Alumni Ventures’ 10KE Program Expecting Its Largest Ever Applicant Pool
Application deadline is March 15 for AV’s nonprofit program offering grants to foster undergraduate entrepreneurial ventures
MANCHESTER, NH, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 — The deadline for applications to Alumni Ventures’ 10,000 Entrepreneurs Program (10KE) is fast approaching. U.S. and Canadian undergraduates have until March 15 to submit their proposals to be considered for a $2,000 grant to support the pursuit of entrepreneurial internships. AV’s program directors report high interest in the grant and anticipate one of the largest applicant pools to date.
The 10KE initiative provides stipends to undergraduate college students for summer internships at fast-growing startups or to finance their own ventures. In its pilot year, 10KE awarded 20 grants to students across North America. In 2021, 10KE awarded 50 scholarships of $1,000 for each individual. In 2022, 10KE will award $2,000 scholarships to 25 undergraduate students. The scholarship can be used to supplement students’ living expenses while they pursue summer internships at startups or to fund their own ventures.
10KE is a nonprofit founded by Alumni Ventures in 2019 to ignite and nurture the entrepreneurial spirit of future generations. The program gives special attention to providing opportunities to underrepresented groups, with at least 50 percent of the awards set aside for these applicants. The program aims to support a diverse community of creators and innovators that possess the potential to become tomorrow’s next business leaders.
“The success of future generations is tied directly to the ability for disruptive entrepreneurs to venture off the beaten path and explore new paradigms,” says Alumni Ventures CEO, Michael Collins. “10KE represents our firm’s commitment to investing in the next generation of visionaries that will shape the financial landscape for decades to come.”
Previous award winners have demonstrated the ability to discover new high-potential markets hiding in plain sight while bringing fresh perspectives to conventional markets historically taken for granted. Winners also demonstrate outside-the-box thinking, a desire to learn new skills, and a measured approach to risk taking.
Here are three winners from our 2021 cohort:
- Brihu Sundararaman studies Computer Science at Yale and is the Co-Founder of Yes Internships, which connects students to startup internships. In 2021, the Yes Internship Program connected with 400 startups and provided over 300 internships for students across the United States.
- Iris Guo from the University of Waterloo is the Founder of Neutrify, a startup dedicated to shifting consumer behavior towards sustainable food through gamified education. As Iris says, “We empower consumers to make informed decisions utilizing nutritional data.” She also worked at Google X on the Everyday Robot Project to build inclusive robots that complete a range of everyday tasks in people’s lives.
- Avika Patel studied Computer Science at Stanford University and interned with Wescover in 2021, a startup that maintains a platform for small-batch, custom art and design pieces.
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The nonprofit 10,000 Entrepreneurs was founded in 2019 by Alumni Ventures to foster the development of a deeper entrepreneurial ecosystem. We’re beginning by helping college students pursue entrepreneurial projects and careers through our 10KE Internship Grant. Our goal is to encourage undergrads to explore entrepreneurship, in its broadest form, regardless of their ultimate career choices.
Alumni Ventures offers accredited individuals access to network-powered venture capital — a key asset class missing from the portfolios of many sophisticated investors. Since launching its first venture fund in 2014, AV has raised more $900 million across two dozen Alumni and Focused Funds, serving a growing network of 7,500 investors and 600,000 community members and subscribers. AV evaluates hundreds of opportunities every year and has invested in over 900 unique portfolio companies. In 2020, PitchBook ranked AV as the most active VC firm in the U.S. AV funds are private, for-profit, and not affiliated with or sanctioned by any school. For more information, visit av.vc.