In summer 2020, the NYU Law Venture Fund launched a new Business Plan Competition for students and new graduates, part of its mission to support entrepreneurship in the Law School community. A panel of alumni judges selected Sydney Forrest ’23, Juan Jose Martinez-Hill ’20, and Fasya Addina LLM ’20 as the first group of winners. Forrest, the grand prize winner, focused on software that would standardize electronic health care records and allow doctors to share information more easily across record systems. Martinez-Hill proposed a platform to connect donors to grassroots justice organizations. Addina was selected for her pitch to create an e-commerce site for street vendors in her native Indonesia.
In spring 2021, Jessica Rollén ’23 and Rilwan Shittu LLM ’21 won the competition. Rollén, the grand prize winner, pitched a solution to the suspension of New York City’s compost collection program: a platform to connect residents with private microhaulers collecting food waste. Shittu was selected for a virtual primary health center for children that helps their parents access treatment and medical data more easily.
Last fall, the Venture Fund also made its second equity investment, which was available to student or alumni co-founders of a company raising seed-stage capital. Treasury, co-founded by Eli Broverman ’05, is a global platform for finding and supporting the next generation of fintech leaders.
Posted September 9, 2021