Are you a Gaucho interested in business and entrepreneurship? 🚀
Technology Management's New Venture Program & Competition invites undergraduate and graduate students from all academic disciplines to pursue entrepreneurial education alongside their core studies. Through experiential instruction and industry mentorship, our students learn how to create and launch a startup business while developing professional skills and business acumen that better prepare them for their careers ahead.
About the New Venture Competition
UCSB's Flagship Entrepreneurial Experience
Since its inception in 1999, Technology Management's New Venture Competition (NVC) has evolved into an important and transformational educational experience at UC Santa Barbara. UCSB’s NVC is unique relative to many other university business competitions in that it is open to students of all majors and levels, and it encourages participants to complete a rigorous eight-month New Venture Program to develop, refine, and validate their business ideas in preparation for the competition. This hands-on learning opportunity includes courses and workshops led by an outstanding group of faculty and industry mentors. Each year, up to $40K in cash, startup grants, and in-kind services are awarded to category winners. More than 70 startups have launched from the competition, which have raised over $1.2 billion in investor capital.
Meet the Finalists of New Venture Competition 2026!
Welcome Message from the Director
Welcome to the New Venture Program & Competition at UC Santa Barbara! We invite you to take part in this unique educational opportunity to learn how to develop a startup business. Real-life application and hands-on learning are the cornerstones of our program, which provide an exciting and practical compliment to your core studies at UCSB. We hold information sessions each academic year in October, we hope you’ll join us for one and learn more about the program!
“Out of all the invaluable experiences UCSB gave me, New Venture remains the one that changed my life the most.”
Kavitta Ghai
Class of 2019
NVC Finalist
Co-Founder and CEO, Nectir AI