Startup Yale brings together Yale’s biggest entrepreneurship awards in two days packed with pitches, prizes, and world-changing ideas. Yale innovators join community leaders, investors, and practitioners to reimagine the future. Grounded in inclusivity and impact, Startup Yale is a crossroads for a new kind of innovation ecosystem.

Startup Yale Prizes

This year, InnovateHealth Yale (IHY), the Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY), Dwight Hall, and the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (Tsai CITY) will be awarding eight prizes for new ventures

Black Venture Summit Prize ($20,000)

The Black Venture Summit Grand Prize awards $20,000 of non-dilutive capital to an early-stage startup whose venture addresses a pressing need in Black communities and whose founders or co-founder(s) identify as Black or African American. 

Manolo Sanchez Prize ($25,000)

The Manolo Sanchez Prize awards $25,000 to a for-profit or non-profit startup with the potential to help improve the financial health of the financially underserved.

Miller Prize ($25,000)

The Miller Prize awards $25,000 to a promising student-led venture working on innovative tech or tech-enabled solutions.

New Haven Civic Innovation Prize (up to $10,000) 

The New Haven Civic Innovation Prize awards up to $10,000 to the best student- or community-led venture or project focused on benefiting the City of New Haven.

Rita Wilson Prize in Support of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Health Technology ($10,000)

The Rita Wilson Prize Fund in support of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is a $10,000 cash prize awarded to the best student-led venture focused on creating a technological solution to address a health disparity in the United States. The Wilson Prize was created in 2019 with a generous gift to the Yale School of Public Health. The gift is managed by InnovateHealth Yale, based at the Yale School of Public Health.

Sustainable Venture Prize ($25,000)

The Sustainable Venture Prize awards $25,000 to a promising student business venture that advances environmental sustainability. In addition to the potential prize money, the competition provides opportunities for mentorship, feedback, and networking.

Thorne Prize for Social Innovation in Health or Education ($25,000) 

The Thorne Prize for Social Innovation in Health or Education is a $25,000 cash prize awarded to the best student-led venture focused on social innovation in health or education for underserved communities in the United States or low-resource countries.

Yale Innovators Prize ($15,000) 

The Yale Innovators' Prize is a $15,000 cash prize awarded to the for-profit or non-profit startup that has the potential to produce the greatest impact (financially, socially, or otherwise). The Yale Innovators' Prize is open to any project, campaign, solution, venture, or non-profit led by a current Yale student(s).

Application Information

Please see individual center websites for more information on each prize. With the exception of the Black Venture Summit Prize and the New Haven Civic Innovation Prize, teams must include at least one current, degree-seeking Yale student in a leadership position to be eligible for any of the eight prizes.

In order to avoid your responses being lost or only partially completed, we strongly advise that you save the questions for each prize you are interested in, and complete the questions offline and in your own time. When you are ready to submit then please copy, paste and attach your responses into the application.

Startup Yale Application (google doc)

The deadline for applications is 11:59pm EST February 12, 2023. Finalists will be notified on March 1st, 2023, and those selected will pitch live for a panel of judges at Startup Yale on March 30-31, 2023.