On Thursday 12 April 2018, hundreds of students gathered in Paris despite the strikes to take part in the 4th edition of the Morpheus Cup, organised by Farvest.
While some competed during the day to win the Morpheus Cup (won by EU Business School Barcelona, with Mannheim Business School, HEC Paris & Warsaw School of Economics as previous winners), 90 teams pitched in front of a jury of professionals to get the chance to win €10,000. More than 380 projects were examined by the organisers and partners prior to the event. Eighteen prize categories were proposed, and an overall Prize - won by Oxford.
The pitch sessions took place during lunch break. The Morpheus Prize recognises the best startup ideas and business models in different categories. Five projects for each category had been previously picked by a jury of professionals. The lucky entrepreneurs pitched for 3 minutes in front of experts.
The winners of each category were as follows:
• Food & Beverage: Effishent (University of Mannheim) which provides rural communities with Aquaponic-Systems, enabling them to harvest fresh produce all year around.
• Customer Experience: Two Min Toothbrush, a tootbrush that changes colour after two minutes.
• IoT: Velco (Audencia), for its connected bike and mobility solutions
• e-Commerce: Rising Star (ECV Provence), a platform where makers meet, designers thrive, action happens and beauty is celebrated.
• Sport: Fidy (EDHEC Nice), which aims at bringing together trainer and their future clients.
• Human Capital: Nap & Up (Paris Dauphine), which gives the employees the benefit of a power nap.
• Media & Entertainment: ClickUp (University Paris-Saclay), aiming at building a better world thanks to a useful and social advertising.
• Retail: Two Min Toothbrush
• Data & Cybersecurity: SEFT (Ecole Polytechnique), a money transfer solution for the African diaspora.
• AI: Neosper (University Paris-Saclay), to help with the development of augmented surgery.
• Healthcare: Leonard Air Cleaner (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs), so that recurrent peaks of pollution do not affect children in their development anymore.
• Art: bMotion (Ecole Polytechnique), "Learn,gGrow and improve through Music".
• DeepTech: XVISION (Universitatea Politehnica din Timisoara) which created an automated radiology software using AI.
• FinTech: SEFT
• Real Estate: Building Reality (ISG), which deals with VR and interactive experience.
• Circular & Green Economy: Inkee (University Paris-Saclay), for its project of turning coffee grounds intro ink and give them a second life.
• Energy: EmPower (Oxford University), with it solar ATMs designed notably for some specific areas in India.
• Mobility & Logistics: Velco.
At the end the day, all the Prize winners were invited to pitch once again in front of a jury composed of Aline Guo-Haefele (Alibaba Group), Alain Rodermann (Expon Capital), Romain Lavault (Partech Ventures), Elodie Donjon (European Investment Fund), Ines Leonarduzzi (Digital For the Planet), Jean Rognetta (Forbes), Sofia Hmich (Future Positive Capital), Jean-Louis Missika (Mairie de Paris), Soufya El Kharbili (All In) et Ghislain Faribeault (France Télévisions).
• Customer Experience: Two Min Toothbrush, a tootbrush that changes colour after two minutes.
• IoT: Velco (Audencia), for its connected bike and mobility solutions
• e-Commerce: Rising Star (ECV Provence), a platform where makers meet, designers thrive, action happens and beauty is celebrated.
• Sport: Fidy (EDHEC Nice), which aims at bringing together trainer and their future clients.
• Human Capital: Nap & Up (Paris Dauphine), which gives the employees the benefit of a power nap.
• Media & Entertainment: ClickUp (University Paris-Saclay), aiming at building a better world thanks to a useful and social advertising.
• Retail: Two Min Toothbrush
• Data & Cybersecurity: SEFT (Ecole Polytechnique), a money transfer solution for the African diaspora.
• AI: Neosper (University Paris-Saclay), to help with the development of augmented surgery.
• Healthcare: Leonard Air Cleaner (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs), so that recurrent peaks of pollution do not affect children in their development anymore.
• Art: bMotion (Ecole Polytechnique), "Learn,gGrow and improve through Music".
• DeepTech: XVISION (Universitatea Politehnica din Timisoara) which created an automated radiology software using AI.
• FinTech: SEFT
• Real Estate: Building Reality (ISG), which deals with VR and interactive experience.
• Circular & Green Economy: Inkee (University Paris-Saclay), for its project of turning coffee grounds intro ink and give them a second life.
• Energy: EmPower (Oxford University), with it solar ATMs designed notably for some specific areas in India.
• Mobility & Logistics: Velco.
At the end the day, all the Prize winners were invited to pitch once again in front of a jury composed of Aline Guo-Haefele (Alibaba Group), Alain Rodermann (Expon Capital), Romain Lavault (Partech Ventures), Elodie Donjon (European Investment Fund), Ines Leonarduzzi (Digital For the Planet), Jean Rognetta (Forbes), Sofia Hmich (Future Positive Capital), Jean-Louis Missika (Mairie de Paris), Soufya El Kharbili (All In) et Ghislain Faribeault (France Télévisions).
After a long deliberation, the jury decided to reward SEFT with the bronze prize, Velco won the silver prize and EmPower was named the winner of the 2018 Morpheus Prize and took the gold home back to Oxford University.
