Carly Nash
Jan 30, 2025
A group of Middlebury juniors, Theo Kogan, Juju Wu and Bodhi Chadran, received the 2025 Will Nash ‘20 prize for their company, “Vermatcha.”
Midd Entrepreneurs & The Will Nash '20 Prize
The Elizabeth Hackett Robinson ’84 Innovation Hub and Midd Entrepreneurs class offer Middlebury students that are interested in creating innovative and impactful businesses an opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial skills through hands-on experiences. Will and his business partner participated in this course in 2020, when they developed their own Semi Aquatics streetwear apparel line.
Now, the Midd Entrepreneurs class offers an annual Will Nash ‘20 prize. This award provides the winning group of students with $1,000 in funding to continue growing the creative business that they devised during the course.
The 2025 Prize Winners: Vermatcha
In 2025, this award was presented to three juniors: Theo Kogan, Juju Wu and Bodhi Chadran. Their idea is a company called “Vermatcha.” In Theo’s own words:
“Vermatcha is America's first spiked matcha brand, bringing the positive health benefits of matcha to consumers in a fun and lively way. The idea for this business has been in the works, but it never would have come to fruition without MiddE. This class helped connect me closer to the community in Vermont and Middlebury and also helped me tap into the entrepreneurial roots that were deep inside of me but have never really been tapped into. I was always scared and struggled to gain momentum when pursuing past ventures, but my experience in Midd Entrepeneurs has really helped me learn how to be the best entrepreneur and founder that I can be. The [Will Nash ‘20] seed money will be used for [research and development], as well as marketing and legal work.”