Three Waterloo Engineering student teams pitched their innovative business ideas at the Winter 2024 Velocity Pitch Competition and won $5,000 each.
The winning startups — CELLECT, Grease Tech and PatientCompanion — each delivered a three-minute pitch to a panel of judges in front of a live audience.
CT Murphy (BASc ‘23, chemical engineering) pitched her startup CELLECT which offers innovative technology using nanomaterials in menstrual products to diagnose HPV and cervical cancer using menstrual blood, potentially eliminating the need for Pap smears. Murphy was also awarded the competition’s people’s choice award, boosting their take home prize by $500.
“There is no question about it, every team here deserved to be in the final and we want all these startups to keep going, keep solving problems, keep showing traction and just make it happen,” said judge Mila Banerjee, CEO and founder of Kitchener-based Pronti AI.
The Winter 2024 Velocity Pitch Competition final eight pitches were narrowed down from over 100 applications across campus and then down to 26 teams that competed in the semi-finals.
Go to Velocity Pitch Competition unveils top innovators for the full story.