Cornell EMC² Mark Mobius Pitch Competition

The 2025 Final

The Cornell Emerging Markets Institute held the finals of the Cornell EMI Mark Mobius Pitch Competition 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, Regina Clarke, EMBA Metro NY ’26.

Committee: Rocky Brito, MSBA ’25, Aniket Dey, MSBA ’25, Edwin Torres, EMBA/MS in Healthcare ’25, 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

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

The 2024 Final

The Cornell Emerging Markets Institute held the finals of the Cornell EMI Mark Mobius Pitch Competition 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, Ying Xue, MSBA ’24.

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

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

The 2023 Final

The Cornell Emerging Markets Institute held the finals of the Cornell EMI Mark Mobius Pitch Competition 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, Moriah Frank, EMBA Metro NY ’24

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

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

The 2022 Final

The Cornell Emerging Markets Institute held the finals of the Cornell EMI Mark Mobius Pitch Competition 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, David (Wei) Wu

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 2021 Final

The Cornell Emerging Markets Institute held the finals of the Cornell EMI Mark Mobius Pitch Competition 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 & 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, 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 2020 Final

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.