Pitch Contests
Make It in Brooklyn
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
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September
2024CLIMATE TECH PITCH CONTEST
Winner
CarbonBridge, $5,000 cash prize
MC
Sabina Sethi Unni, Editor of Brooklyn Magazine
Judges
Greg Humphries, Vycarb
Griffin Reilly, ConEdison
Iben Falconer, itselectric
Sonam Velani, StreetlifeVentures
Tone Søndegaard, Offshore Wind Innovation HubPartners for this event included NYU Tandon School of Engineering and ConEdison.
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May
2024BROOKLYN BITES FOOD TECH PITCH CONTEST
Winner
Barnwell Bio, $5,000 cash prize
MC
Brian Braiker, Editor of Brooklyn Magazine
Judges
Anna Castellani, founder of Local Culture Management
Nazli Parvizi, president of Museum of Food and Drink
Shorne Benjamin, founder and executive chef of Fat Fowl
Shad “The Brunch Guy” Ahmed, social media ‘foodie’ influencer
Theodora Fontas, managing director of Chefs for ImpactPartners for this event included NYU Tandon School of Engineering and City Point BKLYN.
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August
2023AI 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 AnalyticsPartners for this event included Con Edison, Brooklyn Law Incubator and Policy Clinic (BLIP) at Brooklyn Law School, and The Gotham Organization.
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April
2023FEMALE 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 CommunicationsPartners 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
2019Future 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, GooglePartners 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
2019Future 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 VenturesPartners 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
2019FinTech 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, TechStarsPartners for this event included: NYU Tandon School of Engineering
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Sept
2018Food + 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-NublePartners for this event included: NYU Tandon School of Engineering, AgTech X, and Agritecture
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May
2018Female 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 VenturesPartners for this event included: JP Morgan Chase, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, SixPoint Brewery, CUPER, Brooklyn Innovation Center
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Mar
2018Smart 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 VenturesPartners for this event included:
JP Morgan Chase, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, NYU CUSP, SixPoint Brewery, Yaso Tangbao, REMIX SummitsRead More
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Oct
2017Female 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 HatcheryPartners for this event included:
JP Morgan Chase, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, City Point, The Other Festival, and Brooklyn Brewery.Read More