The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship has announced the 42 student-led teams worldwide that will compete in the 25th annual Rice Business Plan Competition this spring.

The highly competitive event, known as one of the world’s largest and richest intercollegiate student startup challenges, will take place April 10–12 at Houston's The Ion. Teams in this year's competition represent 34 universities from four countries, including one team from Rice.

Graduate student-led teams from colleges or universities around the world will present their plans before more than 300 angel, venture capital, and corporate investors to compete for more than $1 million in prizes. Last year, top teams were awarded $1.5 million in investment and cash prizes.

The 2025 invitees include:

• 3rd-i, University of Miami
• AG3 Labs, Michigan State University
• Arcticedge Technologies, University of Waterloo
• Ark Health, University of Chicago
• Automatic AI, University of Mississippi and University of New Orleans
• Bobica Bars, Rowan University
• Carbon Salary, Washington University in St. Louis
• Carmine Minerals, California State University, San Bernardino
• Celal-Mex, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education
• CELLECT Laboratories, University of Waterloo
• ECHO Solutions, University of Houston
• EDUrain, University of Missouri-St. Louis
• Eutrobac, University of California, Santa Cruz
• FarmSmart.ai, Louisiana State University
• Fetal Therapy Technologies, Johns Hopkins University
• GreenLIB Materials, University of Ottawa
• Humimic Biosystems, University of Arkansas
• HydroHaul, Harvard University
• Intero Biosystems, University of Michigan
• Interplay, University of Missouri-Kansas City
• MabLab, Harvard University
• Microvitality, Tufts University
• Mito Robotics, Carnegie Mellon University
• Motmot, Michigan State University
• Mud Rat, University of Connecticut
• Nanoborne, University of Texas at Austin
• NerView Surgical, McMaster University
• NeuroFore, Washington University in St. Louis
• Novus, Stanford University
• OAQ, University of Toronto
• Parthian Baattery Solutions, Columbia University
• Pattern Materials, Rice University
• Photon Queue, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• re.solution, RWTH Aachen University
• Rise Media, Yale University
• Rivulet, University of Cambridge and Dartmouth College
• Sabana, Carnegie Mellon University
• SearchOwl, Case Western Reserve University
• Six Carbons, Indiana University
• Songscription, Stanford University
• Watermarked.ai, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Xatoms, University of Toronto

This year's group joins more than 868 RBPC alums that have raised more than $6.1 billion in capital with 59 successful exits, according to the Rice Alliance.

Last year, Harvard's MesaQuantum, which was developing accurate and precise chip-scale clocks, took home the biggest sum of $335,000. While not named as a finalist, the team secured the most funding across a few prizes.

Protein Pints, a high-protein, low-sugar ice cream product from Michigan State University, won first place and the $150,000 GOOSE Capital Investment Grand Prize, as well as other prizes, bringing its total to $251,000.