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Destin George Bell was fresh out of college when he conceived the idea for Card.io, a movement app taking boring cardio and transforms it into a fun and social game of team turf war. Inspired by his athletic career, Destin came up with a brilliant idea to solve the biggest problems anyone faces when trying to accomplish their fitness goals — motivation and consistency.
A University of Kentucky alum is using the skills he learned in the classroom to give back to veterans. Camron Brown, a first-generation college graduate, graduated from UK in 2020 and is quickly making a name for himself in the professional world. In 2021 Brown was named to Forbes’ Next 1,000 list which shines a light on up-and-coming entrepreneurs.
The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship in the Gatton College of Business & Economics is excited to partner with the College of Communication and Information for this informative lunch and learn event.
The PNC Wildcat Pitch Competition will be held on Saturday, April 22, 2023 in the Gatton College of Business & Economics. This full day competition will allow student teams to pitch a business plan in their division, undergraduate or graduate, to compete for a spot in the final round. Perform your best pitch for a panel of prestigious judges for a chance to win seed money. $20,000 is up for grabs. Contact Warren Nash for all questions and application forms: warren.nash@uky.edu
The Gatton College of Business and Economics is pleased to announce its continued collaboration with PNC Bank to host the 2023 PNC Innovation Summit, a two-day event that includes the PNC Innovation Conference and PNC Wildcat Pitch Competition, April 21-22, 2023.
Are you inspired to help your community or a cause near and dear to your heart? Often the motivation in starting a nonprofit comes out of identifying a need. However, is launching your own nonprofit organization right for you, and really, how do you do it? The concept is exciting but it goes hand-in-hand with a lot of challenges and hard work in figuring out how to achieve your goals. Starting a nonprofit begins with building a strong vision for what it will do and how it will be accomplished.
March 2023 (Lexington, Ky) - The 18th Annual CCTS Spring Conference will be held on March 27, 2023 in the Gatton Student Center (in-person). The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship hosts its 6th annual poster pitch competition during the conference. Full conference agenda and registration details are forthcoming. For questions, contact CCTS staff member, April Bridenbecker, at april.bridenbecker@uky.edu.
December 2022 (Lexington, Ky) - Congratulations to the Fall 2022 Entrepreneurs Bootcamp 1.0 teams! The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship (VACE), in the Gatton College of Business & Economics, is proud to announce the top 10 early-stage companies that will be receiving startup capital and moving on to Bootcamp 2.0 in the Spring 2023 semester.
September 2022 (Lexington, Ky) - The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship is excited to partner with Keyhorse Capital in identifying new deal flow for The Kentucky Angel Investors Network.
May 2022 (Lexington, Ky) - The Spring 2022 Entrepreneurs Bootcamp 1.0 program finished the Monday section on April 25, 2022. Fifteen teams pitched their final presentations to a panel of judges, and the top 5 teams received $1,000 each. The Bootcamp 2.0 teams also finished strong with the top 5 teams receiving $2,000 each in startup funding. The Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise generously sponsored portions of the prize money for Bootcamp 1.0 and 2.0.
April 2022 (Lexington, Ky) - The Spring 2022 Entrepreneurs Bootcamp 2.0 program wrapped up the semester with five teams winning $2,000 each in startup capital. In addition, two teams received $500 each as a special award called the "Dentons Choice Award" made possible by law firm Dentons Bingham Greenebaum. Other sources of funding are generously provided by The Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise.
April 2022 (Lexington, KY) - The PNC Business Innovation Summit is a time for the bright minds of the campus and community to learn valuable life lessons from industry leaders.
April 2022 (Lexington, KY) - The 17th Annual CCTS Spring Conference was held in conjunction with the College of Dentistry Research Day, College of Nursing Scholarship Showcase, College of Public Health Research Day and the College of Health Sciences Research Day. The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship was excited to be part of the conference, hosting the 5th Annual "60-second Poster Pitch" Competition on April 5th, 2022. These awards were generously sponsored by the Institute for
April 2022 (Lexington, KY) - The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship is proud to announce that Dentons Bingham Greenebaum will provide two $500 awards to two standout Entrepreneur Bootcamp 2.0 graduating teams. The “Dentons Choice Award” recognizes the importance of early stage funding to help validate a startup’s proof of concept stage, while encouraging entrepreneurs to press forward.
About Dentons
LEXINGTON, Ky (March 11, 2022) — COVID-19 brought to the forefront the challenges of mental health around the world. During the Feb. 26, 2022 Global Mental Health Hack-A-Thon, University of Kentucky students and the Kentucky community proposed solutions to this global health challenge.
March 2022 (Lexington, Ky) - When we look at building a business online, we look at the software needed, the algorithms that will help us collect data, the design elements for the website, the integration of different apps, and how to run the business online. The world wide web connected the world to make it much easier for people to get information, share, and communicate with one another. But when it comes down to business, the human aspect is being summarized as whether the website or application is user-friendly or not.
April 2022 (Lexington, Ky) - The 17th Annual CCTS Spring Conference will be held on April 5, 2022 in the Gatton Student Center (in-person). This event is held in conjunction with the College of Dentistry Research Day, College of Nursing Scholarship Showcase, College of Public Health Research Day and the College of Health Sciences Research Day. The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship hosts its 5th annual poster pitch competition during the conference. To register, click here.
December 2021 (Lexington, KY) - The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship is happy to announce that Christine Wildes has been named the Associate Director of Innovation Training for UK Innovate! Team VACE is grateful to have worked with Christine in the Gatton College of Business & Economics over the last three years supporting the Entrepreneurs Bootcamp, developing the Salesforce Club, and teaching entrepreneurship as an adjunct faculty member under the Department of Management.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 24, 2021) — A partnership among the City of Lexington, the University of Kentucky, Commerce Lexington and Coastal Cloud announced the creation of a new UK Salesforce Consultancy Incubator Program yesterday.
Lexington, KY (July 23, 2021) - The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship hosted the 2nd Annual"Wildly Possible" Virtual Startup Contest on July 23, 2021, in which only the Top 5 finalists were selected out numerous applicants across the state of Kentucky. These top finalists were teams ZKaka, Rave on Sports, My Vocal Health, Fresh Eyes Solutions, and ReBegin.
Acumen Media, a Black-Founded Corporation, was created in hopes to go hand in hand with an athlete’s name, image, and likeness (NIL) in a manner that is profitable for everyone. Formerly, athletes had no choice but to surrender their rights to profit, subsequently signing their scholarship contracts. However, The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) July 1, 2021, embraced a varying policy with NIL. This policy legally grants athletes their deserved
Congratulations to Entrepreneurs Bootcamp alum, and 1st place winner in the graduate division of the PNC Wildcat Pitch Competition, Soroosh Torabi.
Congrats Graduates & Winners of the Entrepreneurs Bootcamp Spring 2021 Program
The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship hosted the 4th Annual "60-second Poster Pitch" Competition in collaboration with the CCTS Spring Research Conference on April 8th, 2021. Congratulations to the winners!
VACE Entrepreneurs Bootcamp Team, Badland Wolves, Exceeds Kickstarter Goal
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 1, 2021) — The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship (VACE) is pleased to announce that a one-person team in their Entrepreneurs Bootcamp 2.0 program has successfully raised over $10,000 in seed funding through their Kickstarter campaign.
Lexington — August 4, 2020 — VACE is announcing, the creation of a brand-new type of club at UK. The University of Kentucky’s Salesforce Club (UKY SFC) hosted by the Gatton College of Business & Economics in the Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship.
July 27, 2020: “Wildy Possible” Virtual Startup Contest Winners Announced! The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship hosted the "Wildly Possible" Virtual Startup Contest on July 20, 2020, in which only the Top 5 finalists were selected out of over 150 applicants.
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $300,000 CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, to boost their capacity to support regional economic development strategies in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Contact: EDA Public Affairs Department, (202) 482-4085 | July 8, 2020