Stories & Updates

Hen Hatch, Horn Entrepreneurship’s premier startup funding competition, has finally come to a close after the third and final round was held on Thursday, Dec. 1 at The Tower Audion at UD’s STAR Campus. The final round marks the culmination of a months-long competition, with many of our teams having worked for years on their startups. The six teams that moved on from the semifinal round showcased their most persuasive pitches for the event, each vying for 1st place spot in their respective tracks and the prizes that come with it. 

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.

Horn Entrepreneurship’s pre-accelerator program, Summer Founders, ended with Demo Day on August 18, 2022. Demo Day is a showcase for entrepreneurial students seeking help from our community. Held in-person for the first time in three years, the room was filled with University of Delaware alumni, former Summer Founders, Horn team members and notable entrepreneurs and business leaders. The agenda included presentations by the 2022 Summer Founders and selected Summer Founders alumni, a networking reception and award ceremony.

Calling all Blue Hen student entrepreneurs: apply to University of Delaware’s premier startup funding competition, Hen Hatch. This program is a once-a-year opportunity for UD students to put their best ideas forward and compete for a portion of a $50,000 prize pool. The submission deadline is September 16.

“I bet you twenty bucks I can beat you in this game.” Playing video games and involving money in the equation is a situation which tends to occur regularly among gamers. Alex Pickett and Dan Goodman had a goal to create a platform where gamers can play for money. 

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. 

This article first appeared on the blog for Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics on May 24, 2022.  Lavar Thomas's graduate studies include an M.S. in International Studies and his work on his social startup, Leaders of the Free World with the opportunities available through UD's Horn Entrepreneurship.

Members of VentureON take a moment before beginning earlier this spring semester.

This semester brings a brand new opportunity for VentureOn teams to expand their viewability and grow their own support network for their startup!

An online voting event will be held from May 9 and will remain open until May 20. Founders will fully promote themselves and their startups to gain the most votes.