A startup at the University of Arkansas focused on creating bio-based chemicals and fuels won the prestigious Bangkok Business Challenge, earning nearly $20,000 at Asia鈥檚 longest-running global student startup competition.听ProPika, co-founded by Nhiem Cao and Angel Treat, specializes in transforming billions of tons of unused agricultural waste into eco-friendly fuels and chemicals. The company says its breakthrough lies in processing cellulose, a challenging natural polymer found in all plants.
The company won the competition鈥檚 grand prize 鈥� H.M. The King of Thailand鈥檚 Award 鈥� to secure $18,000 for their venture, $2,000 of which goes to U of A. The competition was held June 20-22 and hosted by the Sasin School of Management.听听ProPika also won $300 each for Best Business Plan, Best Presentation, and reaching the semifinal round. ProPika received another $500 as a Sustainability Award finalist.
Cao said the winnings will go toward further validating the technology and gives ProPika 鈥渓ittle longer non-dilutive runway. We plan on continuing the research and push it as far as we can,鈥� Cao said. 鈥淭here are some technical challenges we need to overcome. If we can break through those, this is definitely a homerun opportunity.鈥�听
Launched in 2002, the Bangkok Business Challenge has distributed more than $220 million in funding to startups. The competition鈥檚 objectives focus on encouraging scalable new venture creation, providing an international and business-matching platform, and creating commercial value for research and development efforts.
This year鈥檚 event featured more than 200 applicants 鈥� representing 62 institutions across 19 countries 鈥� that were winnowed to 20 to compete in Bangkok for a $46,000 prize pool. With ProPika as the sole U.S. representative, other teams came from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, Taiwan and Vietnam.
鈥淭his was a truly international competition,鈥� Cao said. 鈥淲e wanted to represent the university and the state well. Hopefully this is the beginning of a winning tradition for the University of Arkansas at the Bangkok Business Challenge.鈥�
Treat said the victory showed that U of A 鈥渃an compete and excel on an international level. We’re proud to bring this achievement home and hope it inspires future U of A teams to aim high and pursue their own groundbreaking ideas as well,鈥� Treat said.
Cao and Treat formed ProPika after enrolling in the entrepreneurship track of U of A鈥檚 Master of Science in Product Innovation program. Overseen by U of A鈥檚 Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, MSPI develops the skills to create, launch and manage products in the context of a startup venture or innovative industry environment.
They were embedded in the New Venture Development course sequence of MSPI, which is led by David Hinton, executive director of U of A Technology Ventures, and Sarah Goforth, former executive director of OEI. ProPika is using technology licensed from Technology Ventures, a process that helps get U of A research to market, Hinton said.