KC-area startup nets $20K Kansas pitch tournament win with game-changing edtech

WICHITA — The team at VU Scholarships left it all on the stage Friday, walking away as champions in the Gamechangers & Champions bracket bash — a high-intensity pitch competition running parallel to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in Wichita.

Andrew Márquez, VU Scholarships, pitches his startup during the Gamechangers & Champions bracket bash pitch competition in Wichita; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

By outlasting 31 other Sunflower State companies, the Roeland Park-based edtech startup earned $20,000 in the tournament-style event organized by NXTUS and the Kansas Department of Commerce. 

“Honestly, it’s hard to put words to it,” Andrew Marquez, co-founder and CEO of VU Scholarships, said after the victory. “To be able to come here and be amidst a bunch of other solid, great, qualified companies, and then to have won, it’s really validating.”

VU Scholarships — bootstrapped to-date — is changing the way students and parents think about college by putting scholarship opportunities in front of them before they apply for schools.

“Then they’re much more likely to apply at schools that they ordinarily maybe would have never applied to,” Marquez told the judges and crowd of 275 investors, entrepreneurs, and business leaders at the Bracket Bash for Innovators and Angels.

The crowd at Gamechangers & Champions reacts to a pitch during the competition at the Commerce Club in Wichita; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

The VU platform uses algorithms to match students with scholarships based on their data and partner college rubrics, he described.

“We have 115 high schools that we’ve partnered with across seven states — a mix of suburban, rural, and private schools — and then over 65 colleges as well,” Marquez noted.

With the $20,000 prize money — funded by the Barton School of Business at Wichita State University — Marquez said the team plans to boost its sales effort.

“With any injection to capital, we can accelerate,” he added.

ICYMI: Check out the companies that made it to the Round of 16 in the competition

“Among many strong contenders, VU Scholarships demonstrated that not only a compelling solution but also community and workforce development impact that the judges valued,” said Romaine Redman, chief innovation and strategy officer at the Kansas Department of Commerce.

Gamechangers & Champions attendees participate in a basketball-themed lounge at the event, organized with a backdrop of the NCCA Mens Basketball Tournament in Wichita; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

Earlier in the day at the Gamechangers & Champions competition — which took inspiration from the nearby NCAA basketball tournament — the “Innovative Eight” were revealed with each presenting a one-minute elevator pitch (complete with a shot clock) to the crowd. Then, venture capital fund managers coached the eight remaining competitors and narrowed the field to the Final Four. Those four delivered their full, five-minute pitches to a panel of judges.

“This competition was designed to give these founders a platform to tell their stories, connect with potential partners, and take their ventures to the next step,” explained Conor Adler, NXTUS program manager.

The Innovative Eight included:

• Marma Health, Victoria Weber, Kansas City
• Milton, Miguel Johns, Wichita
• Noonan, Matt Williams, Lenexa
• PLOT, Chris Callen, Wichita
• ShotTracker, LaDonna Gooden, Merriam
• Jitterbug (Tacit Technologies), Rye Kennedy, Wichita
• ULOM, Zik Nwanganga, Kansas City
• VU Scholarships, Andrew Márquez, Roeland Park

Hometown favorite Miguel Johns, Milton, pitches during the Final Four portion of the Gamechangers & Champions event; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

The narrowed-down Final Four featured:

• Milton, Miguel Johns, Wichita
• PLOT, Chris Callen, Wichita
• Jitterbug (Tacit Technologies), Rye Kennedy, Wichita
• VU Scholarships, Andrew Márquez, Roeland Park

Matt Williams, Noonan, accepts the $2,500 Fan’s Choice Award, funded by Wichita Startup Week; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

Lenexa-based Noonan — a digital caddie platform and a Startland News Kansas City Startup to Watch in 2025 — was awarded a $2,500 Fan’s Choice Award, funded by Wichita Startup Week.

“Honestly, I’m thrilled,” said Matt Williams, co-founder of Noonan. “It shows the message resonates and I’m excited to get this out in the market in the next month.”

Friday’s business and innovation summit also featured networking opportunities, industry leader speakers, and educational sessions for founders and investors.

Mary Beth Jarvis, president and CEO of NXTUS, speaks during the Gamechangers & Champions summit; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

“What the folks in this room do matters,” noted Mary Beth Jarvis, president and CEO of NXTUS. “Whether you’re an entrepreneur — growing a business, creating jobs, and innovating and pushing your industry or your products and services forward — that matters. Angel investors and champions for startups, that matters.”

Kevin Lockett — a former K-State and Kansas City Chiefs player and longtime entrepreneur, who now manages investment firm Fulcrum Global Capital — gave the event’s keynote address.

“For founders, specifically, this idea of being resilient, I think, is absolutely critical,” he told the crowd. “I’ve always said this: the hardest job in the world is what the founders do. Guys like us who have the capital, who are making the investments, we have the easy job. We just have to pick the right ones, but then we get out of the way.”