FROM IDEA TO DEMO DAY. Venture Builders 2026 has officially wrapped — 36 builders from 28 countries and 25 universities, seven intensive days, and a Demo Day where six projects took home awards across three categories. Dare to venture, indeed.
Seven days, one connected journey
Hosted at the Int'l Talent Entrepreneurship Park in Chaoyang, the cohort was opened by our host Antonio Demirev with a single challenge: in seven days, your idea becomes a pitch on a real stage, in front of real judges.
- Day 1 — Opening & Vision. Thirty-six students moved into the Park with little more than curiosity — and left the opening ceremony with a cohort, a map and a deadline.
- Day 2 — Find the Problem. Before any solution: whose pain, exactly? Teams interrogated assumptions through five questions — Who is the user? What problem are you solving? Why do existing solutions fail? What specific value do you create? Why would they pay, or change behavior? No buzzwords allowed.
- Day 3 — From Problem to Solution. Ideation workshops turned pains into concepts; first ideas were killed without mercy, and solution hypotheses worth testing survived.
- Day 4 — Design the Business Model. Business Model Canvas day: value proposition, channels, revenue logic — and the hard question, how does this venture survive its first year?
- Day 5 — Brand, Marketing & IP. Storytelling that travels across languages, China go-to-market basics, and the IP moves student founders must make before anyone sees their pitch.
- Day 6 — Fundraising & Pitch. How investors actually read a deck, how a five-minute pitch is built — and hours of rehearsal until every sentence was stage-sharp.
- Day 7 — Demo Day. Finalists pitched to judges and a full house. Three award categories, six winning projects.
The 2026 award winners
- Most Promising Award — Align Edge (Kevin Omede · Italy, industrial AI) and Nova (Prima Wijayakusuma & Angeline Mary Marchella · Indonesia, smart wearable health).
- Best Innovation Award — Mach Orchestra (Oyename Oluwasheyi · Nigeria, aerospace & smart factory) and Librarian (Austin Jonathan Soedarsono · Indonesia, AI signal processing).
- Best Startup Project Award — Pulse Clip (Raphael Anwar El Haddad · France & Borislav Pavlov · Bulgaria, AI robotics) and Pod Grid (Javier Ramos · Spain & Bach Khanh Linh · Vietnam, marine restoration).
Beyond the awards
Demo Day was never the finish line. Winning teams enter the Park's incubation channel; every participant keeps mentor access, community membership and a direct pathway into ITEC. The point was never a trophy — it was a first real step. From campus ideas to startup action: that is the whole promise of Venture Builders.
The 2026 cohort drew talent from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Beihang University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing Forestry University, China Agricultural University, UIBE, China University of Petroleum and more. Since 2024: 3 cohorts, 30+ countries, 150+ builders, 10+ registered companies.
Next cohort
Venture Builders returns later in 2026. We recruit 20–30 university students per cohort — zero fees, zero equity, bring curiosity and a laptop. Email join@startupalliance.online, and follow our WeChat official account StartupStartsHere for the call for applications.