Two Swanson School Students Compete at Prestigious Rice Business Plan Competition

Engineering students Becca Segel and Benjamin Leslie led two teams and represented the University of Pittsburgh at the 2024 Rice Business Plan Competition April 4-6, 2024. Only 42 teams were accepted to the world’s most prestigious and “richest” competition for student startups, offering millions in prizes. 

What’s more, Pitt also fielded startup Korion Health whose CEO and founder, Anna Li, is an MD/PhD student at Pitt. 

Chris Wilmer, associate professor and William Kepler Whiteford Faculty Fellow of chemical and petroleum engineering, accompanied the students to the competition and said he was incredibly proud to see Pitt stepping into the global arena. 

“This is a historic achievement, which I hope will inspire other Pitt students and prove that the heights of our success know no bounds,” Wilmer said. “The competition was very fierce this year, but our students did a phenomenal job representing Pitt’s entrepreneurial spirit and ambition.” 

Malleous

The first Pitt competitor was Malleous, co-founded by Benjamin Leslie, a senior bioengineering student, Adi Mittal, a student at the School of Medicine, and Amna Imran, a junior bioengineering student. The team created an instrument that combines retraction and suction functions to help surgeons and declutter operating rooms. In a clinical trial, the device reduced neurosurgeons’ simulated procedure time by 28% and prevented the need to suction on average every 40 seconds.

“It was a great experience to see some of the other startups being formed around the world,” Leslie said. “It was an excellent way to measure ourselves and our progress compared to others and to speak with other students pursuing similar goals. Talking with some of the competing founders helped us learn from the experiences of others and gain insight into what others were doing to navigate some of the common challenges we all face as startups.”

FlowCellutions 

Swanson School of Engineering PhD student Becca Segel, a graduate student researcher in Pitt’s Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, says her startup, FlowCellutions, aims to reduce carbon emissions by advancing energy storage. The battery diagnostics company consists of experts spanning software engineering, electrochemistry and energy markets.

It was great meeting over 200 investors throughout the weekend, because we were able to get advice from the decision makers who would potentially give us investment in the future,” Segel said. “No other opportunity so far gave us insight into how investors think. The event was really well organized and it had a very exciting atmosphere for three days straight, from the initial practice pitches and elevator competition all the way until the final pitches at the end of the weekend.”