Planetary Solutions Prize
The Planetary Solutions Prize, previously known as the Sustainable Venture Prize, awards a total of $50,000 to two promising student-led for-profit ventures dedicated to advancing environmental sustainability. The prize allocates $35,000 for first place and $15,000 for second place.
The competition provides participants with constructive feedback from experienced professionals, mentorship from relevant experts, and chances to meet venture capital investors and industry leaders. This prize seeks to:
- Stimulate applications of entrepreneurship and innovation to address issues of sustainability
- Promote multi-disciplinary approaches to environmental/social problem solving
- Generate ideas that are scalable, achievable, quantifiable, and financeable
- Educate about how entrepreneurs turn a concept into a successful reality
Application Selection & Judging Criteria
- Opportunity: The problem the venture/organization/idea seeks to address is clearly defined, and there is evidence that there is a significant target population who considers it important.
- Viability: The team has developed a clear solution to the problem, has a realistic path for getting the solution to the end user, and can continue to deliver the solution in a way that is financially and operationally sustainable.
- Innovation: The idea is truly innovative. It presents a new model, product or service that fills a unique gap and/or applies an existing model to a new context.
- Team: The team has the knowledge, skills, passion, energy and ability to execute.
- Catalytic-ness: The prize will be meaningful in driving the team/project forward in ways that may otherwise not have been possible as quickly or at all.
- Impact: The venture contributes environmental benefits to society.
Past Winners
- 2024 winner: Catala (James Licato, YC ’25, and Claire Chouinard, ENG ’27) offers a sustainable water membrane technology which enables a one-stop, drop-in solution for industrial water treatment at a fraction of current costs.
- 2023 winner: General Biological
- 2022 winner: Aatma Leather
- 2021 winner: EcoPackables
- 2020 winner: Floe
- 2019 winner: GreenGear Supply Co.
