image: Jacqueline Gomez and Julio Sanchez of Hashira Studios won the MavPitch competition. view more
Credit: UT Arlington
Six firms founded by students from The University of Texas at Arlington won $85,000 at the 2021 MavPitch Business Competition grand finale, adding to the more than $1 million in total that the Maverick Entrepreneur Program and Award Fund has awarded since 2018.
More than 700 UTA students have participated in the program since its inception, said Jeffrey McGee, the program’s organizer and associate professor in the College of Business’ Department of Management.
“It’s one of the few student-focused entrepreneurship programs in the country that awards these amounts of cash funding to help the startup businesses,” McGee said. “We are trying to nurture and strengthen the entrepreneurial spirit and community here at UT Arlington.”
The Maverick Entrepreneur Program and Award Fund was established to encourage UTA students to explore and express their business ideas in a friendly and encouraging environment. The program was launched in fall 2018 and consists of two phases of MavPitch.
- During Phase I, all UTA students are invited to submit a three-minute video pitch of a new venture idea. These submissions are evaluated, and the highest caliber videos are then invited to present a six-minute pitch to a panel of judges who select the ultimate award recipients.
- The “winners” are then invited to participate in Phase II, which involves mentoring, coaching and access to other resources and the opportunity to participate in a second pitch competition.
As part of Phase II of this year’s program, 13 student-led startups participated throughout the summer in the Deep Dive accelerator program. Deep Dive is a partnership between UT Arlington and TechFW, a nonprofit organization that has been helping entrepreneurs launch and grow emerging technology companies since 1998. For seven weeks, the students worked diligently to build a stronger business plan and a stronger pitch for the next phase of the competition.
Hashira Studios won the top prize of $25,000 in the 2021 MavPitch Business Competition. The firm won $15,000 last May in initial funding. Jacqueline Gomez and Julio Sanchez started the business, which features unique anime-inspired designs in clothing.
Hashira discovered a strong customer base in people who prefer more subtle designs that reflect their anime interests, as opposed to clothing with big, obvious references. The company’s monthly sales started at about $4,581 in December 2020 and peaked in June 2021 at $51,195.
“We received 1 million views on one of our designs,” Gomez said. “Everything is made to order, so there is no overstock.”
Tied for second place were Carissa’s Custom Costumes, a full-service costume business focused on conventions and festivals, and Soirée, a specialty meal-kit delivery service for dates or special occasions. Each team was awarded $15,000, on top of $8,000 that they each received in May.
Carissa Knitowski, who created Carissa's Custom Costumes, is further developing her craft by studying technical theater at UT Arlington. Her company creates every aspect of an ensemble, including hair and makeup designs, props, armor, garments and everything in between. Carissa’s offers an entirely custom outfit, a selection of ready-to-wear garments and a catalog of patterns.
Soirée’s pitch is delivering an affordable solution to meal kits on the market while providing various recipes consumers want. Each kit comes with premeasured ingredients, specialty supplies and easy-to-follow instructions.
Third-place awards of $10,000 apiece went to:
- Petal, a company that seeks to change the way consumers shop by reducing the usage of single-use plastic bags. Consumers can purchase reusable bags that they can scan with their smartphones to gain incentives every time they shop. Petal bags allow shoppers to get rewarded for saving the environment, as they can redeem the rewards for cash or special offers, enter sweepstakes or give back to charities. Petal also received $15,000 in May.
- Pinch Master, a firm that manufactures and sells width-adjustable grip-strength-training equipment for mountain or rock climbers. The strength-training equipment is made from polyurethane using 3D printing technology. In addition to making products, Pinch Master also offers entertaining content for enthusiastic climbers and outdoor sports fans, including tips, a lifestyle blog and special offers. Pinch Master received $8,000 in May.
- iPark, a firm that is building a centralized parking system that provides parking experiences and solutions. iPark utilizes cost-effective sensors to track the real-time occupancy status of each spot and aggregate this data in the cloud. The company’s mobile app allows users to find, book and navigate to the nearest parking spot at the lowest price. It’s a one-stop management system for parking operators to have a bird’s-eye view of their parking. The system tracks finances and revenue, enables 100% automatic real-time violation detection and provides data-driven business intelligence solutions without relying on a network of different services. iPark received $10,000 in May.
Kimberly Mayer, associate vice president of research and interim executive director for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Innovation, said the competition inspires students to begin to think about their ideas as legitimate businesses.
“These student-led ventures have the potential to generate positive impacts on our economy, offering new products and services and creating jobs in our community,” Mayer said. “The quality of business ideas the students put forward in MavPitch is always impressive.”
Judges for the competition included:
- Evelyn Torres, CEO, Solaris Technologies Services
- Srini Gorty, partner/CTO, CorePlus World; founder/CEO, Leap Metrics; founding partner, Verge Ventures
- Andrew Feghali, founder/president, Aeroblaze Laboratory
- Molly Sandlin, founder/president, CAET Project Management Consultants
- Mirna Masri, founder, Arlington Wellness Chiropractic Center
- James Sellers, founder/president, Sellmark