“We’re not like a regular showcase event, we’re a cool showcase event.”
- Grace Esterman, Programme Facilitator at Startup Dunedin
The energy in the room at our Audacious showcase was buzzing, with our Ōtepoti startup ecosystem coming together again to celebrate the amazing work from this year’s cohort of hardworking Audacious students! This year, a massive 72 students from all areas of study at Otago University and Otago Polytechnic were involved in Audacious. With drinks in hand and the best spicy tortilla chips in the world (quote us on that - go on), we took our seats to cheer for the hard mahi, pivots, reworks, and new beginnings of our Audacious participants.
Keep reading to learn more about the six winning startups from this year’s Audacious cohort - including our grand prize winner this year, CourseSpy.
Our Audacious Demo Day
For the first time, the Audacious Showcase included a super-cool demo day, where Audacious students and a variety of other passionate entrepreneurs from around Ōtepoti were able to set up stalls to interface with the public, get in front of potential customers, and show the world what they’ve been working on.
The range of displays was amazing, featuring everything from poo-brick prototypes, marketing materials, and creative zines, to a massage chair (and free massages)! It was fantastic to see such a diverse mix of projects on display, with students using this opportunity to gather feedback, spark conversations, and showcase their startups to the community.
Watch it back on YouTube
Missed the action? No worries - we livestreamed it. You can watch here. (Pssst… Kenzie’s apologies for the dropped-phone in the second half, plus the overheard giggles - we ran into some technical difficulties with our usual livestreaming equipment, and had to do some last-minute problem solving involving a phone, a drink bottle, and sellotape - true startup style.)
Keep reading for a recap on all our wicked prizewinning startups this year.
The prizewinning students and their startups
Rising Chaos Studios - Chaise Benson
Prize: Commitment to Education Award – $250
Currently studying game design communications at Otago Polytechnic, Chaise is the audacious student behind Rising Chaos Studios! Their mahi focuses on developing a games studio that underlines inclusivity and provides a narrative spotlight for LGBTQIA+ groups, disabled folks, and under-represented or marginalised communities, who don’t often see themselves in the traditional table-top gaming space. With some great research into their target market and one of the most decked-out stalls (including a very cool creative zine), Rising Chaos Studios earned themselves an award for their commitment to education in building their startup.
Firebug - Jack Caldwell
Prize: Industry Disruptor Award – $250
Jack is an economics and geography student at Otago University, and his startup, Firebug is already making waves with over 40 sales to date! Watch Jack's pitch for reusable ceramic fire starters and you'll think "ooh, yeah, I'd buy that. Given the huge number of fireplaces in Dunedin and the long, cold winters, there’s a great opportunity here for Firebug to make our fire-lighting processes much easier and more sustainable.
His creativity and drive got him a spot in our Distiller Incubator, and Firebug was recognised with the Industry Disruptor award - so watch this space!
Samuel Budgen
Prize: Entrepreneurial Mindset Award – $500
Samuel, who is studying both computer science and neuroscience at Otago University, impressed us with Dibs (software for reserving things like washing machines at halls of residences) and Mastery Modules (a way to make study easier, especially for those pesky exams with low pass rates) - two bright ideas that really impressed our judges this year, and ended up landing him a spot in our Distiller Incubator . Samuel was also a part of CourseSpy with his brother Josiah. His curious, dedicated, and problem-focused approach shone through, earning him this well-deserved prize for his own entrepreneurial mindset.
Flo & Fau - Natalya Skelton
Prize: Best Pitch Award – $500
Natalya is studying a double major in food science and microbiology at Otago University. She really wowed us with her hilarious sketch-style pitch for Flo & Fau, a Kombucha product with added functional benefits to improve health and wellbeing.
Her pitch wasn’t just funny, though - she’d really done the work behind the scenes with validation and market research. At our showcase this year, she was awarded our Best Pitch award for her efforts.
Women’s Cognitive Health App - Ashlee Berryman
Prize: The Otago Innovation Award for Best Research Venture – $500
Ashlee is currently studying her PhD student at Otago University, researching cognition and pain-related neuroscience through a women’s health scope. She brought her idea for a cognitive health app designed to support women’s wellbeing through Audacious to understand the commercial potential and wider impact of her research. Otago Innovation, who are the tech transfer organisation at Otago University, are focused on helping students learn more about where their research could take them - and they were really blown away by Ashlee’s research so far! There’s a lot of positive impact potential in her solution, and her research efforts earned her the well-deserved inaugural Otago Innovation Award.
Josh, who is studying computer science & management at Otago University and Abby, who is studying computer science & biochemistry (also at Otago Uni), are quite the overachievers! Not only did they take home two prizes at our showcase for their innovative approach to event services like equipment hire, lighting and AV design services and photography, but they also provided the amazing lighting setup for the whole showcase itself.
Cue-Go are already kicking major goals; after becoming a preferred partner for the Dunedin Fringe Festival this year, we’re gearing up to help them through our Distiller Incubator as a next step, and we’re certain there are huge things on the horizon for this amazing team.
Range of Motion - Sonia Evers
Prize: Commitment to education Award – $250 and Best Market Opportunity – $500
Sonia is studying massage therapy at Otago Polytechnic alongside starting up her business, Range of Motion, which is focused on improving mobility and recovery through targeted massage therapy. But what’s special about Range of Motion? Well, they also offer canine massage! That’s right, Sonia is looking to tackle aches, pains, sprains and muscle problems on both ends of the leash.
With her extensive research into her market and dedication to her craft, she ended up winning two awards at our Audacious showcase this year. She also brought her massage table with her - making the demo day section of our showcase a whole lot more relaxing!
Shitbrix - Janiqua McCarthy
Prize: Best in Sustainability – $1000 and People’s Choice (Best Booth/Stall) – $250
Ahh, Shitbrix, truly the favourite word of the night. Janiqua is a product design student at Otago Polytechnic this year, and she brought some humour, some ah-ha moments, and a focus on sustainability to the stage with Shitbrix - an alternative to firewood made from horse poo. This is a product design project with serious potential to reduce waste, as well as being much easier to use, stack, and carry than traditional firewood! Janiqua’s stall was complete with a… um… shit-brick prototype, which wowed both the judges and the audience as she won both our major Best in Sustainability prize, and the Peoples’ Choice for best booth!
CourseSpy - Josiah Budgen
Prize: 2024 Audacious Premiere Award – $1000, and Avid Legal Curiousity Award - $500 worth of legal advice, and People’s Choice – $250
Psst, this is Sam Bugden, with the awards he’s accepted the award on his brother Josiah’s behalf.
Damn, CourseSpy. Way to knock it out of the park. Josiah is a busy and dedicated med student studying at Otago University who is also working on CourseSpy; an all-in-one platform offering reviews of lecturers and courses, resources to help students navigate their academic journey, and more. His pitch highlighted a massive market opportunity, a really interesting problem worth solving, and one of the sleekest solutions we’ve ever seen cross the Audacious stage. It’s not hard to see why CourseSpy are this year’s winner of the Premiere award, with their impressive traction and the opportunity for massive growth in the future. We’re excited to induct them into our Distiller Incubator and see what the future holds for CourseSpy.
Being such a busy and dedicated student, Josiah was actually on placement in Oamaru during the night of the showcase, so we don’t have any cool photos of him to share as his brother Samuel Bugden (remember him from earlier?) accepted the award on his behalf. But you can go take a look at CourseSpy if you like - click here to visit their website!
This whole thing was a team effort, by the way.
We’d like to extend a huge, annoyingly-sincere and heartfelt thank you to our judges: Sam Barclay from Stayinfront, Amie Taua from Dunedin City Council, Jo Kirkwood from Otago Polytechnic, Bex Twemlow from Firebrand, and Pete Lead from Startup Dunedin. Your time, insights, and encouragement made a world of difference to our student entrepreneurs, and we are incredibly grateful to have your support.
No one does bad startup jokes and weird fire-related anecdotes quite like our M.C. of the evening, Benjamin Hutchison. As the co-founder of Skillzea and an alumni of both Otago University and our Distiller Incubator programme, Benjamin did a fantastic job of keeping the energy high.
Another shout-out is in order this year too, to our fantastic prize sponsors! Thanks to the awesome teams at Otago Innovation, Regus, and Avid Legal. Your continued support helps foster the next generation of startup innovation in our awesome little city.
Of course, we’d be remiss not to issue another massive shout-out to Cue-Go for the gorgeous fancy lighting that made the night extra special. The special shade of green, in particular, really kicked things up a notch from previous showcases.
We would finally like to say thank you to our core sponsors, Dunedin City Council, Otago Polytechnic, and Otago University. It’s so awesome that we live in a city that really backs student entrepreneurship the way that you do, and that you also share in our belief that the next big idea could very well come from the mind of an Ōtepoti student. Without our three core sponsors, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.
Once again, a huge thank you to everyone who came along, both in person and online. Your support is what makes this all possible.
