Campus & Community

Winners of 2023 Raymond von Dran iPrize and Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award Announced

Thursday, March 30, 2023, By Cristina Hatem

Winners of the School of Information Studies’ (iSchool) Raymond von Dran (RvD) Fund for Student Entrepreneurship competition, the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award and the Compete CNY regional qualifier for the New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC) were announced at the student entrepreneurship competition held on March 24  at Bird Library.

three people holding giant check

Scott Warren, of ϲ Libraries (left), and Bruce Kingma, of the School of Information Studies (right), present a check to Ben Ford ’23, founder of Fundwurx.

The concurrent competitions were coordinated by the Blackstone LaunchPad at ϲ Libraries (LaunchPad).

The following nine student startup teams each won $2,000 in RvD funding:

  • Ben Ford ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Fundwurx
  • Adya Parida ’25 and Oliver Raycroft ’25 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), co-founders of Scale Sense
  • Motolani Oladitan ’24 (College of Arts and Sciences), founder of Ta
  • Jeremy Shinder ’24 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), founder of Jere Bear Films, LLC
  • Travis Ghirdharie G’22 (Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs), founder of Many Hands
  • Sai Krishna Bolla G’23 (School of Information Studies), founder of Cognition X
  • Aidan Mickleburgh ’23, G’23 (College of Engineering and Computer Science and Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Intervea
  • Kai Patricio G’23 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), founder of Farm Loop
  • Rob Goldblatt ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), Paul Sausville and Nicole Byrnes (SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry), co-founders of Tree-Spun

The 2023 Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award was given to four students who best exemplify “The Spirit of Entrepreneurship.” Prizes honor the memory of Hunter Brooks Watson, a University student who died tragically in a distracted driving accident. Winners of $2,500 each are the following:

  • Rabia Razzaq G’23 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), Kai Patricio G’23 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), Priscilla Cruz ’24 (School of Information Studies) and Peyton Sefick, members of Re-mend team
  • Motolani Oladitan ’24 (College of Arts and Sciences), founder of Ta
  • Jeremy Shinder ’24 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), founder of Jere Bear Films, LLC
  • Ethan Tyo ’17, G’22 (David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics), AlterNative Project and cookbook author