The 2025 John Pappajohn Student Entrepreneurial Venture Competition was held on Friday, April 25, at the University of Iowa Pappajohn Education and Events Center in Des Moines. The final presentation round consisted of 18 students presenting 15 business ideas to a panel of judges.
“John Pappajohn launched this student competition 25 years ago, and entrepreneurial students continue to innovate and present the most amazing businesses year after year,” said Judi Eyles, director of the Iowa State University John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, in a news release. The competition brings student entrepreneurs together from across the state. They enjoy the opportunity to connect and support each other. To make it to the finals of this competition is a great achievement for these young entrepreneurs.”
The competition is a collaborative effort among the Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Centers located at Drake University, Iowa State University, North Iowa Area Community College, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa. Three businesses emerged as winners of this year’s competition, with each venture receiving $5,000.
The winners are:
- Archaneon Supplements, a supplement brand, founded by Tyler Graham, University of Iowa.
- Casmium, presented by co-founder Henry Shires, Iowa State University, aims to revolutionize youth sports by saving coaches time and developing players with a software platform that provides a statistics collection and analytics tool.
- Renner Ag Solutions, founded by Caleb Renner, a fifth-generation farmer from Klemme. He is the developer behind the AgriNet, which is a technology that cleans out grain bins.
Other finalists, each receiving $500, included Davis Stelzer (University of Northern Iowa), North Lindell (University of Northern Iowa), Noah Bronk (University of Northern Iowa), Josh Hanson (NIACC), the team of Christopher Madsen, David Roman, and Ethan Kudej (NIACC), Gabe Howard (Drake University), Dorian Boyland (Drake University), Diego Munoz (Drake University), the team of Alana Corwin and Jamal Beavers (Iowa State University), Spenser Leise (Iowa State University), Michal Brzus (University of Iowa) and Emmanuel Akor (University of Iowa).