Demo Day Spring 2026
Help entrepreneurship BLOOM at Demo Day!
Join us for an evening of celebration of entrepreneurship at VCU. All friends, family, and community members are welcome and encouraged to attend and cheer on the pitches. Following the pitches, everyone is invited to stay for an awards ceremony and networking session.
Demo Day is our bi-annual pitch competition where VCU students, alumni, and Richmond community members bring their ideas to life, connect with resources, and compete for funding.
APRIL 17, 2026 | 4-7pm | Shift Retail Lab at VCU
Sponsored by
Meet the Judges
2026 Presenting Finalists
Innovative Ideas
- AI Bird Robot | James Orr | VCU Alumni, School of Social Work
- Cotteri | Kannan Venkateswaran | VCU Student, College of Engineering
- Glowmouth | Vansh Goel | Tucker High School
- Hit the Town | Felix Sammons
- Mission Mentor | Justin Morales | VCU Student, University College
- Powell's Pickles | Jason Anderson
- Ritual | Phebe Valentine
- Savr App | Ruth Tesfaye | VCU Student, Master of Product Innovation
- The Flowers Pages | Dayna Flowers
- Twist n’ Shout | Jen Lee
Emerging Entrepreneurs
- AidCompare | Ari Emanuel-Wright | VCU Student, School of Business
- Chiliopter | Anand Poolla
- Chunky Vegan | Camille Hardy
- Focal App | Fernando Herbas | VCU Student, School of Business
- Gentle Strength Training | Kimberly Jordan
- THAX | Mbali Guliwe
- Toon Prompter | Fredy Balibuno | VCU Student, College of Engineering
Active Ventures
- East End Fish Company | Forrest Spaits
- Forged Haven | Debelu Ojukwu | VCU Student, School of Business
- Pi's Coffee | Piyush Jessani | VCU Student, College of Engineering
- Securely Lit Publishing | Amanda Eaddy-McKetihan
- The Baking Agent | Misha Adams | VCU Alumni, College of Humanities and Sciences
- Zola's World Inc. | Narita Snead | VCU Alumni, School of Nursing
Agenda
Kick off Demo Day by setting the stage for an evening of bold ideas, student innovation, and cross-disciplinary collaboration and hear from our title sponsor, Capital One.
Big ideas take the stage! This session showcases early concepts with bold potential, competing for funding and your vote.
Growing ventures share their prototypes and MVPs as they compete for funding and audience support.
Selected ventures take the stage to showcase established businesses and real-world traction as they compete for funding and recognition, with the audience casting votes to support ventures ready to scale.
Celebrate standout ventures as funding and awards are announced to help take their ideas to the next level.
Wrap up the evening by connecting with students, alumni, and community members building what’s next.
From past awardees...
Winning funding at Demo Day gave us the confidence and the resources to take our idea seriously. What started as a class project turned into an actual product!
Demo Day was a turning point for our venture! The funding helped, but the real impact was the validation and feedback we received.