More than 100 UC Berkeley students and community members gathered on Friday, December 13th in Sutardja Dai Hall to watch SCET’s top students and startups compete at Collider Cup V.
The Collider Cup is an all-star showcase and competition for student teams from various classes offered by the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology. Teams compete for the Collider Cup based on an assessment of the feasibility, innovation, and execution of their ideas. This semester, teams were selected from 23 classes that covered areas like alternative meat, healthcare data and AI, smart villages and SCET’s flagship Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship (BMoE) Bootcamp.
The Collider Cup’s competition began with introductions from SCET staff and faculty. Next, “Best Instructor” and “Best Course Coordinator” awards were handed out to Tech Firm Leadership instructor Pamela Park and Strategic Thinking in Technology Innovation course coordinator Alec Willerman. These awards highlight individuals who have displayed exemplary dedication and innovation towards excellence in their field, curriculum development, and pedagogy.
While the judges were impressed with all 18 student pitches, they managed to narrow down the field of competitors to the final four top teams who advanced to contend for the grand prize, the Collider Cup. This year’s top teams were:
- Megha Score – Financial Inclusion from Smart Villages (185-004)
- Calypso from Emerging Technologies and Social Impact (185-002)
- Shakey Wakey from the Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship Bootcamp
- Don’t Be A Stranger from Marketing for Technologists (190C-002)
These four pitched their ideas to all the attendees and the full panel of judges.
The top three winning teams, Don’t Be A Stranger, Shakey Wakey and Calypso, received an automatic final round of meetings with Arrow Capital to be considered for a potential $15K, $25K or $50K in seed funding, depending on the startup’s needs. Arrow Capital is a student-operated venture capital firm supercharged by Bow Capital & University of California’s Endowment Fund. Representatives from Better Ventures also were in the audience, as well as the Dorm Room Fund, Pear VC, The House Fund, The Trione Student Fund and Free Ventures.
The winning team, Don’t Be A Stranger, was formed in Shira Abel’s Marketing for Technologists class. UC Berkeley student, Ismail Azam, presented at the event for the rest of his team members who could not attend. Their product, a phone game app, alleviates loneliness by strengthening intergenerational groups.
Collider Cup V showcased the hard work of SCET students, instructors, and staff and continues to represent the innovative and mission-driven mindsets of SCET and its students. Congratulations to all on a job well done!