Computer Science Student Is Co-Founder of Award-Winning Entrepreneurial Team

Winners of the Hen Hatch competition were announced during its final round on Tuesday, April 30 at the Queen in Wilmington, Delaware.

Hen Hatch, hosted by Horn Entrepreneurship, is the University of Delaware’s premier startup funding competition. The competition features two different tracks, one for UD students and one for alumni, faculty and staff. Hen Hatch provides participants with the opportunity to make connections and collect feedback on their ideas.

During the final round of the competition, the top three teams from each track pitched their business concepts before an audience and a panel of accomplished judges, competing for prizes totaling $100,000 in cash and in-kind services.

Vince Di Felice, Senior Instructor of Practice and Faculty Director of Venture Support for Horn Entrepreneurship, was ecstatic about the teams involved in this year’s competition. “I’m very proud of the diversity involved this year and the increasing desire of our innovative community to provide social value to the world. Hen Hatch continues to unite all of the University communities under the umbrella of innovation and entrepreneurship and we couldn’t be more excited about this 2019 cohort.”

The first place team from the student track is 360VR Technology, winning $20,000 to further grow their venture. This team includes James Massaquoi, Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, Class of 2020 and Sury Gupta, College of Engineering, Class of 2020. The team also won the audience choice award.

“I remember coming to Hen Hatch as a freshman and wanting to compete up on the stage,” said James. “It is the culmination of a lot of my efforts into one night. I don’t think I have ever gotten more text messages than today and I hope Sury and I presenting can be an inspiration to young students around campus to chase their goals and grow.”

360VR Technology is a virtual reality and drone solutions company that uses virtualization, drones and intensive analysis of buildings to aid emergency services with pre-incident, active and post-incident planning.

Read more about the competition at the Horn Entrepreneurship blog.