Pitch Contests

Pitch Contests

Make It In Brooklyn, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership’s campaign to support entrepreneurship and cultivate a lasting innovation ecosystem throughout Brooklyn, has supported hundreds of start-ups. Our series of pitch contests, meet-ups, and summits have brought together hundreds of entrepreneurs and provided over $90,000 in seed money and pro-bono professional services, allowing them to make lucrative exits, receive additional funding, or scale their business.

Past Contests

  • August
    2023

    AI TECH FOR GOOD PITCH CONTEST

    Winner

    Libbie Health, $5,000 cash prize and in-kind legal services provided by Brooklyn Law School.

    MC

    Kathie Brill, Business and Innovation Community Manager, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership

    Judges

    Craig Wilson, Managing Director at NYU Tandon Future Labs
    Etay Zwick, Design Director at Newlab
    Jimmy Chen, Founder at Propel
    Martha Norrick, Chief Technology Officer at NYC Office of Data Analytics

    Partners for this event included Con Edison, Brooklyn Law Incubator and Policy Clinic (BLIP) at Brooklyn Law School, and The Gotham Organization.

  • April
    2023

    FEMALE FOUNDERS PITCH CONTEST

    Winner

    Meili Technologies, $5,000 cash prize, a co-working space package from Orchard Workspace by JLL, and in-kind legal services provided by Brooklyn Law School.

    MC

    Natasha Anderson, Founder and CEO, Natasha Knows Consulting

    Judges

    Adrianna Samaniego, Principal at Female Founders Fund
    Eastin Rossell, Venture Associate at HearstLab
    Shivika Arora, Product Manager at JP Morgan Chase
    Faye Penn, Senior Vice President at NYC EDC
    Erica Roseman, Founder and CEO of Concrete Communications

    Partners for this event included NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Orchard Workspace by JLL, and Brooklyn Law Incubator and Policy Clinic (BLIP) at Brooklyn Law School.

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  • Sept
    2019

    Future of Farming Pitch Contest

    Winner

    FoodFul, $5,000 cash prize, $20,000 in credits for Google Cloud storage, an interview with Big Idea Ventures, and a free strategy consulting session with EA Creative Consulting.

    MC

    Simon Sylvester-Chaudhuri, Executive Director, CIV:LAB

    Judges

    Ilia Papas, Angel Investor; Founder, Blue Apron
    Abby Lyall, Program Director, Big Idea Ventures
    Lily Bernicker, Venture Capital Investor, the Collaborative Fund
    Henry Sztul, SVP of Science and Technology and first hire, Bowery Farming
    Soo Choi, Startup Ecosystem Manager, Google

    Partners for this event included Keystone Sponsors NYU Tandon School of Engineering and JPMorgan Chase & Co, as well as the NYC Ag Collective, EA Creative Consulting, Google, The Grid, and OCPNorth America.

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  • June
    2019

    Future of Transportation Pitch Contest

    Winner

    CLIP, $5,000 cash prize, two tickets to the Formula E Grand Prix in Red Hook, free strategy consultation with EA Creative Consulting, and in-kind legal services provided by the Brooklyn Law Incubator and Policy Clinic (BLIP) at Brooklyn Law School.

    MC

    Mike Murphy, Technology Editor at Quartz

    Judges

    Jessica Schumer, Executive Director, Friends of the BQX
    Natalia Quintero, Program Director, Tech Transit Lab
    John Rapaport, Partner at Cyrus Capital Partners
    Charlie O’Donnell, Founder, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures
    Jason Cahill, Managing Partner, Carbon Ventures

    Partners for this event included Keystone Sponsor NYU Tandon School of Engineering, as well as Goodie, EA Creative Consulting, and The Hall.

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  • Mar
    2019

    FinTech Pitch Contest

    Winner

    Piecewise, $5,000 cash prize, a guaranteed meeting with the Entrepreneur’s Roundtable Accelerator investment team, and in-kind legal services provided by the Brooklyn Law Incubator and Policy Clinic (BLIP) at Brooklyn Law School.

    MC

    Annie McDonough, Tech Reporter at City & State NY

    Judges

    Victoria Cerullo, Director of Business Strategy, Bloomberg LP
    Jeremy Harper, Principal, Entrepreneur’s Roundtable Accelerator
    Kevin Siskar, Managing Director, Founder Institute New York
    Hatice Uzun, Professor of Finance, LIU Brooklyn
    Jon Zanoff, Managing Director, TechStars

    Partners for this event included: NYU Tandon School of Engineering

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  • Sept
    2018

    Food + AgTech Pitch Contest

    Winner

    Food Period, $5,000 cash prize, a pitch to Whole Foods Market, plus in-kind legal services provided by the Brooklyn Law Incubator and Policy Clinic (BLIP) and the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship (CUBE) at Brooklyn Law School.

    MC

    Rachel Fleischer, Urban Future Lab

    Judges

    Henry Gordon-Smith, Co-Founder, AgTech X
    Allison Kopf, Founder & CEO, Agrilyst
    Christopher Manca, Whole Foods Forager, Whole Foods Market
    Charlie O’Donnell, Partner, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures
    Tinia Pina, Founder & CEO, Re-Nuble

    Partners for this event included: NYU Tandon School of Engineering, AgTech X, and Agritecture

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  • May
    2018

    Female Founders Pitch Contest

    Winner

    BUPeriod, $5,000 cash prize, free flex space for two people at NYU Tandon’s Data or Digital Future Lab for one month in 2018, plus in-kind legal services provided by the Brooklyn Law Incubator and Policy Clinic (BLIP) and the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship (CUBE) at Brooklyn Law School.

    MC

    Kia Brooks, NY Media Center by IFP

    Judges

    Azita Ardakani, Partner, Honeycomb Portfolio
    Jacquelyn De Jesu, Founder & CEO, SHHHOWERCAP
    Angela Harrington, Vice President, Communications & External Relations, Berkeley College
    Jennifer Iannolo, Founder & CEO, The Concordia Project
    Deborah Zajac, Director, Touchdown Ventures

    Partners for this event included: JP Morgan Chase, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, SixPoint Brewery, CUPER, Brooklyn Innovation Center

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  • Mar
    2018

    Smart Cities Pitch Contest

    Winner

    Bixby $5,000 cash and in-kind legal services provided by the Brooklyn Law Incubator and Policy
    Clinic (BLIP) and the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship (CUBE) at Brooklyn Law School.

    MC

    Tyler Woods, Technical.ly Brooklyn

    Judges

    Shaina Horowitz, Urban Tech Hub Director, New Lab
    David Post, Global Enterprise Public Sector Leader, IBM
    Miriam Roure, Program Director, URBAN-X
    Joe Silver, Program Manager, Urban Future Lab, NYU Tandon School of Engineering
    Jacob Yormak, Partner, Story Ventures

    Partners for this event included:
    JP Morgan Chase, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, NYU CUSP, SixPoint Brewery, Yaso Tangbao, REMIX Summits

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  • Oct
    2017

    Female Founders Pitch Contest

    Winner

    NeMedIO $5,000 cash and $15,000 worth of Design + Strategy Services from Berlin Cameron

    MC

    Dee Poku-Spalding, The Other Festival

    Judges

    Ishveen Anand, Founder of OpenSponsorship
    Valerie Biberaj, Director, Kate Spade & Company Foundation / Director, Philanthropic Programming for
    Kate Spade & Company
    Jennifer DaSilva, President of Berlin Cameron
    Alessandra Henderson, VP of Network at Human Ventures
    Yao Huang, Founder and Managing Partner of The Hatchery

    Partners for this event included:
    JP Morgan Chase, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, City Point, The Other Festival, and Brooklyn Brewery.

    Read More

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