Mark Mobius Pitch Competition

• Teams may consist of 2-5 undergraduates, graduates and alumni. Teams must include at least one founding member and designate a faculty advisor/mentor from the university where a founding member attends or has recently graduated or an external advisor.
• Submission author(s) must submit original work. The submission author(s) will retain all rights to their pitch decks and its use prior to and following the competition. However, finalists must agree to allow photography, video, recording of live-stream and otherwise dissemination of their pitch deck presentation within Cornell for faculty, staff, students, and the Cañizares Center for Emerging Markets for educational purposes. In addition, final presentation recording may be posted on the SC Johnson College of Business website for public consumption. Teams can not use copyrighted materials and/or images from a third-party in their presentation and pitch decks.
• Submission author(s) give the pitch competition committee the right to post the pitch decks for student and professional judges to access items, write feedback, and assign numerical scores to the items based on an established rubric.
• Non-confidentiality. Finalists will be pitching live at a large, global conference organized by the Cañizares Center for Emerging Markets. Your presentations will be recorded and may be published on digital channels, including YouTube and the center’s website. Pitch presentations and other pitch activities are also open to the public with possible media coverage. Any information discussed in public pitches by participants could be publicly accessible. Further, judges, reviewers, staff, or the audience may not have signed non-disclosure statements;
• Within one week of the live presentations in November, the center kindly asks the finalists to record a video and write a blog post sharing their pitch experience to be posted on the center’s website. We also ask the finalists to speak to the finalists the following year to share guidance on pitching to a global audience.
• An information session will be scheduled. Before that, judges may contact you requesting additional information and/or an online meeting.

Submissions closed May 1, 2026.

• A team of at least two students or recent alumni (within the past three years);
• One faculty mentor from the founder’s university or alma mater, or an external advisor;
• A pitch deck of up to 20 slides describing the venture;
• A working prototype or evidence of market validation;
• Market potential in an emerging economy and/or global scaling potential; the pitch deck must include 5-year financial projections.
• The venture must be in an early development stage and have received less than USD 1 million in funding.

Five finalists will selected 2026

• Evaluators will review submissions and choose five finalists to pitch at the annual conference on November 5, 2026.
• The five finalists will join the Johnson Summer Startup Accelerator at Cornell University.
• Each of the finalists will gain access to optional networking and coaching opportunities prior to pitching at the annual conference.

Five finalists present at the final competition on November 5, 2026.

• $30,000* Grand Prize for Global Winner. The other four finalists will receive $10,000* each.
• The winner will present at the annual conference on November 6, 2026, at Cornell Tech campus in New York City.

*The award may be subject to tax with holdings.

Teams must submit a advisor with their submission. The advisor should work at a founder’s university (or alma mater if recently graduated) or an external advisor. Acting as a pitch advisor is not an official endorsement or nomination of the team. However, the advisor should have reviewed the team’s pitch deck and be willing to assist the team prepare for the pitch competition. Teams may share this packet with the faculty mentor with a few recommended and discouraged activities of a faculty advisor or external advisor:

Advisors are encourage to:

• Give constructive feedback and respond to questions and concerns.
• Suggest resources and individuals for the team to speak with prior to the competition.
• Identify weaknesses that may concern investors and suggest solutions.
• Keep the team’s materials confidential unless asked to distribute them by the team.

Advisors are discouraged from:

• Altering the team’s core idea or concept.
• Taking leadership of the team.
• Discussing information about a team with any parties that the team is unaware.
• Distributing team materials without permission of the team.

About the Center for Emerging Markets

The Mark Mobius Pitch Competition committee will reach out to the contact on file to confirm your team’s intent to pitch in the final. If your team is no longer operational, cannot be reached or chooses not to pitch at the global finals, you will forgo any possible expense reimbursement to the next runner-up. The competition may reach out to a runner-up with the opportunity to present at the global finals or proceed with the remaining teams.

Changes early and often are expected of early-stage ventures. The Mark Mobius Pitch Competition committee will reach out to the contact on file to collect your team’s updated pitch deck before the final. Please see the Rules and Guidelines regarding the distribution of your presentations at the public conference in November. Final presentations will be published on online platforms following the EMC² Annual Conference and may appear in third-party media coverage. By October your team will be asked to confirm that the main contact on file is the presenter and recipient of the finalist. Your team must indicate 2-5 team members that the final award money ($30,000*) would be split between should you win the pitch competition.

Finalists

1. DOCOKIDS, Universidad Javeriana Bogota, Colombia (Prize of $10,000)

• AGRICAN, The American University in Cairo & Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Marine Transport, Egypt
• AIDRA HEALTH, Harvard University, United States
• COEH, Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Brazil
• NAVIGARE, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil

The finals of the Cornell EMI Mark Mobius Pitch Competition were held on November 6, 2025. Docokids, from Universidad Javeriana de Bogota, Colombia, won the prize of $10,000. Watch the finals on EMI’s YouTube channel.

Chairs:
Thrisha Gogineni, Dyson ’28; Joealen Benson, EMBA/MS in Healthcare ’26; and Regina Clarke, EMBA Metro NY ’26.

Committee:
Rocky Brito, MSBA ’25; Aniket Dey, MSBA ’25; Edwin Torres, EMBA/MS in Healthcare ’25; and Rukuma Viegas, EMBA Metro NY ’25.

Judges:
Haroon Chohan, Daniella Cohen, Peter Cornelius, Stephane C. Corgie, Rustom Desai, Danil Kerimi, Tomer Joshua, Mark Mobius, John Ninia, Monica Pachon Buitrago, Stella Yuhang Song, Howard Tai, Vikrant Varshney and Fairuz Zein.

Finalists

1. iOptiCrane – The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Prize of $10,000)

• Pro Investing – Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
• Coco Technologies – Universidad EAFIT, Colombia
• AnTa – Esade Business School, Spain
• KalPay – Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan

Runners-Up

• Mis Pueblitos – Universidad del Pacifico, Peru
• Debita – Universidad de San Andres, Argentina

The finals of the Cornell EMI Mark Mobius Pitch Competition were held on October 31, 2024. iOptiCrane, from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, took home the grand prize of USD 10,000. Pitch finalists were additionally reimbursed USD 1,000 each to pitch their startups in NYC. Watch the finals on EMI’s YouTube channel.

Chairs:
Osagie Oigiagbe, MBA ’25; Carlos Bernos Amoros, MBA ’25; and Ying Xue, MSBA ’24.

Judges:
Bahia Alyafi, Michael Clouser, Diego Finchelstein, Amarildo Gjondrekaj, Jorge R. De Jesús, Nipun Joshi, Joshe Ordonez, Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui and Karan Teckchandani.

Finalists

1. Satellites on Fire – Universidad de San Andrés, Argentina (Prize of $10,000)

• EasyCarbon – The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Esger – Cornell Tech
• OneHealth+ – Cornell University
• Prami – Universidad de los Andes, Colombia

Runners-Up

• Macondo – Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
• Tatakai – IIM Kashipur, India

The finals of the Cornell EMI Mark Mobius Pitch Competition were held on November 3, 2023. Satellites on Fire, from Universidad de San Andrés, took home the grand prize of USD 10,000. Pitch finalists were additionally reimbursed USD 1,000 each to pitch their startups in NYC. Watch the finals on EMI’s YouTube channel.

Chairs:
Mateusz Lakomski, MBA ’24; Eman Said, MBA ’24; and Moriah Frank, EMBA Metro NY ’24.

Judges:
Johnson Cheng, Ishan Goenka, Heather Henyon, Mark Mobius, Sebastian Molina Gasman and Oliver Schulze.

Finalists

1. Life and Limb – IIT-Kanpur, India (Prize of $10,000)

• Chamak – Cornell University, India
• Kara – Keegan Flynn of London Business School, United Kingdom
• OMI – Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
• Soca- Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico

Runners-Up

• Aquatrac – Lagos Business School, Nigeria
• Tuvis.co – Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
• Purify City – Universidad de los Andes, Colombia

The finals of the Cornell EMI Mark Mobius Pitch Competition were held on November 4, 2022. Life and Limb, from IIT-Kanpur took home the grand prize of USD 10,000. Pitch finalists shown to the right were additionally awarded USD 1,000 each to prepare to pitch at the global finals. Watch the finals on EMI’s YouTube channel.

Chairs:
Rebecca Greenway, MBA ’22; Rodrigo Ley, MBA ’23; and Sarah Landes, MBA ’23.

Judges:
Momina Aijazzudin, Sandiip Bhammer, Pablo Borquez, Rustom Desai, Christina Valauri, Ishan Ashish Goenka, Carlos Garcia, Mario Saravia, Oliver Schulze, Jonathan Swavely, Silvia von Gunten and David (Wei) Wu.

Finalists

1. Offgrid Labs – IIT-Kanpur, India (Prize of $10,000)

• Runner up: Khepra – London Business School, United Kingdom
• Algaenoor – American University of Cairo, Egypt
• Don Salazar – Universidad del Pacifico, Peru
• HostelGig – University of Ghana, Ghana
• Humans to Humans – Cornell University, United States
• Misto Chocolates – Al Yarmook, Jordan
• Tradertent Limited – Lagos Business School, Nigeria
• Wallo ID – Universidad de los Andes, Colombia

The finals of the Cornell EMI Mark Mobius Pitch Competition were held on November 5, 2021. Student and recent graduate entrepreneurs competed for a total prize of USD15,000. Offgrid Labs, from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, won the grand prize of USD10,000. Watch the finals on EMI’s YouTube channel.

Chairs:
Rebecca Greenway, MBA ’22 and Daita Goswamy, MBA ’22.

Judges:
Momina Aijazuddin, Bahia Alyafi, Pablo Borquez, Sandiip Bhammer, Thatcher Bell, Roberto Cañizares, Johnson Cheng, Peter Cornelius, Carlos Garcia, Ishan Ashish Goenka, Silvia von Gutten, Mark Mobius, Diana Neves, Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui, Mario Saravia, Oliver Schulze, Shaun Stewart, Christina Valauri, William Wesscott and David (Wei) Wu.

Finalists

1. SaveFruit Corp. – Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico (Prize of $10,000)

• Open Tabs – IE Business School, Spain
• Human Leap SAS – Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
• Gamegram Online – Universidad de San Andrés, Argentina
• Easy Trademarks by MRIP – Cornell University
• Tradertent Limited – Lagos Business School, Nigeria
• Kritsnam Technologies – IIT-Kanpur, India
• TissueLabs – Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
• Baduk – Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Brazil
• KODEXO – Yonsei University, South Korea

The Cornell Emerging Markets Institute launched its inaugural pitch competition on November 7, 2020, to give international recognition to student and recent graduate-run startups with a presence in emerging markets. Savefruit Corp, from the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, won the grand prize of USD10,000.

Chair:
Diana Neves, MBA ’20.

Judges:
Momina Aijazzudin, Ashish Bhatia, Pepe Bolaños, Rob Cañizares, Johnson Cheng, Peter Corneliius, Ricardo Miracca Gennari, Mario Saraiva, Chip Silverman, Jonathan Swavely, Luciana Mari Tsukada, Christina Valauri and Chain Vayakornvichit.