Kaplan Pitch Tank (Spring ’23)

Kaplan Pitch Tank is the Startup Studio’s year-end event in which the top student-led startups at Illinois Tech will compete for a prize pool of over $50,000!

Here's what you can expect:

Audience Choice Competition

When you arrive at Kaplan Pitch Tank, you will receive three voting tokens which you can give to your favorite startups. You will have 30 minutes to explore the startup exhibition room to meet the founders and learn about their startups before deciding who to vote for.

Finalist Pitches

Each finalist will deliver a five-minute pitch, followed by another five minutes of a question-and-answer session with the judges panel. Out of the following teams, we will select the top five that will compete as finalists:

• Blacksmith Studios provides resources to owners of personal 3D printers who don't have the skills or time to make things to print.
• Bloom aims to evolve how consumers shop for menstruation products by increasing their knowledge, accessibility, and connection in support of greater equity and justice.
• Elevate aims to help young professionals create meaningful connections that enhance their overall ability to communicate by organizing monthly events.
• Green Grid gives energy utility companies the ability to leverage distributed energy resources to support the grid during times of extended peak demand and during power outages.
• HoneyCo seeks to mend the gap between video game development teams and their fans while supporting artists and creators.
• Neighborunity.com is a platform that serves as a social network with multiple services exclusive to residents in the same building that makes their life more convenient.
• ProcrastFree is a line of stationary products (notebooks, calendars, etc.) with anti-procrastination tips and habit formation techniques to help students become more disciplined and less stressed.
• Baro provides a peer-to-peer payment network to efficiently settle payments in a simple, fast, and secure manner for the unbanked and underbanked population in Mexico.
• Tech Organics is an at-home hydroponic kit that allows customers of all income levels to grow organic high-quality produce at home year-round.
• Upwards Aero scales existing drone technology to bring high performance, recreational sports vehicles into the third dimension—no pilot license required.

Special Keynote Speaker

Kaiwei Tang from The Light Phone Inc., will be delivering the keynote presentation.

Award Ceremony

We will announce the three audience choice winners and the three grand prize winners of Kaplan Pitch Tank.

Grand Prizes:
1st place - $30,000
2nd place - $15,000
3rd place - $5,000

Networking Event

We will have an optional networking event with music, free food, and drinks following the award ceremony. This will be an opportunity to chat with the founders, judges, and fellow audience members!

Click Here to Register