At Fetch, we’re committed to turning bold ideas into real opportunities for the next generation of entrepreneurs. That commitment is what inspired the Defeat the Odds Pitch Competition, now in its third year. After expanding nationwide last year and opening eligibility to college students across the U.S., we’re back to give student entrepreneurs a platform to showcase their ideas, gain mentorship, and pitch their businesses to a panel of seasoned judges.

This year, the competition was fiercer than ever. We received an nearly 200 applications, from which 15 standout ventures advanced to the semi-finals.

Now, meet the eight finalist ventures setting the pace for innovation.

KATHA, Cornell University

KATHA is a functional hydration brand that delivers creatine and electrolytes through an innovative push-cap system, allowing consumers to mix fresh ingredients into water with a single press. The product addresses makes creatine more accessible, clean, and appealing, especially for women who have historically been underserved or misinformed about its benefits. Unlike traditional ready-to-drink beverages, KATHA preserves ingredient potency while eliminating the need for artificial additives or preservatives. KATHA is redefining recovery by turning everyday hydration into a simple and effective ritual. The company was founded by Niko Tsavekou, a student at Cornell University.

If The Shoe Fits (ITSF), Babson College

If The Shoe Fits (ITSF) is a fashion company leveraging foot scanning technology to create custom-fit women’s heels. The footwear industry still relies on a sizing system designed nearly 100 years ago, leaving over 53 million American women wearing shoes that don’t fit properly, with even fewer options for those above size 10. ITSF solves this by capturing each customer’s exact foot geometry and manufacturing heels built specifically for her measurements, eliminating the guesswork of traditional sizing. Founded by Jolie Wyatt, a senior at Babson College who will begin her MS in Entrepreneurship at NYU this fall, ITSF was born from her own 15-year struggle to find heels that fit her size 12, wide feet. The company has raised over $10,000 in pitch competitions, built a community of 2,000+ engaged followers, and is launching its first round of custom pre-orders this month.

Skipit, Babson College

Skipit is a trauma-informed AI streaming overlay that gives viewers control to skip, mute, or receive summaries of distressing content as they watch, founded by Emily Weinberg, a student at Babson College. Built around a proprietary scene-level trigger intelligence dataset, Skipit addresses a gap no major streaming platform has solved: the inability to customize emotionally difficult content. The product serves both individual viewers and families, with a Family Dashboard that dynamically adjusts viewing controls based on a child’s age and parent-set preferences. Emily founded Skipit in 2023 out of personal experience with distressing media, and previously founded Sophrosyne Mental Health, a youth-led nonprofit, at age 15. Skipit has been selected for the eMerge Americas Global Startup Accelerator and is actively expanding its reach across streaming audiences.

Ecoplasticity, Cal Poly SLO

Ecoplasticity is developing a seaweed-based barrier coating derived from an invasive species of seaweed that enables manufacturers of takeout containers to meet performance and regulatory requirements. The product uses sargassum, an invasive species of seaweed that spans from the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean. The coating is designed to meet several barrier coating performances, making it comparable to plastic-based coatings, while also being biodegradable, recyclable, compostable, and anaerobically digestible. The product addresses two problems: the influx of sargassum affecting marine life and communities in affected areas and takeout container manufacturers’ need for a bio-based product that meets both performance and regulatory requirements. The company is founded by Michelle Cullen (Co-Founder and CTO), who is currently attending Cal Poly SLO and Mayela Fernandez (Co-Founder and CEO), who graduated from Cal Poly SLO in 2025.

We Hear You, University Of Illinois Chicago

We Hear You, founded by Pierre Paul, a PhD student in Disability Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago, develops accessible technology that improves independence for people with disabilities and our aging population. Its flagship product, the Hero Door Opener, is a portable, retrofit device designed specifically for interior doors, transforming existing spaces into automatic, hands-free entry points without costly renovations. The Hero addresses a critical accessibility gap by making everyday environments easier to navigate for individuals with mobility challenges and those who are immunocompromised. By focusing on interior access, where most daily barriers exist, We Hear You removes friction in homes, workplaces, and public spaces. Through this approach, the company is redefining what inclusive design looks like in practice.

LetAllGirls, Babson College

LetAllGirls builds AI-native educational technology for the world’s most underdeveloped regions, enabling AI-first learning in communities with little to no internet infrastructure. The “DIDI Device,” named after their now late founder Didi Ding Mayen Kuai, delivers educational content powered by AI tutors entirely offline with an emphasis on women empowerment and a focus on reaching female students. Their team, including Executive Director Mateo Acosta-Rubio, is based out of Babson College.

GiftDrive, University of Vermont

GiftDrive is a no-cost platform that enables nonprofits to easily run donation drives and wishlists to collect physical goods from their communities. Founded by University of Vermont students Logan Vaughan, Marley St. Pierre, Corinne Atwell, and Miro Gohacki, the idea emerged after identifying a gap between outdated nonprofit tools and the need to engage younger donors. With 81% of first-time donations coming in the form of physical goods, GiftDrive helps organizations tap into this behavior with a streamlined, user-friendly solution. Since launching in September 2025, GiftDrive has supported over 100 organizations across five states, facilitating the donation of more than 5,400 items valued at over $60,000 from nearly 500 donors.

Sensible, UNC Chapel Hill

Menstrual blood arrives monthly, for free, carrying 385 unique proteins — and we’ve been throwing it away. Sensible is a smart sticker that attaches to any pad, capturing real-time biomarkers directly from the source to build a longitudinal health baseline cycle over cycle. Behind the 22-month care delay and 7–10 year diagnosis gap is a data problem — and Sensible is the data. Normal shouldn’t hurt this much; now we can prove it. The company was founded by Nandini Kanthi, Vrutika Soneji, Vaishnavi Kode and Juliet Wu. 

What’s at stake

Finalists will pitch their businesses live for top prizes to help fuel their ventures:

• First Place:
  • $30,000 cash prize
  • One-on-one mentorship with Fetch CEO and Founder Wes Schroll
  • Three months of access to Fetch office space
  • Lunch-and-learn sessions with Fetch’s Legal, Accounting, and Marketing teams
• Second Place: $15,000 cash prize
• Third Place: $7,000 cash prize

Join us at the finale

Fetch’s Defeat the Odds Pitch Competition finale will be held on Tuesday, June 9 at the Boston Globe’s Tech Innovation Summit. Reach out to impact@fetch.com if you are interested in attending. 

We’re looking forward to an afternoon of celebrating bold ideas, massive ambition, and the venture that takes home this year’s top honor.