Just in time for Global Entrepreneurship Week, the Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Sac State announced the new SPARK Venture Competition for for-profit and social impact ventures. While it’s hosted on campus, this competition is not just for students —  it’s open to all ventures less than two years old and aiming to operate in the Greater Sacramento Region. If this sounds like your business or organization, you better hop to it! Applications are due by this Friday, November 8! Apply Here

Going forward, the University intends this to be an annual competition held during Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) which is traditionally the third week in November. Spark Venture Competition Final pitch (Demo Day) will be hosted on the 2nd Day of GEW, Tuesday, November 19 at the Carlsen Center. Over the last few years, Sacramento State has celebrated GEW in a big way, involving all of the colleges in hosting events themed around innovation. While the general public has always been invited to attend the festivities, this year they’re going a step further in their intention to involve the entire community.

“The SPARK venture competition serves as an opportunity to bring together entrepreneurs across the ecosystem and connect them and their ideas allowing our region’s entrepreneurial network to expand, “said Cameron Law, Executive Director of the Carlsen Center. “By more deeply connecting Sacramento State and our students to the entrepreneurial ecosystem, we seek to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs while connecting non-student entrepreneurs to the resources on campus allowing them to successfully launch their new ventures.”

The competition is the brainchild of Jyoti Das, the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Carslen Center. “This is an opportunity for the founders and teams of both impact ventures aiming to make our region a better place, and for-profit ventures aiming to catalyze Sacramento’s economic climate, to compete for prizes. More importantly, by networking with investors and mentors from the campus and the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the founders will connect to a broad range of resources enabled by the Carlsen Center and our partners to advance the maturity of local ventures.” explained Das.

The event on November 19, happening from 5:00-8:00 pm is open to the public but the Carlsen Center requests that you RSVP here if you plan to attend. In addition to the pitch competition, there will be an exhibit area for the presenting companies and a reception. Cash prizes awarded to the winners during the reception.

Check out the full calendar for Global Entrepreneurship Week at Sacramento State here.

Details for Applicants

Participants must submit an abstract for their venture for Round 1 of judging. Semi-finalists are announced virtually and are invited to a pitch workshop (optional) to help prepare for the Final Round. In the Final Round, teams will compete by presenting their pitches to a panel of judges (5 min presentation and 5 min Q&A) to win cash prizes.

Apply Here by November 8

Key Dates

  • Round 1 Info sessions:   Wed, Nov 6, 5pm via Zoom web meeting*
  • Abstracts submissions deadline: Fri, Nov 8
  • Finalists announced : Mon, Nov 11
  • Pitch Workshops (optional): Tue/Wed, Nov 12/13
  • Demo Day : Tue, Nov 19 – 5 pm – 8:30 pm

Send any questions to: carlsen.center@csus.edu or call (916) 278-5001

*The information session on Wednesday, November 6 at 5 pm will be via a Zoom Meeting. Join the meeting at https://zoom.us/j/635314300, Meeting ID: 635 314 300.