From a company creating apparel that prevents sweat stains to another developing display technology that increases the battery life and daylight visibility of mobile devices, a range of startups led by engineering students and recent graduates took top awards during the Velocity Fund Finals (VFF) pitch competition event yesterday.
During the competition, 10 companies pitched their businesses to a panel of judges representing the investment, startup and business communities. Judges considered innovation, market potential, market viability and overall pitch.
With a total of $125,000 in prizes available, five companies with engineering roots took home winnings. Two of the $25,000 grand prize awards went to engineers, plus three $5,000 prizes and the $10,000 for best hardware pitch.
Grand prize award recipients
- Sweat Free Apparel is a high-tech company for apparel, producing under-garments that prevent sweat stains from reaching and ruining your clothes. Company founders include, Kiyoshi Morishita (4A Nanotechnology Engineering) and Chanakya Ramdev (4B Management Engineering).
- Thalo is building a new display technology to increase the battery life and daylight visibility of mobile devices. Today's win gives them an additional $10,000 awarded to hardware or life sciences companies to help cover additional startup costs. Company founders include, Ryan Marchewka (4A Nanotechnology Engineering) and Matt Lavrisa (Nanotechnology Engineering ’15).
On top of earning one of the grand prize awards, Thalo was awarded an additional $10,000 for best hardware pitch.
The winners of the Velocity $5K awards were:
Most innovative: BioFlex Implant seeks to fix two major issues with current titanium intramedullary implants by using biodegradable polymers to create flexible intramedullary nails for pediatric orthopedic surgery. Company founders include, Michael Canam (3B Chemical Engineering), Pulkit Gulati (4A Chemical Engineering), Munish Raghuwanshi (4A Chemical Engineering) and Alaqian Zafar (4A Chemical Engineering).
Best pitch: Finuvo is developing an automated painting station to enable hobbyists and designers to create visually stunning parts by applying a variety of colors and patterns to the surface. Company founders include, Robert Weeks (3B Mechanical Engineering).
People's choice: Hash is an iPhone application that connects to your desktop device and web extensions in order to successfully authenticate several user accounts seamlessly using your fingerprint via touch ID. Company founders include, Oluwasefunmi Osinaik (3B Electrical Engineering, Ian Osawaye (3B Computer Engineering), Demilade Olagoke (3B Software Engineering) and Marcus Osobase (2A Electrical and Computer Engineering).
For the full story on competition results and awards, read the news release.
For more information on the Velocity Fund Finals, please visit: www.velocityfundfinals.com