March 10, 2022

University of South Carolina to Host SEC Student Pitch Competition

Darla Moore School of Business

By: SEC Staff
SECU (Twitter: @TheSECU)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of South Carolina will host the sixth SEC Student Pitch Competition April 3-4, the SEC announced on Thursday. It will be the first in-person competition since 2019 and the first at the university.

“We’re thrilled to host the 2022 SEC Student Pitch Competition at the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business,” said Dr. Peter Brews, Dean of the Darla Moore School. “This competition is an excellent opportunity for our students and their contemporaries from other top universities to hone their pitching skills in front of experienced investors. We look forward to hearing the pitches of these talented young entrepreneurs and to our first time hosting this prestigious event. May the best ideas win.”

Established in 2015, the SEC Student Pitch Competition provides teams of SEC students at the undergraduate or graduate level a platform to showcase their ideas for ground-breaking products and services to a panel of judges – including SEC alumni – who work primarily in the business sector.

This year’s competition, led by Dean Kress, Director of South Carolina’s Faber Entrepreneurship Center, will again comprise teams from each of the Conference’s 14 member universities, several of whom have already claimed a campus-level competition win. It will include two preliminary rounds of pitches, and judges will select three teams for the final round. The top three finishing teams receive prizes and awards.

Examples of past ideas presented during the SEC competition include a platform of products that improve minimally invasive surgeries (University of Arkansas), user-hosted storage rentals (University of Missouri) and a smart lock designed to revolutionize safety and reduce liability for hotels and apartments (University of Tennessee).

The SEC Student Pitch Competition was first held in conjunction with the SEC Symposium in 2015 and Texas A&M University took home first place. Other competition winners include the University of Arkansas in 2017 and 2018 and Mississippi State University in 2019. The 2020 competition was conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Auburn University won first place.

Details on this year’s competing teams will be announced at a later date.