First time ever win for Aggies in Rice Business Plan Competition

Texas A&M Today

A student team from Texas A&M University won the grand prize at the Rice Business Plan Competition for their startup company TriFusion Devices, which has developed customizable, 3D-printed prosthetic leg devices. The Aggies collected four checks totaling nearly $400,000; it was the first time a Texas A&M team has ever won the competition.

TriFusion Devices consists of two Ph.D. engineering students, co-founders Blake Teipel and Brandon Sweeney, and Mays Business School MD/MBA student Britton Eastburn, who later joined the team.

The Rice Business Plan Competition is the largest student-centered business plan competition in the world; over $1.69 million in prize money was awarded to 42 companies this past weekend. The companies represented schools from across the U.S. and around the globe, including the University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon University, which took second and third place, respectively.

The TriFusion team was actively involved in many of the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship (CNVE) endeavors, including the Raymond Ideas Challenge having won twice, Silicon Valley Bank Trek, NSF Innovation Corps and significant mentoring through Professor Don Lewis and his team at Startup Aggieland.

“TriFusion is a great example of a team that leveraged the significant resources in the Texas A&M University entrepreneurship ecosystem. All of our team could not be prouder of what this great group of talented Aggie students has accomplished,” says Richard Lester, executive director of the CNVE.

The list of competitors is at http://www.ricebusinessplancompetition.com/42-competitors.html