Venture Challenge

From 0 to 1 · Completed

Duke’s first student-led, large-scale AI+X startup competition

Successfully convened founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders across disciplines.

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About Xscent

Xscent Venture Challenge is Duke University’s first student-led, large-scale AI+X startup competition, successfully hosted by DukeCEO as a flagship initiative for student-driven venture creation.

Bringing together founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders across a range of AI-powered verticals—including AI + Social Impact, Academic Research, Gaming, Real Estate, Beauty, Biotech, and FinTech—Xscent established a platform where early-stage ventures could be evaluated, supported, and accelerated at institutional scale.

Hosted by DukeCEO, Xscent demonstrated the potential of student-led innovation to bridge talent, capital, and long-term impact, setting a new benchmark for venture-building initiatives at Duke.

Winning Teams

🏆 First Place: $25,000 AWS Cloud Credits + 1st Place Trophy

Team: Biuty

🥈 Second Place: $4,500 AWS Cloud Credits + 2nd Place Trophy

Team: Pascal

Team: Geney.ai

🥉 Third Place: $4,000 AWS Cloud Credits + 3rd Place Trophy

Team: Sketch3D.ai

Team: Liberata

Team: NewBase

Team: TraceMind AI

🚀 Showcase Team:

Team: AiDA

* Congratulations to our winning teams!

Judges

Anita Ali

SVP, Enterprise Observability and AI Solutions, Wells Fargo

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Maggie Ma

Global Account CFO, Lenovo

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Miao Hong

Director, Strategic Business Transformation, Lenovo

Linkedin
Nagsen Meshram

Director of Software Development, SAS

LinkedIn
Yiran Chen

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University

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Patrick S. Repko

Vice President of Business Development, TrueBridge Capital Partners

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Amanda Stockwell

Adjunct Associate Professor, Duke University

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Jennifer Feng

Core Judge for Microsoft and Tencent Accelerator and Global DCD Dynamic

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Jiarui Li

CInnatrix CEO, President of the NCCBA

LinkedIn
Patrick Musau

Senior Software Engineer, Google

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Welcoming Speech

* The welcoming remarks were delivered by Hao Cheng, co-founder of Xunlei, and Jennifer Feng, a core judge for the Microsoft and Tencent Accelerators as well as Global DCD Dynamic.