More than 25 million pounds of tennis strings end up in landfills and incinerators every year. A Boston University venture called LET is betting it can turn that waste stream into something the apparel industry actually wants — and the judges at one of the world’s largest student startup competitions are paying attention.
Last week, LET won one of two U.S. National rounds of the Hult Prize, advancing founder Jakob Esterowitz‘s (ENG’27) company into the next stage of a global competition that culminates in a $1 million prize this September. The Hult Prize, funded by the Hult family and headquartered at EF (Education First) in Cambridge, challenges student founders to build companies tied to a triple-bottom-line mandate of people, planet, and profit.
This year’s cycle drew 18,000 startup entries and more than 250,000 student entrepreneurs, organizers, volunteers, mentors, and judges across 130 countries.
LET is developing what it describes as the world’s first chemical recycling process for discarded tennis strings, converting polyester string waste into high-performance apparel materials. According to the company, the resulting material uses 47 percent less water, produces 59 percent less CO2, and requires 75 percent less energy than virgin polyester production. The LET team includes Jakob, co-founder and COO Jonah Dickson (MET’25), and Ouwen Lu (Questrom’21).
LET has spent the past several years building inside Boston University’s entrepreneurship community. The team participated in the Innovate@BU Summer Accelerator, was a recipient of a Sustainability Innovation Seed Grant, is in the Fly Stage of the Innovation Pathway program, and reached the finals of the $80K New Venture Competition before stepping onto the Hult Prize stage.
The Hult journey continues this summer with the Digital Incubator, where the field will narrow to the top 20 startups invited to the in-person Hult Prize Global Accelerator at Ashridge House in England. From there, eight finalists will compete for the $1 million prize at the Global Finals in September.
