Immerse, the UCI Beall Applied Innovation startup that uses virtual reality to create immersive environments for enhanced language learning, won the top prize at Convene’s Leadership Collab 2019 at the Hotel del Coronado in Southern California.
The four-day-long leadership conference brought together business professionals for inspiration and networking.
Immerse CEO Quinn Taber and Head of Business Development, Christian Rowe, had the opportunity to take part in a pitch competition and share the story of Immerse in front of a crowd of about 750 and a panel of judges. Later that evening, the judges announced Immerse as both the winner of the $50,000 top prize and as the crowd favorite.
“We’ve won other competitions where the prize was more pride than anything,” said Taber. “This was our first time winning something of that nature with a cash prize at the end, which was thrilling.”
Immerse plans to allocate these funds to their viral marketing strategy.
“This investment and when we’re looking to raise the next round will predominantly be to pour fuel on the fire on our go-to-market strategy in Japan,” said Taber. “We’ve got customers across East Asia, but Tokyo has proven the most lucrative and that’s where we’ll be doubling down.”
Learn more about Immerse and their immersive language-learning platform.