UT Knoxville students split $45K in biggest-ever Graves pitch contest
What's the deal? The University of Tennessee, Knoxville awarded $45,000 in seed funding at its Fall 2026 Graves Business Plan Competition on November 6, with Big Al's Hot MustardDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and VetVision taking top prizes in their categories. Student teams pitched to judges in 10-minute presentations, with awards split across two tracks: Growth, for scalable startups seeking investment, and Lifestyle, for smaller local ventures.
Who won? VetVision, an AI-powered veterinary surgical monitoring system founded by Grady Giffey, won the Growth category's $10,000 first prize. In the Lifestyle category, Big Al's Hot Mustard — founded by Alex Del Vecchio — also took $10,000, with handbag brand RosebudDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → ($7,500) and menstrual-cramp wearable WarmWave ($5,000) rounding out the top three.
How it works: The contest, run by the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, awards the top three teams in each category: $10,000 for first, $7,500 for second, and $5,000 for third. VetVision's team brings more than 14 years of combined veterinary experience, while Del Vecchio plans to use the money to expand production.
Why now? The pool is the largest in the event's history — more than double spring 2026's $21,250, according to UT's own report, which puts the total distributed at $46,500. The win caps a strong run for Big Al's: Del Vecchio took the $3,000 emerging-entrepreneur prize at Knoxville's 865 Fest in September.
"Winning Graves will be a huge help in providing validation in our plan of scale," Del Vecchio said. He plans to produce at volumes capable of supplying wholesale and retail accounts in Knoxville "and beyond."
The signal: UT's growing prize pool points to an active early-stage pipeline in Knoxville, backed by broader support such as the system-wide Boyd Venture Challenge's $50,000 in non-dilutive funding this spring. But the funding market may be shallower than the contest suggests: a 2026 Knoxville Technology Council report found just 8% of respondents thought local tech startups had enough investment or venture capital to scale.
Read more: teknovation.biz
Image credit: Jeffrey Beall
