Venture Capital Initiative

Venture Capital Initiative - Programs - VC Investment Competition

Venture Capital Investment Competition

vcic
2024 winners of our internal Darden VCIC with our VC judges

Learn to think like a venture capitalist by competing in the VCIC, an annual international venture capital competition run by UNC Kenan-Flagler. Unlike business plan competitions in which students pitch their own ideas to investors, in the VCIC students act as investors, and real entrepreneurs pitch to them. Darden previously hosted the Southeast Regional and sends its own team to compete in the VCIC regional on other university campuses.

This competition gives practical experience conducting due diligence, determining valuations, and preparing term sheets for early-stage investments. The development of due diligence skills and term sheet practice necessary to succeed in the competition is provided during the VC Learning Series in the fall and is reinforced through the VCIC Practice session in early January.

The VCIC Internal Competition is held the day following the VCIC Practice where the winning team is selected to represent Darden in the regional competition, and hopefully successfully participates in the finals. 

The practice and internal competition are coordinated in partnership with Darden's Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital (EVC) Club.

  • VCIC Practice – Friday, January 19 @ Darden
  • VCIC Internal Competition – Saturday, January 20 @ Darden
  • VCIC External Competition – Friday, February 2, 2024 @ Cornell Tech 

Check-out our internal VC at Darden page for more information and a link to register.

"It was a very fun experience! Participating in VCIC allowed me to put the knowledge I gained from the VC learning series into practice. This experience provided me with a clearer understanding of how venture capital functions in the real world. Although I’m not currently pursing venture capital as a career, I’m still very pleased that we competed as a team. I would strongly encourage all future Darden students to go compete!"

Custis Coleman
MBA Class of 2025