Hamid Jafarbiglu

  • Business Development Fellow
Hamid Jafarbiglu grew up in a farming village, and his bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Tehran focused on agricultural machinery and robotics. He completed his UC Davis Ph.D. in September 2023. His research primarily centered around drone-based aerial image analysis, data mining and machine learning.

Christy Serrato

Throughout her career, Christy Serrato has made her mark in Northern California—and especially at UC Davis and in Sacramento. Serrato is the founder and CEO of Pair Anything Inc. and the program director and a founding fellow of the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy. She obtaining a B.A. in economics from UC Davis and later returned to campus to compete in the 2019 Big Bang! Business Competition, taking home the $10,000 Food + Agriculture Sector Award. Most recently, PairAnything has been featured on Good Day Sacramento and in the Davis Enterprise to showcase how the digital platform became even more relevant during COVID-19.

2023 Big Bang! Finalist Pitch Videos

The UC Davis Big Bang! Business Competition provides a forum for innovators to collaborate as they develop and test business ideas.

View our 2023 finalists' videos below and learn about their innovations.

Congratulations, 2021 Big Bang! Finalists

Congratulations, 2021 Big Bang! Finalists Forty-five teams—representing 135 aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs—entered the 21st annual UC Davis business competition.

The competition drew students and alumni from across UC Davis, as well as from colleges and universities throughout California. Together, the Big Bang! and Little Bang!

Pair Anything on All Things Napa

Christy Serrato, founder and CEO of Pair Anything, was featured on the All Things Napa radio show on KVON-AM - 1440 AM 96.9 FM. Pair Anything won $10K in the 2019 UC Davis Big Bang! for its platform to help wineries connect with customers beyond the tasting room by guiding them on wine and food pairings. Listen to the show >

Big Bang! Prizes

Outdo the Competition!

The 2024 Big Bang! Business Competition will award up to $100,000+ in prize money, with additional in-kind prizes. We are very grateful to our sponsors.

The diversity of backgrounds and thoughts that the Big Bang! brought in pushed me to reimagine how I saw the world around me. ... Through being introduced to new ideas and people, I was able to push my learning beyond what was in the textbooks."

PairAnything on Good Day Sacramento

Pair Anything, founded by Christy Serrato, was featured recently on Good Day Sacramento. Pair Anything won the $10K Food + Ag Sector Award in our 2019 Big Bang! Business Competition for creating a platform to help wineries connect with customers beyond the tasting room by guiding them on wine and food pairings. Watch the video >

Ejnar Knudsen

  • Business Partner
  • Founder/CEO, AGR Partners
Ejnar Knudsen and AGR Partners sponsor the Big Bang’s Food + Agriculture Sector Award, along with the Gowan Co. The $10,000 award recognizes innovations in food and agriculture. Knudsen is founder and CEO of AGR Partners, and oversees the company’s investment strategy, providing capital to cultivate long-term growth in leading food and agribusiness companies.