This past Friday, the semi-finals of the 2025 NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge transformed NYU Stern into a high-stakes environment for student founders tackling some of today’s most pressing challenges—from AI and digital wellness to biotech and circular economy solutions.

More than 25 years after its inception, the Entrepreneurs Challenge has become one of the largest and most rigorous university startup accelerators in the country, with more than $225K in prize funding on the line. This year’s competition drew over 100 teams across NYU’s 19 schools, narrowing to just 25 Semi-Finalists spread across three fast-moving tracks: the New Venture Competition, the Digital Tech Venture Competition, and the Healthcare Venture Competition.

This year’s semi-finals brought together an extraordinary community of startup veterans and emerging industry voices, including seasoned entrepreneurs, investors, and innovation leaders who bring deep sector expertise. Many are NYU alumni or long-time Challenge supporters, and several returned to judge pitches in their areas of expertise.

Each team had nine minutes to pitch, followed by 20 minutes Q&A where judges pushed founders to explain their customer insights, financial models, competitive differentiation, and go-to-market strategy. After intense deliberation, judges advanced 11 finalists across all 3 tracks.

And the Finalists Are…