Name: 2026 Black New Venture Competition
Start: 2025-11-14T23:59:00-05:00
Location: Harvard Business School

2026 Black New Venture Competition

Apply Now!

Event Details

Date

February 28, 2026

Location

Keynote Speaker

Charlie Irvine

Founder

Corialent

Charlie Irvine is the Founder of Corialent. Charlie comes to the role as a 10-year veteran of Realogy Holdings Corp, serving in numerous capacities along the way.

Moderator

Karla Lunsford

Motion Designer

Corialent

Karla Lunsford is a Motion Designer at Corialent. Karla comes to the role as a 10-year veteran of Realogy Holdings Corp, serving in numerous capacities along the way.

The Final Countdown!

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Startup winners receive more than $125k in non-dilutive capital

Application deadline extended to Sunday, November 23rd, 2025 at 11:59pm ET

Hosted by the African American Student Union & Black Investment Club at Harvard Business School on February 28, 2026 in Boston, MA.

The Black New Venture Competition (BNVC) connects promising early-stage Black founders with resources to develop their ventures into dynamic powerhouses. The competition serves as a launching pad for innovative ventures by providing exposure to capital, mentors, and advisors.

Previous winners have gone on to raise more than $20 million in venture funding and have been accepted into prestigious accelerators (Y Combinator, Techstars).

Founders will have the opportunity to pitch their ventures to a panel of esteemed judges and compete for a chance to win more than $125K of total prize money. There are two competition tracks: one for pre-revenue ventures and another for revenue-generating ventures.

Who Should Apply to the Black New Venture Competition?

The competition is open to entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to today’s toughest problems. Entrepreneurs with ventures that meet the following criteria are encouraged to apply:

- Self-identified Black founder or co-founder
- Proven minimum viable product
- Early Stage (Pre-seed – Seed)
- Less than 5 years in operation
- Raised less than $500,000 in funding to date

- Not a recipient of any previous funding from sponsors

Winners Will Also Benefit From:

Community & Engagement
BNVC alumni will benefit from a strong community of promising black founders and tactical resources to drive startup success beyond the pitch competition, including support from Goodie Nation.

Access to Investors
Semi-finalists and finalists are invited to a private investor speed networking event with angel investors and our VC sponsors.

VC Mentorship & HBS Resources

This year, BNVC Semifinalists will gain access to mentorship from established Venture Capitalists and educational programming from HBS faculty focused on presentation skills, networking, and mastering the founder journey.

The Process

1

Application Round

Hundreds of black-founded startups around the country will submit an application to the Black New Venture Competition. There will be two tracks: one for pre-revenue companies and one for revenue-generating companies that have raised less than $500K to-date.

2

Semifinal Round

After careful consideration, 20 teams will advance to the Semifinal Round, where they will deliver their pitches in front of a panel of established VCs. Those VCs will then select five finalists for the pre-revenue track and five finalists for the revenue track.

3

Final Round

In the final round, all finalists will travel to Harvard Business School during the African American Student Union Conference to pitch their startups to a new panel of VC judges and a live audience filled with conference attendees. Winners will be chosen that day.

Past BNVC Winners

Brook Ayalneh

Co-Founder & CEO of Avion

Avion is a robotics company transforming the healthcare industry by making access to healthcare universal and efficient, even in the most hard-to-reach locations.

Crystal Euvelocha

Founder & CEO of Kiira

Kiira is a telemedicine company providing a safe, confidential platform for women at colleges and universities.
The platform offers 24/7 phone, video, and chat capabilities with primary care, OB/GYN and mental health clinicians through a mobile app.

Wale Iawal, Ph. D.

Co-Founder & CEO of Mesa Quantum

Mesa Quantum pioneers chip-scale quantum sensing at the forefront of Quantum 2.0, delivering unprecedented precision and power in sensing and computation beyond the limits of traditional technologies.

Michael Bervell

Co-Founder & CEO of TestParty

TestParty is revolutionizing web accessibility by providing tools to make websites more inclusive and user-friendly for all. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, Testparty simplifies the process of enhancing accessibility, empowering developers and organizations to build digital experiences that are truly open to everyone.

What Will Go Down

Friday

10 am

Registration & Networking Breakfast