October 28, 2025
The competition, hosted at American University’s Veloric Center for Entrepreneurship, brought together student entrepreneurs from American University, George Washington University, the University of Maryland, Catholic University, George Mason University, Howard University, Northeastern University, and Georgetown University. Each university’s team took the stage to pitch their startup ideas before a panel of students and judges.
From this group, Luke’s startup GovRat was selected as one of two finalists to advance to the main Pitch Competition at DC Startup & Tech Week. The final event took place on Friday, October 24, at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center, where Luke presented GovRat on the main stage in front of judges including the DC Deputy Mayor for Economic and Planning, the head of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the founder of Cvent, and a venture capital executive.
Founded in 2023, GovRat is an AI-powered platform that helps small businesses compete more effectively for government contracts by simplifying the public procurement process. The company currently serves about 100 customers, ranging from one-person firms to companies with more than 150 employees. Luke explained that the idea for GovRat was born from his internship experience in Congress. “I had a project related to public procurement and how to modernize it on the government side,” he said. “I found that it would be too hard to modernize it on the government side, so instead, I came up with a private-sector solution to give businesses the tools they would need to compete effectively.”
He also credited the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship and the Venture Lab at the Busch School of Business for helping him turn his idea into a viable company. “The Venture Lab provided me, especially over the summer, the advisory and financial support I needed to pursue GovRat full time,” Luke said. “Without them, I would have had to probably take one or two summer jobs, but they gave me the backing and the confidence to pursue GovRat full time.” Through the Venture Lab and his coursework in the Busch School, Luke gained practical knowledge on entrepreneurship and customer relations. “In my courses for the entrepreneurship minor, I’ve been given knowledge, especially on reaching customers and relating to customers, that has been extremely fruitful in the course of trying to build and scale GovRat,” he shared.
Luke expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to represent both Catholic University and GovRat at the competition. “I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to represent Catholic University and share what we’re building with GovRat,” he said. He also recognized Professor Brian Walsh, Professor Andreas Widmer, Professor Rebecca Teti, and Professor Francesco Brown as mentors whose guidance has been invaluable as he continues to develop GovRat and grow as an entrepreneur.
Luke continues to grow GovRat while completing his senior year at Catholic University, representing the innovative, mission-driven spirit that defines the Busch School community.