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Do you have a compelling seed through A round venture?
Seeking investors to take it to the next level?

The Galant Challenge connects seed through A round ventures associated with the UVA community with potential investors. Since launching in 2012, the annual pitch competition hosted by the McIntire School of Commerce's Galant Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is one of the nation's premier university startup events, with significant funding by investors each year. In the 2022 Challenge, more than $3 million was invested in six companies by our panel of investors. The 2023 Challenge resulted in historic outcomes—entrepreneur teams who pitched raised more than $15 million to take their ventures to the next level. Last year, five of six startups in the 2024 Challenge received funding from our high-net-worth angels and CAV Angels, our UVA-focused angel fund collaborator. In 2025, the Galant Challenge is raising the stakes. Our first cohort of UVA-connected venture capital funds will bring both startups and their capital to the April 23 event.

Galant Challenge 2024_vOQ6Zsb7
How It Works
The 2025 Galant Challenge submission window will open in late January. Stay tuned!

Entrepreneurs in the UVA community are invited to submit a pitch to the Galant Challenge, UVA's premiere startup event connecting seed and early-stage ventures with potential investors. Since the Challenge started in 2012, more than $30 million has been invested in teams selected to pitch in the Challenge.

Eligibility: UVA students, alumni, faculty, and staff who are founders or members of the startup's management team as well as teams introduced by a UVA VC Cohort member are eligible to apply. Four to six finalist teams are ultimately chosen to showcase at the Galant Challenge at UVA.

Pitch Submission Deadline: All pitches are due through our online submission form no later than 11:59 EST on Friday, Feb. 21. Submissions must not include proprietary data. The pitch submission form includes fields for required data and an upload for the required pitch deck as PPT or PDF.  Please be sure to carefully review and follow the submission requirements outlined on that form. Photos and videos will be taken during the Challenge. Do not include proprietary data in your pitch deck or finalist presentation (if invited).

Save the Date! Finalists are required to pitch in person at the UVA McIntire School of Commerce in Charlottesville at the Galant Challenge on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, from 3 to 6 p.m. All submitters will be notified by email if their venture is selected as a finalist. Check back here in March for the RSVP link to indicate you plan to attend the live event.

Investor Panel

Mark Galant (McIntire '80)
Mark Galant (McIntire '80)
CEO, Tydall Investment Partners; Founder, Galant Center for Entrepreneurship

Mark Galant is the Founder of GAIN Capital/FOREX.com, a leading online FX trading firm. He served as CEO from its beginning in 1999 until 2007. Mr. Galant continued as Chairman until December 2010, when the firm went public on the NYSE. Before GAIN, his Wall Street trading career included Global Head of Options for Credit Suisse. He followed GAIN with the founding of Tydall Trading, a high-frequency algorithmic trading firm, trading over $10 billion a day. He currently is the CEO of Tydall Holdings, a real estate development and startup investment firm. Mr. Galant holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Commerce (Finance) from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Galant Challenge?

The Galant Challenge is a "Shark Tank"-style pitch event held annually at the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce to expose startups founded by UVA community members (students, alumni, faculty, and staff) to potential investors. The Galant Challenge has resulted in more than $30 million in capital raised for finalists since 2012.

Who are the investors?

Led by Mark E. Galant (McIntire '80), the investor panel changes annually but is typically composed of leading entrepreneurs and investors ready to put real capital into the final ventures selected to pitch. In recent years the panel featured Paul Tudor Jones (A&S '76) of Tudor Investment Corporation; Baiju Bhatt, Co-Founder of Robinhood; John Griffin (McIntire '85) of Blue Ridge Capital; and Ralph Sampson (A&S '83) of The Sampson Group, among others.

Who has been funded in past Galant Challenges?

Each year, dozens of pitches are submitted to the Galant Challenge, with four to six ventures ultimately selected to pitch in person to our panel of investors at the UVA McIntire School of Commerce during the live event. Of those, many are selected for funding by one or more investors. In 2024, five of the six finalists received funding from the investors that attended the Challenge. 

Check out the Past Events section below for recaps of each year's Challenge, with details about the companies and investments that resulted.

Can anyone attend the Challenge?

The Challenge is open to the public, but we request that you RSVP.  The link to sign up for the in-person event will be posted here in March.

Media - please reach out to Amanda Morris at aem8z@virginia.edu to discuss attendance.

Sponsor

Please email us at galantchallenge@comm.virginia.edu if you are interested in sponsoring the Galant Challenge.