Ballard Spahr Hosts Nine-Month Start-Up Accelerator Program With Final Pitch Competition for Student Entrepreneurs

Ballard Spahr's BASE (Ballard Academy for Student Entrepreneurs) offers a nine-month, virtual startup accelerator program designed to help founders build, fund, and scale ventures confidently. This year’s program culminated last week in a “Shark Tank”-style pitch competition, empowering participants to put their learnings into action and pitch before investor judges and mentors.

“We created BASE and the pitch competition 12 years ago to give student entrepreneurs the practical tools, mentorship, and legal and business insight needed to build companies that can truly scale,” said Ballard Spahr Partner and Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Practice Group Leader Kimberly W. Klayman.

“Over the past nine months, these student founders from across the country demonstrated remarkable creativity, resilience, and discipline. It has been incredibly rewarding to watch them refine their ideas into investment-ready ventures and present with such confidence,” added Ballard Spahr Mergers and Acquisitions Partner and BASE Co-Founder Gregory L. Seltzer.

The following companies represent a subset of the 2025–2026 BASE cohort that qualified for the final BASE Pitch Competition.

Congratulations to the winners:
First Place: The Zillennial Advisors
Second Place: Prism Optics
Third Place: Apovo

The Zillennial Advisors - The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

The Zillennial Advisors is an AI-native, SEC-registered financial advisory firm purpose-built for Gen Z and millennials, delivering fiduciary planning and investment management entirely through software.

Kevin Russell, Carlin Jackson, and Chloe Sara

Prism Optics - University of Pennsylvania

Prism Optics is improving access to vision care through Prismatic, a portable self-driven eye examination device that delivers clinically accurate eyeglass prescriptions without a trained optometrist.

Danish Mahmood, Aarush Sahni, Daniel Botros, Fady Fahmy, and Daniel Serebrinic

Apovo Health - The University of Texas at Austin

Apovo Health is an AI Personal Health Navigator for cancer patients and caregivers that bridges the gap between emotional and clinical needs with personalized care coordination across a patient's entire cancer care continuum, from diagnosis and treatment to survivorship and reintegration to work. 

Nicole Wu and Athulya Saravanakumar

AirBoot - Texas Christian University

Never lose your water bottle again with AirBoot—the world’s first and only AirTag-compatible silicone bottle boot—built to protect Owala, YETI, Stanley, and other expensive reusable bottles from dents and clanking, while allowing you to track with ease using Apple’s Find My network.

Colby Ackerman

Buzzi App - Drexel University

Buzzi is building the trust infrastructure for peer-to-peer marketplaces, combining AI fraud detection with in-person escrow to protect the $15 billion in local transactions happening every year without a native payment layer.

Prashastha Nirwan

FrontRow Notes - The University of Texas at Austin

FrontRow Notes is an AI-powered note-taking platform that uses PTZ software and computer vision to automatically zoom in on the region a professor is referencing while providing personalized accessibility features that empower every type of learner.

Avery Neale

Koursair - The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Koursair curates affordable, high-quality group travel experiences through AI-powered traveler matching and expert-led trip planning, managing everything from group formation to on-the-ground execution.

Madison Li, Kenny Sandhu, and James Camaliche

SPARC Sports - Washington University in St. Louis

SPARC Sports is an AI-powered mental performance platform that helps athletes and teams build confidence, focus, and resilience through personalized training tools, journaling, assessments, and real-time performance analytics.

Sergiu Celebidachi

The Petition Co. - Georgetown University

The Petition Co. develops AI software that validates voter registrations for political petition signers, helping campaigns and ballot initiatives quickly assess signature validity and petition strength.

Michael A. Korvyakov

Xccelerate Motors - Texas Christian University and Georgia Institute of Technology

Xccelerate Motors turns EV scooters into personal canvases for riders and moving billboards for businesses through customizable EV accessories and an e-commerce/customization platform.

Damilola Fagbamiye and Jordan Goings

About BASE:

Since 2013, BASE has connected student-led ventures with critical legal and business resources to help them thrive—often from dorm rooms to launched companies. From advising clients during early growth to supporting emerging innovators across the U.S., BASE continues to amplify impact by pairing legal rigor with entrepreneurial spirit. BASE reflects Ballard Spahr's core mission: to democratize access to legal support and startup growth—empowering underrepresented founders to build sustainable and scalable enterprises.

The application for next year’s cohort will be released on June 1. Visit https://www.ballardspahr.com/about/pro-bono/base for details. Additionally, please visit our new BASE LinkedIn showcase page, which serves as a hub connecting BASE alumni, current BASE participants, mentors, speakers, and all interested in the program.

For media inquiries, please contact Will Ashenmacher at 612.371.5792.