UA Sending Three Teams to Business Plan Contest

Three teams of graduate students from the University of Arkansas have won qualifying contests for berths in this year’s Venture Labs Investment Competition.

This is a first for any university, according to a news release that terms this competition the “Super Bowl” of business plans competitions.

To be held in May, the Venture Labs event carries $100,000 in cash and prizes for the winning team.

“The University of Arkansas has been excelling in national and international business plan competitions since 2009, but we reached new heights in 2012,” Carol Reeves, associate vice provost for entrepreneurship and a professor of management at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, said in the release. “This solidifies the University of Arkansas’ reputation as one of the preeminent schools in the world for the development of student start-ups.”

Reeves has advised 14 national first-place-winning Walton College teams, accounting for more than $1.25 million in cash prizes since 2002. She had three teams win national competitions in 2010, but one of those was not an automatic qualifier for the Venture Labs competition.