Learn about the Galant Challenge
GALANT
CHALLENGE
Since 2012, the Galant Challenge Program has deployed more than $37 million in seed and early-stage capital to emerging ventures.
This year, there are multiple ways to get involved:
- Current UVA undergraduates: Interested in learning how to perform due diligence for venture investments? Apply for the new Galant Challenge VC Internship by Jan. 12, 2026.
- UVA students, alumni, faculty, and staff who are founders or startup leaders: Apply to pitch to investors in this year’s Challenge Showcase for a chance at up to $6 million in funding. Watch this space—our call for pitches goes live in mid-January.
- UVA alumni in venture capital: If you’d like to join a growing UVA entrepreneurship ecosystem and connect with other alumni at VCs to network, share deals, and possibly invest in UVA-affiliated startups competing in the Galant Challenge, contact David Zusman (McIntire '97), VC Collective Co-Chair.
Want to watch the action live?
Attend the Galant Challenge Showcase at the McIntire School of Commerce on Thursday, April 23, 2026—it promises to be our biggest and most electric night of investing to date!
How It Works
Entrepreneurs in the UVA community are invited to submit a pitch to the Galant Challenge, UVA's premiere startup event connecting seed and early-stage ventures with potential investors. Since the Challenge started in 2012, more than $37 million has been invested in teams selected to pitch in the Challenge.
Eligibility: UVA students, alumni, faculty, and staff who are founders or members of the startup's management team as well as teams introduced by a UVA VC Cohort member are eligible to apply. Four to six finalist teams will ultimately be chosen to pitch at the Galant Challenge Showcase on April 23 at UVA.
Pitch Submission Deadline: All pitches will be due through our online submission form no later than 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, March 1, 2026. The submission form includes required data fields and an upload for a pitch deck as PPT or PDF. Submission requirements outlined on the form should be carefully reviewed and followed. Photos and videos are taken during the Challenge. Proprietary data should not be included in the pitch deck or finalist presentation (if invited).
Watch this space—the call for pitches goes live in January!
Investor Panel
Elizabeth Blankenship-Singh (Darden '22)
Senior Associate, Overlay Capital
Elizabeth Blankenship-Singh is a Senior Associate at Overlay Capital, seamlessly integrating client insights from Overlay Capital’s Build’s consulting arm deploying technologies with real estate owner-operators, to the team’s strategic investment vision. With expertise in sustainability and climate tech, she's honed her skills at two early-stage VC funds, injecting catalytic capital into innovative climate solutions. Blankenship-Singh holds an MBA from UVA Darden, with a focus on Innovation for Sustainability, bringing a unique blend of entrepreneurial spirit and passion for driving impactful investments.
Mark Galant (McIntire '80)
CEO, Tydall Investment Partners; Founder, Galant Center for Entrepreneurship
Mark Galant is the Founder of GAIN Capital/FOREX.com, a leading online FX trading firm. He served as CEO from its beginning in 1999 until 2007. Galant continued as Chairman until December 2010, when the firm went public on the NYSE. Before GAIN, his Wall Street trading career included Global Head of Options for Credit Suisse. He followed GAIN with the founding of Tydall Trading, a high-frequency algorithmic trading firm, trading over $10 billion a day. He currently is the CEO of Tydall Holdings, a real estate development and startup investment firm. Galant holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Commerce (Finance) from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce.
Aditi Rajagopal (Darden '21)
Principal, Good Growth Capital
Aditi Rajagopal is a Principal at Good Growth Capital, where she focuses on data science investment opportunities. Prior to GGC, Rajagopal was on the investment team at Invest Detroit Ventures, the most active early-stage investor in Michigan, where she led deal sourcing and KPI development while building entrepreneur relationships across the Great Lakes region. Rajagopal started her career in software engineering working on open source cloud infrastructure products including IBM Cloud, Kubernetes, OpenStack, and Docker. Rajagopal holds a B.S.E. in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan and a dual MBA/M.S. in Data Science from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business.
David Zusman (McIntire '97)
Managing Partner, Talara Capital and GoPoint Ventures
David Zusman is the Managing Partner of Talara Capital and GoPoint Ventures, investment partnerships he founded in 2010. The firm’s PE investments are real asset focused, while its venture investments have focused on software with workflow/data orchestration, AI solutions, and energy transition technologies. Zusman has invested over $1 billion alongside visionary founders, serving on numerous boards. In 2019, he co-founded the We Are All Music Foundation. Zusman began his career in finance at Credit Suisse before becoming Managing Director at North Sound Capital, a hedge fund, and Partner at Perella Weinberg. Zusman earned a B.S. in Commerce at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Galant Challenge?
The Galant Challenge is a premier startup showcase held annually at the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce to expose startups founded by UVA community members (students, alumni, faculty, and staff) to potential investors. The Galant Challenge has resulted in more than $37 million in capital raised for finalists since 2012.
Who are the investors?
Led by Mark E. Galant (McIntire '80), the investor panel changes annually but is typically composed of leading entrepreneurs and investors ready to put real capital into the final ventures selected to pitch. In recent years the panel featured Paul Tudor Jones (A&S '76) of Tudor Investment Corporation; Baiju Bhatt, Co-Founder of Robinhood; John Griffin (McIntire '85) of Blue Ridge Capital; and Ralph Sampson (A&S '83) of The Sampson Group, among others.
In 2025, the Galant Challenge raised the stakes. Our first cohort of UVA-connected venture capital funds brought both startups and their capital to the showcase.
Who has been funded in past Galant Challenges?
Each year, dozens of pitches are submitted to the Galant Challenge, with four to six ventures ultimately selected to pitch to our panel of investors at the UVA McIntire School of Commerce during the live event. Of those, many are selected for funding by one or more investors. In 2025, six finalists received funding in excess of $5 million from investors who attended the showcase.
Check out the Past Events section below for recaps of each year's Challenge, with details about the companies and investments that resulted.
Can anyone attend the Challenge?
The Challenge is open to the public and all are encouraged to attend. We'll share a link to RVSP in March.