Eight finalist teams pitched before a panel of judges on Friday, March 1 in the 12th annual 2024 InNOLEvation® Challenge. The Raide team won the $10,000 first-place prize.
The annual InNOLEvation® Challenge provides students from all majors and grade levels the opportunity to gain valuable insight and experience in innovation and entrepreneurship. This business model competition focuses on identifying problems and potential solutions, building effective teams, defining the assumptions of a new venture and testing those assumptions in the field. The entire competition took place over two semesters with students submitting parts of the business model along the way.
Raide, founded by commercial entrepreneurship major Kennedy Joy Foristall and computer science major Noah Romo is a consumer-to-consumer clothing rental app created for college students, by college students. The Raide app allows users to rent their clothes out to members of their community and borrow from those users’ closets as well.
“The entire Raide team is thrilled and honored to have been awarded ‘Best Overall’ in the 2024 InNOLEvation® Challenge,” Foristall said. “Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to the remarkable fellow entrepreneurs who participated this year, making it a truly inspiring experience. We extend our sincere thanks to the Jim Moran College for their steadfast mentorship, invaluable resources and unwavering support throughout this journey.”
“As we savor this success, we eagerly anticipate the exciting opportunities that lie ahead,” Romo said. “Our commitment to fostering environmentally conscious communities through clothing remains unwavering, and we are enthusiastic about the positive impact we aim to achieve. This victory further fuels our passion and determination, and we look forward to the continued growth and success of the Raide mission.”
Other prize winners in the competition were:
- $4,000 Jim Moran Challenge Social Venture Award – E. esperance
- $4,000 Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award – Highlighter Cosmetics
- $4,000 DivvyUp Most Viable Award – Growth & Progress Realty
- $4,000 Growler Country Most Scalable Award – Aqua Insights
- $4,000 Most Innovative Award – PlayerWallet
- $500 Finalists – OK and HandMeDorm
To learn more about Raide, visit https://raideapp.com/.
To learn more about the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship InNOLEvation® Challenge visit https://icse.jmc.fsu.edu/competitions/innolevation-challenge