UGA student startup founders delivered their final business pitches to a panel of judges on Thursday, November 19th at Studio 1, the university’s former Environmental Design studios located at 225 West Broad Street. After a 10-week Accelerator program, the remaining four student companies made their final pitch to a panel of judges to win $5,000 in seed funding. eleez, a concert ticket sales service idea, was the night’s winner. The pitch competition was held as part of the THINC Fall Showcase, which included a UGA club fair to connect students with creative innovation endeavors across campus and a demonstration by UGA Hacks of the projects created at their recent hackathon.

Jim Flannery, Executive Director of Four Athens, a local economic development nonprofit and startup incubator, lead the Accelerator program this semester. “We’ve gone from 11 to 4 companies over the course of this accelerator. The companies still standing earned their spot at the final pitch tonight,” said Flannery. During the 10-week program, the business teams tackled core startup topics like customer discovery, product development, and investor readiness. This semester, teams were joined by experts from the Advanced Technology Development Center from Georgia Tech, offering them a unique coaching opportunity from the perspective of successful accelerator efforts.

The night’s winner takes home the $5,000 prize provided by the UGA Innovation Fund. Previous Accelerator winners include Athens-based outdoor adventure startup Vestigo, who won the spring competition prize of $1,500 provided through the UGA Research Foundation and a donation from Tarkenton Companies, an Atlanta-based business services company with a focus on support for entrepreneurs.