Engineering teams dominate Velocity winter awards

Monday, March 30, 2015

Engineering startups were front and centre at the 2015 winter Velocity Fund Finals capturing the attention of the judges along with top awards.

Vitameter, a handheld device that measures vitamin levels to help ensure 

Vitameter team
proper dosage, was the big winner at the March 26 event. Founders James MacLean and Nirushan Udayakumar, both fourth-year nanotechnology engineering students, and Udit Mondal, a third-year electrical and computer engineering student, received $25,000 plus $10,000 to help cover additional startup costs for Vitameter, an engineering Capstone Design project. The company also receives space at the Velocity Garage and the Velocity Foundry.

Our product is essential for people at high-risk for vitamin deficiencies, such as people with anemia, those undergoing chemotherapy, pregnant women and the elderly," said MacLean. "This is a huge opportunity to get our device to market and to the people who need it."

The following three companies were also grand-prize winners of $25,000 and space at the Velocity Garage and Velocity Foundry:

Fotofox: founded by Sean Wilkinson, a mechatronics engineering graduate, and Jona Cho, a third-year literature and rhetoric student.  FotoFox is an online marketplace that connects customers with photographers for high-quality, professional photos.

Pout: founded by Riley Donelson, a systems design engineering graduate, and Laura Smith, a software engineering and business graduate. Pout targets beauty and fashion enthusiasts/professionals to share photos and videos that show their unique looks, process, and techniques.

Suncayr: founded by Derek Jouppi, Andre Martinko, Rachel Pautler and Chad Sweeting, all fourth-year nanotechnology engineering students. Suncayr is an AV-responsive marker ink that indicates when to reapply sunscreen.

During the Velocity Fund Finals, an additional 10 teams of University of Waterloo students competed for three prizes of $5,000 and access to Velocity workspaces.

The winners of the Velocity $5K include:

Best Pitch: CareChair, founded by Ali Amin, Sanjith Chandran, Surya Lakshmivarahan and Oasis Vali, all fourth-year mechatronics engineering students. The Capstone Design project is the first standalone system that can function both as a bed and a wheelchair.

Most Innovative: Kue, founded by Kamyar Ghofrani and Josh Reid, both second-year nanotechnology engineering students. Kue is a timed-release capsule that will open after a specific amount of time. This caffeine product gives consumers a burst of energy before they wake.