TNG was top winner in the Venture Labs Investment Competition May 8 in Austin, Texas. The students received a $135,000 cash prize and will get to ring the opening bell at the NASDAQ stock market June 3.
The five-member team beat 39 other teams from such schools as Johns Hopkins University, Norwegian University of Science and Sasin Graduate Institute in Thailand to capture the honor.
Team members Jenny Corbin, Larry Horn, Max Brudner, Cory Long and Terry Tate created a business plan for FlyVax, a vaccine to control cattle horn flies, an agricultural pest that costs farmers more than $1 billion a year. The team is licensing the patented vaccine, which was developed by scientists at Auburn University.
“They worked really hard all year,” said UofL entrepreneurship professor Van Clouse, who coached the team. “It’s great to see them make it all the way to the top. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment.”
TNG reached the Venture Labs contest finals by outcompeting teams from Ohio State University, Carnegie Mellon and University of Arkansas in the semifinal round. The team’s winnings now total $800,000, which includes prize money from first-place finishes in contests at the University of Cincinnati, University of Nebraska and Rice University.
Students at the College of Business have set a COB record by winning nearly $900,000 over the past academic year in business contests across the nation.