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Hurricane Pitch Competition
The annual “Shark Tank-style” competition showcasing TU student-created ideas and business ventures with the top three teams collectively winning $25,000 in cash prizes.
Competition Highlights
The competition is designed to give emerging collegiate entrepreneurs a real-world experience to pitch their startup ideas to investors, receive mentoring, network with the entrepreneurial ecosystem, enhance their startup strategy, and learn what it takes to launch a successful startup.
Applications for the 3nd Annual Pitch Competition open soon.
Annual Competition
Inaugural competition hosted November 2023
$25k in prize money provided by Regent Bank
$7.5k (1st Place), $3.5k (2nd Place), $1.5k (3rd Place)
2 Divisions
Undergraduate and Graduate
Benefits
Personal and
Professional Development
The competition provides participants with personal and professional development through workshops and educational programming, industry-specific pitch deck mentorship, exclusive access to accomplished experts, and the opportunity to pitch VC for $25,000 in cash prizes and resources provided by Regent Bank.
Personalized Competition Prep
Applicants will receive expert advice throughout the competition cycle such as founder assessments and one-on-one pitch deck feedback and coaching.
Important Dates
The 2025 Hurricane Pitch Competition will be held Friday, November 7, 2025.
Other important dates, along with the application, will be announced soon.
2024 Winners
Undergraduate Category
1st Place: Tally
Tally, an eco-friendly and privacy-focused receipt management
solution, took home $7,500 as the top undergraduate startup.
“This competition allowed us to showcase our business to the community and gain real momentum,” said Leah Saucedo, finance junior and CEO of Tally. “Having a supportive school and a
platform like this makes all the difference.
2st Place: Living Water Aquaponics
The second place undergraduate prize of $3,500 was awarded to Living Water Aquaponics, which grows lettuce, microgreens, and tilapia in a climate-controlled greenhouse, providing high-quality food to upscale restaurants and grocery stores in Tulsa.
3rd Place: Aura Patch
Third place and a $1,500 check went to Aura Patch, which aims to transform epilepsy care through the development of an innovative micro-sweat biomarker patch.
Graduate Category
1st Place: G&J Sensing Solutions
The graduate category winner was G&J Sensing Solutions, which seeks to mitigate harmful gas emissions – particularly methane – using micro-sensor technology.
Gerardo Vera, CEO of G&J Sensing Solutions, is a UTulsa Cyber Fellow and pursuing a doctorate in cyber studies. He said the win is an incentive.
“Our effort is actually meaningful, and it’s recognized by big people – people who are able to invest,” he said. “They know how to invest their money in the next best thing, so they’re seeing us as a good opportunity to invest. That means that we are on the right path, and we should keep improving and working on our solution.”
Vera said the prize money will go toward developing prototypes. Initially, the team was simply trying to advance science. “But when we heard about an opportunity to go further, [we thought] maybe we can create it for ourselves and also contribute to the country, to the environment, to the economy as a whole,” he said.
2nd Place: Havita
Second place and $3,500 went to Havita, which utilizes artificial intelligence to create customized plans to help users optimize goals during sleep.
3rd Place: Auximotus
Third place and $1,500 was awarded to Auximotus, whose flagship product is an adaptive robotic head-neck rehabilitation system.
2023 Winners
1st Place: Marama
The five-member team hopes to combat global food insecurity by introducing the marama bean as mainstream crop….
Marama beans, native to the Kalahari Desert in Africa, grow in the driest conditions and require very low farming input. They are full of protein and possess nitrogen-adding capabilities that also make it good for regenerative farming. Lombard and Higgs have created marama bean beverage shots in five delicious flavors, partnering with local farmers in Africa to source their products. The team won $15,000 for their pitch.
2st Place: SkinCheck
Founded by Julian Abhari, a senior from TU’s computer science program, alongside Dani Marques, an incoming MBA student at TU.
SkinCheck is a mobile app that enables users, primary care providers, and dermatology clinics to easily scan, monitor, and evaluate moles— increasing the chances for early identification and timely treatment. This app is deeply personal to Julian, who watched his mom battle skin cancer multiple times. Designed with inclusivity at its forefront, the team has developed the first-of-its-kind racially unbiased detection tool. This inclusivity is crucial in a field where people of color have historically been underrepresented resulting in inequitable health outcomes.
3rd Place: MyGamer
My Gamer with Seth Hastings (MS ’23), Eric Peterson (BS ’21), and Corey Bolger (BS ’17), all three of whom are doctoral students in TU’s Cyber Fellows program.
My Gamer offers fans a chance to control whose perspective they watch during esports competitions. They will partner with regional and national esports events to provide an innovative service to increase viewership, strengthen engagement, and boost revenue. They received $2,500 for their pitch.
Our Team
The University of Tulsa Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE) and JOLT hosted the inaugural Regent Bank Hurricane Pitch Competition on November 10, 2023, sponsored by Regent Bank, the CCB, JOLT, and Hurricane Ventures
Get Involved
Interested in becoming a sponsor or mentor? Please email jolt@utulsa.com