Haslam College of Business - UT Student Businesses Receive Funding at Spring 2026 Vol Court

Students representing more than 30 businesses presented their ideas to a panel of three judges at the latest Vol Court pitch competition. Winning student-led businesses included a high-tech agricultural drone, an AI device and a nightlife app.

Hosted by the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEI) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business, Vol Court takes place each semester and culminates in a pitch competition where the $3,000 Roe Prize is divided among students with winning concepts.

The Winning Businesses

Spencer Dore, a senior management major from Nashville, won first place for New Horizon Precision. This service-based agricultural drone business provides aerial application of chemicals, multispectral mapping, land clearing and granular seeding to farms throughout the Southeast. Using drones to perform spraying and spreading jobs traditionally handled by tractors or airplanes, the company generates high-value agricultural field analytics while offering a faster, more precise alternative to conventional methods.

“Winning Vol Court enabled us to establish a formal pipeline with an unmanned aerial systems program at Middle Tennessee State University,” Dore said. “This spring, we will hire our first student intern and begin training the next generation of drone pilots.”

Second place went to CodeBrosAI, founded by Simon Buhl, a junior computer science major from Franklin, TN. Buhl retrofits TI-84 calculators into powerful, accessible AI devices that eliminate the distractions of smartphones.

“Receiving second place at Vol Court was a blessing, but the real gift is serving others through my business,” Buhl said.

Third place went to Noah Cooper, a junior philosophy major with a minor in psychology from Memphis, and Michael Faragalli, a senior advertising major from Franklin, TN, for their nightlife application, Venuu, which will be available in app stores soon.

“We built Venuu because no one has solved the most basic question in nightlife: Where is everyone going tonight?” Cooper said. “Winning Vol Court validated that this isn’t just an app; it’s a platform that every college town in America needs, and Knoxville is just the beginning.”

“Winning is amazing, but this was about something bigger,” Faragalli said. “I genuinely believe in the vision for Venuu and I’m excited to elevate and transform nightlife experiences.”

An Evolving Competition

Spring 2026 also introduced a new format for Vol Court. The ACEI replaced the traditional speaker series leading up to the pitch competition with a set of structured learning modules students were required to complete before registering to pitch. The shift created a more intentional, skills-based foundation, ensuring participants arrived better prepared and more strategically focused.

The event also debuted a reverse pitch competition on February 18, where established local entrepreneurs presented their ventures for students to evaluate. Blake Hopkins (HCB, ’25) won the reverse pitch with his innovative influencer marketing app, Cofluence (formerly Partnerly).

The ACEI thanks the Scott and Dianna Roe Foundation for their generous support of Vol Court.

Judges for the latest Vol Court included Derrick Furlow Jr. (UT, ’08; UT M.S., ’09), the founder of Onrise and a former Vols football player; Katelyn Biefeldt, managing editor at Teknovation; and Gregg Bostick (HCB, ’89), director of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center. The ACEI extends its gratitude to this semester’s judges for volunteering their time, expertise and thoughtful feedback in selecting the top pitches.

About the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

The ACEI is the front door to entrepreneurship at UT. It connects Volunteers with the expertise, resources and collaborators at UT and across the regional ecosystem to advance ideas, tackle bold challenges and turn entrepreneurial ambition into results. At the ACEI, Volunteers are empowered to identify opportunities and take bold action to create value through new ventures.

For more information and to learn about upcoming events, visit the ACEI event page.

—

Author:

Allison Kelly, ACEI director of marketing, akelly9@utk.edu

Contact:

Leah McAmis, senior editor, leah@utk.edu