Premier Stephen McNeil acknowledges Saint Mary's team during 2018 State of the Province Address: "You demonstrated to us what's possible."
A team of Sobey School of Business graduate and undergraduate students took second place in the Venture Capital Investment Competition (New England region), held in Boston.
On February 2, the Saint Mary’s students joined teams from MIT, Babson, Yale, Rochester and Dartmouth in evaluating three entrepreneur’s pitches, and completing a term sheet describing which they would invest in, and why.
Finalists Saint Mary’s and Rochester then negotiated with their entrepreneur. Industry professionals judged the competition based on the quality of analysis and insight and the calibre of the final deal. The final judging was 6/6, meaning Saint Mary’s had tied with Rochester. To determine a winner, the judges referred back to initial discussions with the entrepreneurs, which gave Rochester the edge.
The students who competed were chosen from Saint Mary’s venture capital program and the multi-university Venture Grade student venture capital fund. Competing were Findlay Hilchie and Anu Gupta, from the Master of Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation program; Stephanie Fitzner, BComm; and David Hatcher and Avi Chandrapati of the MBA program. Stu Clow (MBA) was the shadow.
In March, Sobey School will host the Canadian VCIC at Saint Mary’s University.
Recognition is accorded to team coach Ellen Farrell and local business leaders who helped the students prepare: Rob Barbara, Build Ventures; Andrew Ray, Innovacorp; and Chris Legg, Progress Partners of Boston and CENE member.