The Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (ABCEI) Hosts the
2025 Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition (CBIC) Finale
On Thursday, April 17th, the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation hosted the highly anticipated finale of the annual Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition (CBIC). Established in 2014 through a generous pledge from Greg Cangialosi ’96, the CBIC is designed to support student entrepreneurs at UMBC who are committed to launching a business or social venture in the future.
This year’s competition featured ten finalist teams, composed of both undergraduate and graduate students from a wide range of disciplines across UMBC. Special thanks to the mentors who helped the teams refine their business ideas. These teams pitched their innovative ideas to a live audience of students, faculty, community members, and a distinguished panel of entrepreneurial judges. The 2025 judging panel featured:
- Paul Ruppert, President of Global Point View, Ltd
- Jonathan Sachs, Director of Economic and Workforce Development, Baltimore County
- Donna Stevenson, President and CEO of Early Morning Software, Inc.
Participants competed in one of two tracks: Technology & Innovation or Social Impact. After each team presented their idea, they responded to insightful questions from the judges. Once all presentations concluded, the judges deliberated and selected the top three winners for each track.
The Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation proudly recognizes the outstanding winners below:
Technology & Innovation Track
1st Place ($4,000): Real Vue
Bhardwaj Kalicheti, Harish Manyam, & Sricharan Nemalokonda
Real Vue offers secure, vetted and proctored local interview spaces that eliminate the risks associated with AI assisted cheating.
2nd Place ($2,000): Strike Sense
Charles Nerad, Aidan Fleisher & Abhinav Patel
Strike Sense integrates a “health bar” and sound effects into a sparring vest to gamify sparring and enhance accuracy.
3rd Place ($1,000): Elastic Energy
Sam Bendek
Elastic Energy focuses on clean and sustainable energy storage using a battery charged with tree sap.
Social Impact Track
1st Place ($4,000): Collegiate Commerce
Jada Iwuoha
Collegiate Commerce connects UMBC’s student entrepreneurs with the clients within our campus community by providing a platform for students to advertise their business, showcase events, and gain new customers. This platform promotes entrepreneurship through increased visibility, ease of use, and talent discovery for student-run businesses, strengthening our collegiate ecosystem.
2nd Place ($2,000): KINTSUGI
Vrinda Thapliyal
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of mending broken ceramics with gold. Kintsugibyvrinda offers online Kintsugi services and products, along with free workshops that promote mindfulness, sustainability, and community building.
3rd Place ($1,000): CeeVlo
Manav Vaishnav & Anna Lam
CeeVlo is a nutritional chew toy paired with a food learning cube to aid children, especially those diagnosed with the eating disorder pica, in building a healthy relationship with food.
The team at the ABCEI would like to thank the incredible judges and mentors who generously donated their time, expertise, and support. The team would also like to congratulate all of the 2025 winners! Here’s what some of the finalists had to say about their CBIC experience:
Quotes from Past CBIC Winners
Charles Nerad – Strike Sense (2025)
“The CBIC has been an incredible experience for my team and will prove invaluable to us as we move forward. We are deeply grateful for the advice and support we received from our mentor, peers, judges, and everyone else who guided us along the way. Their insights helped lay the groundwork for our future success. What stood out most was how genuinely invested everyone was in seeing us succeed which was felt throughout the entire competition. Beyond being an opportunity to learn and grow, the CBIC also provided a fantastic platform to connect and network with some truly brilliant minds here at UMBC. It’s an experience we’ll carry with us for years to come.”
Jada Iwuoha – Collegiate Commerce (2025)
“Participating in the CBIC is an experience I will never forget. This competition gave me the opportunity to share my vision for Collegiate Commerce and receive valuable feedback and support from a community that encourages innovation and curiosity. I’m so grateful for the network of support I’ve built through the amazing people I met during this event. The encouragement my idea received has given me the motivation I needed to keep pushing forward to make a real difference for student entrepreneurs and the UMBC community as a whole.”
Harish Reddy Manyam, Bharadwaj Kalicheti, & Sricharan Nemalokonda – Real Vue (2025)
“Participating in CBIC has been a truly transformative experience for us. When we first submitted Real Vue, we hoped just to make it to the final round, and when we got there, everything changed. Working closely with our mentor, Chris White, pushed us to sharpen our vision and believe in the impact we could create. Winning first place in the Technology Track wasn’t just a milestone, but it gave us the confidence to take Real Vue from an idea to a real venture. The CBIC didn’t just strengthen our faith in technology; it strengthened our faith in people in collaboration, mentorship, and the shared belief that ideas can change lives.”
Gbemisola Akinjo – Hairpreneurs (2024)
“I am so grateful to have been able to participate in this competition. The Alex Bown center and the CBIC really do foster a space for innovative minds and I am beyond appreciative of that. The mentors and people that I reached out to during this competition really showed up and showed out for me. Everything I learned during this process offered such a different perspective of the world around me and I can honestly say that I had SO much fun the night of the competition.”
Hamza Umar – Sphere-Hub (2024)
“What an exhilarating experience! I was truly humbled to be selected as a finalist and even more to be chosen as 1st place. The CBIC has to be the best event at UMBC for aspiring entrepreneurs to present their business pitch – it was a great learning experience and it was quite competitive. It also serves as a great opportunity for us to get feedback from successful individuals in the industry, who have shown us that dreams can be fulfilled. I feel lucky to have been a part of this event and see only great things ahead!”
Saurabh Chapagain – BetterU (2023)
“Participating in the CBIC has been one of the most pivotal experiences in my life. I encourage every student with entrepreneurial ambitions to apply!”
Gabriel Laracuente- Amron (2023)
“The CBIC truly was an unforgettable experience. It was very competitive yet had a welcoming environment. I am extremely grateful for not only the funding, but also the experience of pitching a company to such professional judges. If you are on the ropes about joining this competition, I HIGHLY recommend it. The amount you learn from going through the process of this competition will, without doubt, help you in the future.”
Anurag Varshney – Fly Easy (2023)
‘”Dreams do become a reality” and the CBIC competition is a great platform to make your dreams come true. I received mentorship from industry experts and encouragement from the ABCEI team. Do you have an idea? Don’t wait, register for the CBIC! Mark my words, this will be among your best life experiences.”
Tamara Buchanan- Plus One Technology (2022)
“The CBIC was an amazing experience that helped to prepare me for my first startup pitch. The mentor I was matched with was phenomenal! His kind and nurturing demeanor helped remove a few fears I had as a new entrepreneur. The pitch competition was great and meeting the founder, Greg Cangialosi, was the icing on the cake. If you have a business idea apply for CBIC, you won’t regret being a paticipant!!”
Basil Udo- Xeddy (2022)
“Getting the opportunity to pitch at the Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition has given me an experience I will never forget. There are a ton of amazing ideas currently at UMBC that would immensely benefit from the great resources provided by the Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship. To those resources and the wonderful individuals behind them, I am forever grateful for the boost in confidence and capital that has gone towards fueling my venture, Xeddy.”
Kayla Massey – Pennies for Pointe (2022)
“My experience during the entire process was nothing short of amazing! Going through the process of preparing a pitch made me examine my idea on another level and ask myself questions about my business that I may not have given a lot of thought to before. It’s one thing to know what you want to do in your head, but another having to articulate your ideas and plans in hopes of convincing people of how important they are. Being assigned a mentor to work with helped tremendously. Receiving feedback and ideas, and being asked challenging questions by my mentor helped clarify some aspects of my business model. In addition to being supported by my mentor, I felt very supported by the faculty and staff in the entrepreneurship department. Having the opportunity to network the night of the event was also beneficial. I made some great connections that night and look forward to seeing how these relationships grow in the future.”
Balaji Viswanathan- Invento (2021)
“The CBIC competition organized by UMBC’s Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship is a great platform for startups to get discovered by investors. We participated in the competition, were paired with a key advisor and won 1st place in the Technology and Innovation track. We are also getting investor connections. I thank the organizers for such a wonderful initiative. “
Mariah Qureshi- codeHER (2021)
“CBIC was an enriching experience that I’d recommend for every UMBC student that is entrepreneurship oriented. I’m grateful for the immense help provided by the competition mentors and coordinators, and I’m thankful for the smooth transition despite COVID-19. I learned of several different ways I could engage in furthering my own social venture, and have had many professional and personal takeaways from this experience!”
Nikolas Sicilia – GreaterPlate (2020)
“When COVID-19 began to affect the academic semester, one of the first things I was upset about was its effect on the CBIC. I had been looking forward to the CBIC since I got to UMBC, and thought for sure that it was going to get cancelled. I was extremely pleased with how UMBC’s Alex. Brown Center pivoted and gave us all an experience that was beyond our expectations given the conditions!”
Noha Darwish – Madina Girl (2020)
“The CBIC Competition was very transformative for my business, I learned a lot about myself and my business. It was a great opportunity for many reasons but one of the most important is because of my mentor who gave me so much support and guidance. The competition was demanding and challenging in the best way and because of it, my business is a lot stronger, as am I.”
Akshay Pershave- Karotene (2019)
“The competition and mentorship immensely helped distill Karotene’s value proposition and concretize our business plan. The feedback and visibility Karotene received is of great value as we progress towards our MVP. The ideas pitched at the CBIC also gave a glimpse of the thriving startup and innovation culture at UMBC.”
Michael Ogunsanya- CEO of MindStand Technologies (2019)
“The CBIC allowed us to showcase our budding student startup for Baltimore’s finest entrepreneurs! Their advice, mentorship, and network will benefit MindStand Technologies for years to come.”
Dan Lee (2019)
“CBIC really pushed us to create a killer pitch deck, which we can now use for future opportunities.”
Mustafa Al-Adhami (2018)
“The Alex Brown Center and CBIC have supported my venture for over a year now. I am so grateful to have been able to use the resources they offer to develop my business idea, and I am excited to get to work on the next stage of development with their support.”
Miranda Marvel (2018)
“The CBIC has been a great experience! The advice from my mentor helped me to significantly hone my business pitch, and having the encouragement and support from the UMBC entrepreneurship community has given me the confidence and ability to take my business to the next step and start developing a prototype.”
Chris Bodan- Aye-Aye (2017)
“Participating in the CBIC was a life changing experience. In just over a month, we took an idea and transformed it into a full business proposition. The CBIC isn’t just a contest. The guidance, advice, and resources you are given along the way are invaluable. The CBIC is an opportunity for students to take a “what if” and turn it into something extraordinary.”
Filip Dabek- Supply Sense (2016)
“Going through the Cangiolosi Business Innovation Competition (CBIC), UMBC allowed me to go through the process of formulating a business plan and prototype product, from which I learned a great deal and received excellent strategic mentorship from CBIC affiliated faculty. Through the knowledge that I gained from being a CBIC participant, I am now going to take my SupplySense idea to market.”
Annah Seo – PiVot (2015)
“The CBIC was a great opportunity to showcase my creatvity and get feedback on presenting in front of investors.”
Michael Gardner – Neighborhood Net (2015)
“Amazing. I learned so much about entrepreneurship, pitching an idea, and networking. These lessons I will carry with me for the rest of my life – through both entreprenuerial endeavors and building myself professionally.”
Patrick Wheltle – Baltimore Emergency Medical Technology (2015)
“The experience with CBIC was one of the most memorable things about my college career. It was really challenging and engaging and gave me experience that I could take with me to the real world.”
Markus Proctor – EduPal (2014)
“I consider the CBIC the highlight of my undergraduate experience. The phrase ‘unlock your future’ definitely rings true for me since I credit almost every opportunity in front of me now to the CBIC.”