Zitao Li, a 9th grader who attends Interlake High School in Bellevue won the competition at the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) Investor Panel Pitch Event on April 19. Not only does she receive funding to launch her business but also she will be going to Rochester, New York on May 4 – 6 to compete amongst YEA! participants from across the nation.
14 middle and high school students from the Eastside pitched their business ideas for funding. Each participant proposed a business plan in front of a panel of investors that took place at Bellevue City Hall.
The Investor Panel awarded a total of $2700 to 12 companies.
Panelists
Diane Najm, PhotoPad
Michael Nassirian, ARVR Studio
Ron Smith, Array Acquisitions LLC
Jimmy Ng, KeyBank
Meghana Subramanian, ExtraSlice – The Place for Tech
Funded Companies & Founders
AMinus – Pranav Pandiaraj and Vishruth Raj at Odle Middle School.
EventDash -Siddharth Shende, Tesla STEM High School.
EVO Audio – Oliver Wood , Bellevue College as part of Eastlake HS Running Start.
Food4U – Merrick Mar, Endeavour Elementary School & Louis Kim Godbout, Chinook Middle School.
Golden Hats– Ansh Pandey , Issaquah Middle School.
JustZipIt – Mansi Mishra , Issaquah Middle School.
Natures Wishes – Katerina Phillips, Chinook Middle School.
SharedPaw – Celine Oh, Bellevue High School
TopNLocke – Joshua Wang, Odle Middle School
The Better Binder – Leonard Dattilo, Chinook Middle School.
Roses and Rita – Zitao Li, Interlake High School.
Stick N Go – Stephan Chiorean, Bellevue High School.
