Kansas Startup Takes Home $20,000 Grand Prize at Gamechangers & Champions 2025 Pitch Competition, StartupWins $2,500 Fan’s Choice Award

Photo from Gamechangers & Champions 2025. Photo courtesy of the Kansas Department of Commerce.

Wichita, Kan. – March 21, 2025 – NXTUS, Inc., in partnership with the Kansas Department of Commerce, today named Andrew Marquez with VU Scholarships of Roeland Park, Kan., the winner of the $20,000 pitch competition, sponsored by the Barton School of Business at Wichita State University, at Gamechangers and Champions 2025 which hosted 275 attendees. The event also awarded Matt Williams with Noonan the Fan’s Choice prize of $2,500, funded by Wichita Startup Week.

From an initial pool of 74 startup companies, VU Scholarships advanced through several competitive rounds: from 74 to 32 through online judging of one-minute pitches, from 32 to 16 by pitch deck evaluations, and from 16 to the Innovative Eight through further online judging. On the morning of the event, VU Scholarships impressed judges with a live elevator pitch, securing his spot in the Final Four. Throughout the day, pitch coaching and advice from regional venture capital leaders helped the Innovative Eight competitors, revealed at the start of the event, hone their pitches, making judges decisions extremely difficult.

The Innovative Eight startups, who kicked off the event with 60-second elevator pitches during the opening session:

• Noonan, Matt Williams

• VU Scholarships, Andrew Marquez

• PLOT, Chris Callen

• Marma, Victoria Weber

• Jitterbug, Rye Kennedy

• Milton, Miguel Johns

• ShotTracker, LaDonna Gooden

The Final Four startups took the stage for their five-minute pitches, vying for the $20,000 grand prize:

• Vu Scholarships, Andrew Marquez

• PLOT, Chris Callen

• Jitterbug, Rye Kennedy

• Milton, Miguel Johns

In addition to the pitch competition, attendees at the Gamechangers & Champions 2025 event heard from an impressive lineup of speakers, including keynote speaker Kevin Lockett, former K-State and Kansas City Chiefs player turned entrepreneur and investor. Other featured speakers included Mayor Lily Wu, Ryan Wills, Deputy Chief of Staff at the Kansas Department of Commerce, Ron Baker, former NBA player, and Graham Krizek, CEO of Voltage Cloud. The event also offered top industry-led educational sessions and dynamic networking opportunities, fostering meaningful connections between founders and investors.

Gamechangers & Champions 2025 brought together Kansas startups, angel investors, and regional venture capital fund managers for a high-energy event set against the backdrop of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in Wichita. Entrepreneurs had the opportunity to showcase their ventures, gain exposure, and compete for funding, reaching the goal of reinforcing Kansas’ growing reputation as a hub for innovation and collaboration.

“Gamechangers and Champions 2025 is a true testament of what can happen when our ecosystem comes together around the common goal of supporting innovators and entrepreneurs birthed right here in Kansas. This collision of investors and startups strikes at the heart of unlocking the investment they need to grow,” said Romaine Redman, Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer at the Kansas Department of Commerce. “Among many strong contenders, VU Scholarships demonstrated that not only a compelling solution but also community and workforce development impact that the judges valued. Thank you to our sponsors and partners who have powered this event. These champions will help accomplish great things together.”

This event was made possible by the generous support of the presenting sponsors, NXTUS and the Kansas Department of Commerce, the prize money sponsor, the Barton School of Business at Wichita State University, and our host sponsor, the Commerce Club, along with support from our premier sponsors Koch, Network Kansas, eGrowth Ventures, AltCap, the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Wichita Partnership with the Opportunity Wichita affiliate, Lange Capital, Kansas State University, Plug and Play Topeka, IMA, Hutton, Cargill, the Kansas Chamber, KC Rise, Flyover Capital, and KentAV. Additional event partners include the Wichita Independent Business Association, Startup Grind, SBDC, SBA, the KC Tech Council, Kansas State University’s TDI, Groover Labs, Create Campaign, Flagship.KS Tech, SCKEDD, and Equity2.

For media inquiries, contact Elleigh at elleigh@nxtus.io or Cory Keller at Cory.Keller@ks.gov.