Lucy Turner and Luke Campbell pitch their business, Vxt, to a judging panel during the UCE EY Summer Startup Programme
Luke and Lucy have just received a $4,000 New Zealand Business Intelligence (NZBI) grant towards the further development of Vxt. These grants were open to any New Zealand entrepreneur under the age of 30, so to win one of only two grants available was a very impressive achievement.
Lucy Turner and Luke Campbell, the team behind Vxt.
This award comes after months of hard work by Luke and Lucy on their startup. Over the university summer break, they participated in the UCE EY Summer Startup Programme, in which Vxt was selected to present in the final showcase. Since then, Vxt have added another developer to their team, and reached the top seven in the Dream Believe Succeed Big Break competition. Vxt is currently working on getting their application ready for testing and are planning to launch later this year.
Nick Burns, a member of NZBI, congratulated Luke and Lucy on their excellent pitch. The judges’ questions were difficult, but Luke responded well, and managed to prove to the panel that Vxt will stand out from competitors, including one who has just released a similar voicemail to text product.
Despite the hard questions, Luke said “pitching to the team behind NZBI was a wicked experience. All of the members are experts in their respective fields, so we got a really diverse range of questions and feedback throughout the process”.
Luke also said that being involved in the UCE EY Summer Startup Programme had provided invaluable pitch practice, which contributed to Vxt’s success - “we probably pitched to the UCE team more than 100 times over the summer, and each time we were able to polish our presentation more and more”. UC Centre for Entrepreneurship will continue to provide support and mentorship to Vxt through the Hatchery programme - UCE’s incubator for student ventures.
You can read more about Vxt here.
UCE provides a dedicated, student-focused space where innovation can flourish, stimulating the development of entrepreneurs through a combination of research, teaching and community engagement.
For further information please contact:
UC Centre for Entrepreneurship (UCE) by emailing uce@canterbury.ac.nz
