Corely Wins First Place at the Hofstra-Seiman Venture Challenge
Corely earned first place at Hofstra's annual Venture Challenge, receiving prize money and mentorship that supported the team's next stage of development.
The milestone
Corely was named the first-place team at the 14th annual Hofstra-Seiman Venture Challenge. Hofstra University reported that the award included $15,000 in prize money and four mentoring sessions of up to one hour each with Mike Seiman.
Hofstra identified Gabriel Stout, Matthew Stewart, and Christian Bramwell with the winning team. The recognition marked an important early milestone for Corely and the idea behind its local service platform.
From idea to execution
The competition award gave Corely additional resources to continue developing the platform, testing the product, and moving the idea toward a broader launch.
The prize was competition funding, not an equity investment. It helped the team keep building while learning from experienced voices around entrepreneurship and execution.
What came next
Since the competition, the team has continued developing Corely Pro and Corely Connect, expanding the product, working with service professionals, and preparing the platform for broader adoption.
That work remains grounded in the same problem presented at Hofstra: local service work should be easier for customers to request and easier for independent professionals to manage.
Looking ahead
The Venture Challenge was an early milestone, not the end goal. Corely's focus now is turning that momentum into a product that can support local service professionals and customers at greater scale.
