This cohort, our students impressed us with some seriously cool new ideas. From ice cream, to dog food, to sustainable fashion services - you’ll definitely want to keep your eye on these talented tauira.
The entire cohort deserves a massive round of applause this semester for getting through the last nine weeks of zoom fatigue, level changes, uncertainty, and a distinct lack of pizza. While we were sad we couldn’t see them each week in person, it’s clear they put in the hard yards anyway, and we’re so proud of their mahi.
Judging was very difficult, but luckily we had the awesome team of Bex from Firebrand, Heidi from Innov8HQ, Jason from Pocketsmith, and Peter Ramsay from Mainland Angel Investment Network for guidance.
Of course, we couldn’t run Audacious at all without support from our founding partners, Dunedin City Council, Otago University, Callaghan Innovation, and Otago Polytechnic; and our awesome sponsors Polson Higgs, Firebrand, United Machinists, and Pocketsmith.
Keep reading for a list of the prizewinners, and for more about each startup! You can also watch our students’ winning pitches and the prize giving here.
(Pitches begin at 37 minutes, and end at the 1 hr 21 minute mark.)
Winners list
Emily Stewart - Zilla Nice Cream
Winner of the Polson Higgs Premiere Award, Best Pitch, United Machinists Best Physical Product, and People's Choice.
Andrea Juhasz - Raw & Wild
Winner of Best Positive Impact and the Firebrand Transformation Package
Elle Chotiwanich, Rosie Graham, Alice Wassell, and Ben Taylor - Hue
Winner of Pocketsmith Makers Award
Tess Brais-Laflamme - FootFix
Joint Winner of Best Entrepreneur
Georgia Cleaver - Looped It
Joint Winner of Best Entrepreneur
Emily White - SUDMerge
Winner of Most Audacious
About the startups
Zilla Nice Cream, developed by Emily Stewart (University of Otago), appealed to the judges’ collective sweet tooth. Designed as a superior, healthy alternative to ice cream, Zilla uses overripe bananas with natural ingredients to produce something that is not only delicious, but combats food waste. It wasn’t just our judges that loved the pitch - not only did Emily take out the Polson Higgs Premiere award, United Machinist’s Best Physical Product, and Best Pitch, but she also managed to score People’s Choice on the night! Four awards in one go - that’s an Audacious record.
Raw & Wild is the brainchild of Andrea Juhasz, the long-distance MBA student who took out both Best Positive Impact and the Firebrand Transformation Package for her innovative take on pest control and dog food. Raw & Wild uses the meat harvested from pests like possums to produce eco-friendly dog food, making a dent in the pest populations and contributing to the protection of our native fauna.
Hue are a team of four, with Elle Chotiwanich, Rosie Graham, Alice Wassell, and Ben Taylor working together on their idea for nontoxic vegan crayons. Hue won the inaugural Pocketsmith Makers Award this year, an award designed to support those who are, at their core, true makers. A clever idea considering how often toddlers put things into their mouths that they shouldn’t be!
Otago Polytechnic student Tess Brais-Laflamme has put her best foot forward (sorry, not sorry) this year, and won joint Best Entrepreneur for her solution to ingrown toenails. Footfix is a tiny plastic strip that safely adhered to the afflicted nail, encouraging it to lift and grow correctly.
The other recipient of Best Entrepreneur, Georgia Cleaver, reduces fast fashion’s environmental impact with Looped It. This service gives thrift stores the means of photographing their stock, while Looped It handles the process of connecting them to customers.
It wouldn’t be an Audacious prizegiving without the namesake award - Most Audacious. This went to Young Enterprise Trust alum Emily White, inventor of SUDmerge. This is a smart new way of reducing household waste, by providing an environmentally sound alternative. Switching up a household staple of squeezy-bottle-of-liquid for a teaspoon-of-fizzy-powder approach is definitely a big, bold idea - we can’t wait to see where it leads.
Interested in Audacious 2022?
Audacious is a free programme for University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic students who want to make a positive impact - whether you’re planning to enter the workforce, starting a business or you’re still figuring it out.
