Compete with Purpose.
Win with Data.

The Draper Data Science Business Plan Competition empowers student entrepreneurs across North America to advance ventures that leverage data science to generate real-world impact. Student-led teams compete for up to $100,000 in cash investments. The 2025 competition featured eight finalists who presented their data-driven business plans to a panel of judges on Friday, April 10, 2026, at the University of Texas at San Antonio:

The 2026 Finalists:

  • Cruze – UT San Antonio (San Antonio, TX)
  • DialySafe – Rice University (Houston, TX)
  • FloNeur – UT San Antonio (San Antonio, TX)
  • Foundly – University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)
  • Kinnex Health – University of Idaho (Moscow, ID)
  • NeurivAI – UT San Antonio (San Antonio, TX)
  • Theta – Grambling University (Grambling, LA)

Made possible by a generous $1 million donation from Timothy Draper, a third-generation venture capitalist, and his wife, Melissa Parker Draper, this competition highlights the intersection of data science and entrepreneurship.

 

Winners:

1st Place Winners - Cruze (UT San Antonio)Draper 1st Place Winners.
2nd Place Winners & Most Data Science Driver - NeurivAI
(UT San Antonio)

Draper Competition 2nd Place Winners.

3rd Place Winners - DialySafe (Rice University)

Draper Competition 3rd Place Winners

Judges' Choice - Kinnex Health (University of Idaho)

Draper Competition Judges' Choice Winners.

 

Fan Favorite - FloNeur (UT San Antonio)

Draper Competition Fan Favorite Winners.

 

“Data science will drive the greatest transformations of the next few decades. Business plan competitions tend to encourage and attract those people who are going to make those transformations. Melissa and I have found these competitions to be a magnet for progress and change.”