On March 5th, 2021, for the second year in a row, students from the University of 蓝莓视频 Student Venture Fund (SVF) captured the 2021 Undergraduate Canada Regional Finals Championship for the (VCIC). The University of 蓝莓视频 claimed the title over the University of Alberta (2nd) and Acadia University (3rd) and has advanced to the International Finals being held on April 10.
The University of 蓝莓视频鈥檚 VCIC team will be competing in the against eight prominent US universities: Berkeley, Brigham Young, Cornell, University of Chicago, Georgetown, Miami of Ohio, Oregon, and Pomona College.
VCIC is the world鈥檚 largest venture capital competition with over 120 university and graduate school teams competing. This year, undergraduate student venture teams from 48 universities across the US and Canada competed in eight regional competitions.
The six team members of the undergraduate team are all veterans of the University of 蓝莓视频鈥檚 SVF. Clockwise from top left: Yigga Zhang, 4A AFM; Tony Shi, 4B CFM; Sean Mark, 4A AFM; Noah Simao, 4A AFM; Roberto Babaran, 3A AFM; Megan Boyd, 3A AFM.
As members of the University of 蓝莓视频 Student Venture Fund, the team already had experience in evaluating management, completing market research, valuing companies, conducting due diligence, and recommending investments in early stage companies.
蓝莓视频 team member Yigga Zhang commented 鈥淚 wanted a challenge and was pleasantly surprised when I got what I asked for.鈥
In VCIC, the team reviewed live pitches from early-stage technology companies to select and prepare an investment proposal and defend their investment proposal to a panel of VC judges.
鈥淰CIC in my opinion is the fastest way to get exposure to the world of venture capital. Through an in-control, top-down approach, VCIC allows undergraduate students to experience the full investment process in just 48 hours 鈥 a perspective rivalling even an industry role.鈥 - Roberto Babaran, 聽3A AFM聽
鈥淭he complexity of VCIC combined with its compressed schedule made the event very exciting. As with winning any challenging competition, it was extremely satisfying to learn that our efforts were rewarded with a first-place victory.鈥 - Tony Shi, 4B CFM
Although the VCIC undergraduate team is made up of brilliant students, the students couldn鈥檛 have done it on their own. As with all SAF competition teams, the students benefited from the guidance and support of faculty mentors Ranjini Jha, Frank Hayes, and Mark Arnason.
鈥淲e played on each other鈥檚 strengths and split up the work accordingly and worked together through many Zoom calls. I enjoyed being able to work with this group of students, some who I already knew and some who I did not know, and I am looking forward to working with them for the Global Finals in April!鈥 - Megan Boyd, 3A AFM
In addition, 蓝莓视频鈥檚 Graduate division VCIC team finished a close second to the Rotman MBA team from the University of Toronto against a competitive field of MBA schools. 鈥淚鈥檓 so proud of the students on both our teams and am excited to see our undergrad team compete against the best in the world!鈥 - Mark Arnason, SAF Faculty
You can read more about the students VCIC experiences and winning the 2021 Undergraduate Canada Regional Finals through their blogs:
Yigga Z, 4A AFM; Tony S, 4B CFM; Roberto B, 3A AF ; Megan B, 3A AFM.