '21

Pre-Revenue Track

  • Blue Tusk Technology, led by John-Carlos Saponara
  • CyberSecLabs, led by Casey Rock, Jason Reynolds and Dylan Martin
  • Nuvensus, led by Mason Faust, Henry du Pont and Markos Zerefos

Post-Revenue Track

  • Alchemize Fightwear, led by Maya Nazareth
  • Backyard Gig, led by Suryanuj Gupta and Shahroze Ali
  • GetPotluck, led by Abu Kamara and Hope Vega

Student Track

  • 360 VR Technology, led by James Massaquoi and Sury Gupta
  • The SEWcial Cafe, led by ChaCha Hudson
  • SolveABET LLC, led by Jonathan Wood

Alumni, Faculty and Staff Track

  • CATX Inc. led by Bruce Bowman and Gilberto Schleininger
  • RiKarbon, led by Basudeb Saha and Sarah Wenyon
  • Patient Sortal, led by Kenny Eck

Student Track

  • D150 Fueling, led by Bailey O'Brien, Samuel Bacharach and Amedeo DeLuca
  • IntraText, led by Jamie Levy, Kerry Schwartz, Kristen Brokaw and Gina Gesualdi
  • Lyapunov Technologies, led by Anthony Rossi and Duanyi Wei
  • Wilminvest, led by Joel Amin and Bryce Fender

Alumni, Faculty and Staff Track

  • OPS, LLC led by Lee Beauchamp, Matthew Beard, Tai Nguyen and Timothy Gantzhorn
  • Smartbooks, led by Courtney Hewitt, Rossiny Beaucejour, Garry Johnson and Taji Hardwick
  • Veramorph LLC, led by Paul Godfrin

Student Track

  • Geoswap, led by Jason Bamford, Keith Doggett and Jordan Gonzalez
  • Revive, led by Avalon Greene, Palina Ivanova, Emma Lynch and Rachel Weinberger
  • Influencia, led by Danilo Vicioso

Alumni, Faculty and Staff Track

  • Vibrating Therapeutic Apparel (now TheraV), led by Amira Idris
  • Strados Labs, led by Nick Delmonico
  • TenantU, led by Jacob Jeifa, Wilson Hu, Krzysztof Czerwinski and Alex Carr

Student Track

  • JADE Biotech, led by  Elizabeth Soulas, Daniel Charytonowicz, John Lowman and Allison Lisberg
  • Curing Cube, led by Farhad Baqi, Seyar Baqi and Edward Bayley
  • Joost Wafel Co., led by Joost Elling

Alumni, Faculty and Staff Track

  • Strataca Systems LLC, led John Erbey
  • NERDit NOW, led by Jonathan Hoxter
  • Flip, led by Chris Lin

Student Track

  • The Practice Set, led by Keith Doggett and Jordan Gonzalez
  • ProjectedU, led by Benjamin Rapkin and Austin Crouse
  • GoHappy, led by Elpiniki Apostolaki-Iosifidou

Alumni, Faculty and Staff Track

  • SimUCare (now Avkin), led by nursing faculty member Amy Cowperthwait and researcher Amy Bucha
  • Art Preservation Index, led by alumna Emily MacDonald-Korth
  • GoShare, led by alumnus Shaun Savage

Student Track

  • ShopTutors, (since pivoted to LendEdu) led by Nathaniel Matherson and Matt Lenhard
  • Udwell, led by Yael Bloom and Tali Cohen
  • Board to Death, led by Chris Melillo and Krista Adams

Alumni, Faculty and Staff Track

  • PenguinAds, (now Carvertise) led by Mac Nagaswami
  • Jaggery, led by Asmita and Anand Atre
  • Grasshopper Talent App, led by Liz Brenner, Nicole McCabe and Deb Stambaugh