Finalists set for 2016 Tiger Cage competition at Auburn University

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Students from Auburn University’s Raymond J. Harbert College of Business, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and College of Liberal Arts will compete for more than $20,000 in funding during the finals of the Tiger Cage student entrepreneurship competition on Friday, April 22.

The event will be held from 8:45-10 a.m. at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

The finalists include:

  • Funnel, represented by freshman finance major Jackson Speaks and sophomore engineering major Haven Barnes
  • HillVoy Solutions, composed of junior information systems management major Bobby Hillman, senior finance major Zach LaVoy and senior computer science major Eric Jackson
  • EZXS, represented by industrial systems graduate students Siddarth Doogar, Chaitanya Pawar, Rishi Kamat and Akilesh Yamsani
  • Envelope Aerospace, with sophomore media studies major Dennis French, junior engineering systems major Shawn Majzlik and sophomore chemical engineering major Troy Ferguson.

Presented by the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business, Tiger Cage enables students to pitch early-stage business, product or service concepts to a panel of judges for a shot at a $10,000 grand prize.

The panel of judges for this year’s finals includes entrepreneur Kevin Harrington, an original “Shark Tank” panelist and pioneer of the “As Seen on TV” product line, as well as Dasher Technologies President and CEO Laurie Dasher, 4M Research Founder and CEO Julie Maertz, Oakworth Capital Bank Senior Managing Director and CEO Scott Reed and Torch Technologies President John Watson.
Three teams from the inaugural Tiger Cage competition in 2015 have launched businesses – Parking Grid Technologies, SimplyProse and Tennibot.

Auburn University is a nationally ranked land grant institution recognized for its commitment to world-class scholarship, interdisciplinary research with an elite, top-tier Carnegie R1 classification, life-changing outreach with Carnegie’s Community Engagement designation and an undergraduate education experience second to none. Auburn is home to more than 30,000 students, and its faculty and research partners collaborate to develop and deliver meaningful scholarship, science and technology-based advancements that meet pressing regional, national and global needs. Auburn’s commitment to active student engagement, professional success and public/private partnership drives a growing reputation for outreach and extension that delivers broad economic, health and societal impact.