Community Spotlight Community Spotlight: $15,000 Prize at Stake for USF Students in Fintech Business Plan Competition

BRADENTON — USF students with great business ideas don’t have to wait for their big break on “Shark Tank.”

Instead, they have a chance to win $15,000 with the Fintech Business Plan Competition. The seventh annual competition, hosted by the nationally ranked USF Center for Entrepreneurship in the Muma College of Business, will take place from 1-5 p.m. on Friday, April 17 in BSN Room 115.

Out of 50 initial applicants, six finalist companies will present their business plans to the judges, with students at both graduate and undergraduate levels from disciplines including the Colleges of Engineering (Mechanical, Industrial, and Electrical), Business (Entrepreneurship, MBA, MIS), Global Sustainability and Education (School of Adult Career & Higher Education).  

The finalists are:

• Ceviche To Go would make ceviche a fast and convenient health option for consumers on the go.
• Floridian Marine would produce 3D printed life-support system for hostile environments.
• Moxie Apps has created Eazy Menu, a mobile application that allows any user to browse dining menus according to their dietary and dining preferences.
• New Deal Source would use analytics to help real estate fund managers and investors find the best sourced deals for their market.
• Our Faith would provide an online platform for social networking among all religious faiths worldwide
• Prayzo would provide commercial farmers with hardware that can attach to fertilization systems and provide analytics to a more efficiently manage and expand their farms.
• Visualflo would provide accurate and affordable 3D printed, patient-specific medical models.

Made possible by a donation from Fintech, the leading automatic electronic system that alcohol vendors and retailers use to pay bills, the competition allows students to hone their business plans as well as have a chance to finance their ventures. Competing companies must be organized as a legal entity in the State of Florida, and at least one member of the ownership group must be a current USF student.

"This competition shows the true ingenuity of our students here at USF," said Michael Fountain, director of the USF Center for Entrepreneurship. "We should be proud to know we're producing quality entrepreneurs here at the university."

Initial screening of entries was conducted by Center for Entrepreneurship faculty. Finalists will be judged by a panel of professionals including Scott Riley, Fintech CEO; Ron Floto, Fintech director of strategic development; Chris Pizzo, Pizzo Solutions founder and president; Fred Steube, senior director of emerging technology at Cox Target Media; Kenneth Hamner, managing member of The Entrepreneurship Law Center; and Manuel Aguilar, a business banking executive at Regions Financial Corporation.

The Center for Entrepreneurship is a nationally ranked, interdisciplinary center, and is part of the USF Muma College of Business, in collaboration with the USF College of Engineering, the Morsani College of Medicine and the Patel College of Global Sustainability.

The University of South Florida is a high-impact, global research university dedicated to student success. USF is a Top 50 research university among both public and private institutions nationwide in total research expenditures, according to the National Science Foundation. Serving nearly 48,000 students, the USF System has an annual budget of $1.5 billion and an annual economic impact of $4.4 billion. USF is a member of the American Athletic Conference.