Stories & Updates

Horn Entrepreneurship and the Lerner College of Business and Economics are pleased to announce the 2022 Blue Hen 17&43 award winners, an impressive group of Blue Hen-led enterprises. Utilizing a holistic approach to select the recipients, factoring in revenue, growth, innovation and social impact, the businesses span industries from SaS platforms, Consumer Packaged Goods, Financial Services, Bio-Medical Technology as well as others. 

Horn Entrepreneurship offers many opportunities for you to make the most of your tuition! Its home, the Venture Development Center (VDC), is open to anyone at UD. Whether you have an idea or not, you can participate, network, be inspired and learn.

The last six months might have flown by for you, but the last six months these students, alumni, faculty and staff were building their businesses, becoming better students and professors, and more. Take inspiration from their achievements in this article. 

It’s a bright, blue, sunny day and you decide to take a trip to the ballpark with your friends. The game is tied and everybody is excited to see what happens next. All of a sudden your chest tightens up and you begin to wheeze. It feels impossible to get a breath and now your friends all begin to panic. You pull out your inhaler and head for the car. Just a moment ago your biggest worry was your favorite team winning, and now it’s hoping to make it out of the hospital before the day ends.

This year’s Startup302 competition attracted 125 startups from Delaware, the Philadelphia region, the United States and countries including Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Nigeria, Uganda and Bangladesh. These teams competed for a prize pool totaling $170,000. 

UD Entrepreneurship students posing for a photo on the beach at Waikiki

A select group of UD entrepreneurship students attended  Horn Entrepreneurship's study abroad program in January ‘22 to Hawaii. The students described the program as “an experience of a lifetime.” The students completed course work that focused on entrepreneurship & workplace culture, while being immersed in Hawaiian culture and history. The group took time to visit historic landmarks, networked with entrepreneurs across the islands, attended lectures from accomplished industry professionals, and worked on their own research-based projects, while exploring specific workplace culture issues. 

Meet Bryce Fender, a University of Delaware alumnus, real estate agent, marketing consultant, and most importantly an entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, Fender has two main goals: to end homelessness and to provide quality, sustainable jobs through art. To reach those goals, he has helped co-found two startups, WilmInvest and Better Puzzles, each helping make his visions a reality.

Horn Entrepreneurship and eClub will host the 2022 Spring Pitch Party. A hybrid format will take place, with the event as in-person for those registering as presenters.  The larger audience of spectators will remain virtual. It all takes place on March 23, from 6 - 8 p.m.

Three alumni dish on their experience in a NYC startup

A few years ago, the startup company Stadium was delivering dishes from different restaurants together as a single delivery to businesses all across New York City. The company was growing quickly and had endless possibilities ahead of them. Out of nowhere, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world and New York shut down in an instant. Suddenly, people were working from home with no need for in office lunch delivery. The team put their heads together and created SnackMagic, which saved their business and was the best pivot response to the pandemic.

This article is part of a series describing how UD Horn Entrepreneurship assists teams in moving their inventions and innovations into the marketplace, a process known as commercialization. Each team receives a customized blend of resources, including training, mentorship, and funding, through the Blue Hen Proof of Concept Program.  Mentorship and support is also provided by Horn Entrepreneurship partners, including the Office of Economic, Innovations and Partnerships and Delaware’s Small Business Development Center.

Lan Wang was a UD graduate student and postdoc, now Versogen’s Director of New Chemistry and Cofounder, who led the effort to scale the world’s leading polymer membrane technologies for converting water into green hydrogen.