The excitement was palpable as eight teams made their last effort to convince a panel of judges that their business idea deserved one of four $5,000 awards at Velocity’s $5K pitch competition. Among them was RelayMD, one of four finalists that won a top prize at the Velocity 5K final competition held on November 23, 2022.
Dhvani Patel, a software engineering student who expects to graduate in 2023, is a cofounder of RelayMD, an online platform that helps family doctors find information on medical specialists and manage outbound referrals more efficiently. RelayMD’s other team member, Ali Qamar, is a family physician.
The
four
winning
teams
at Velocity’s
$5K
Finals. Dhvani
Patel,
a
software
engineering
student
and
cofounder
of
RelayMD,
holds
the
third
cheque
from
the
left.
Phto
credit:
Velocity
“I had a great time pitching at Velocity’s 5K,” says Dhvani. “As I’m still currently in school and we are fully bootstrapped, funding helps go a long way. It was also great to meet people who have experience in the health tech space.”
Velocity is an innovation incubator based out of the University of Waterloo. Since its founding in 2008, Velocity has helped launch more than 400 companies. The 5K competition, in which teams of student innovators compete for $5,000 in funding, is one of Velocity’s highest-profile student events.
Out of 72 applications received at the Fall 2022 Velocity $5K competition, 23 student ventures were selected as semi-finalists, of which eight teams pitched during this week’s finals.