Every Spring, the Columbia Venture Competition gives out $350,000 dollars in cash prizes to the next generation of Columbia entrepreneurs (see full list of tracks below). When all the winners of all the tracks are chosen, these founders then go head to head in the Tournament of Champions to determine an overall winner.
Congratulations to Peter Barba ’19CC (left) and Zygimantas
Zabieta (right), Founders of Lectrium, on winning the Tournament of Champions round!
Lectrium’s mission is to make every home EV-ready. Its installation platform makes it simple for homeowners to have their Level 2 chargers installed by certified electricians and simplifies electricians’ work making their services more competitive.
“Lectrium is built with sustainability & hustle at our core. During the 2022 Columbia Venture Competition, we were awarded for these values. We are honored to win first place in both the BlocPower Climate Challenge and the CVC Tournament of Champions,” said founder Peter Barba. “Receiving recognition in the contest sponsored by Donnel Baird and BlocPower is an honor, and we have a lot to learn and study from BlocPower and how they improve and electrify the built environment, especially in underserved communities. Following our Climate challenge win up by winning the Columbia Tournament of Champions also felt surreal, and I am grateful to have had the chance to compete against many incredible Columbia startups.”
Lectrium is also the winner of the 2022 Columbia Venture Competition, BlocPower Climate Challenge, sponsored by Columbia Entrepreneurship and the BlocPower Community Corporation.
The BlocPower Community Corporation is the public benefits arm of BlocPower, a Brooklyn-based climate technology company rapidly greening American cities by leveraging IOT, machine learning, and financial technology to develop greener, smarter, and healthier urban buildings at scale.
Full List of Winners
2022 Columbia Venture Competition, BlocPower Climate Challenge
2022 Columbia Venture Competition, Columbia-CareOne Healthcare All-Stars Challenge
2022 Columbia Venture Competition, SIPA Dean’s Public Policy Challenge Grant
2022 Columbia Venture Competition, Columbia Engineering Technology Challenge
2022 Columbia Venture Competition, CORE Undergraduate Challenge
2022 Columbia Venture Competition, StartupColumbia Challenge
2022 Columbia Venture Competition, Columbia Journalism Challenge, sponsored by the Brown Institute for Media Innovation
Alumni judges from Brooklyn to Bordeaux to Beijing evaluate and advise competitors until three winners are chosen for each challenge track, which this year includes: the BlocPower Columbia Climate Challenge; Columbia-CareOne Healthcare All-Stars Challenge; Brown Institute Innovation Challenge in Journalism, Media, and Technology; the StartupColumbia Challenge; the SIPA Dean’s Public Policy Challenge Grant; the Technology Challenge; and the Undergraduate Challenge.