2017 New Venture Competition Winners
Meet the NVC winners! These 14 teams collectively won $147,000 in cash prizes.
118 judges from all over the world have chosen the 2017 winners.
Congratulations to all the teams!
203
Total Participants Entered
116
Total Team Represented
$147k
Total Cash Awards
Social Ventures
Urgent Wellness
Freya Spielberg GWSPH '92
Aubrey Villalobos GWSPH '21
John Barbino
Luigi Leblanc
Urgent Wellness provides community-placed, community health worker-operated telemedicine and medical vending machines that reduce costs while improving health for vulnerable populations.
$25,000
1st Place Winner ($15,000)
Finalist ($5,000)
AARP Foundation's Older Adult Focused Innovation ($5,000)
KnoNap
Colten Eberhardt CCAS '17
Danya Sherman ESIA '19
Connor Varley SEAS '18
KnoNap is a one-of-a kind discreet napkin that tests for the presence of date rape drugs in beverages.
$10,000
Finalist ($5,000)
Audience Choice Award ($5,000)
Give Butter
Liran Cohen SEAS '18
Max Friedman GWSB '17
Ari Krasner ESIA '18
Givebutter is a social crowd funding platform for student organizations and nonprofits with a mission of inspiring people to give back.
$5,000
Finalist ($5,000)
The Forgotten Fruit
Larry Gibbons GWSB '16
Stephanie Westhelle GWSB '17
We create delicious snacks using misshaped produce discarded by our agricultural system, to increase revenue for farmers and decrease waste.
$5,000
Finalist ($5,000)
Technology Ventures
Bernik
Nikolaos Beratlis SEAS '01
Natalia Clementi SEAS '19
A heads-up display for motorcycles that projects critical information in the rider’s forward vision including rear view visibility and blind spots.
$12,500
Finalist ($5,000)
Kulkarni Prize for Best Technology ($7,500)
Clean Condense
Charles Bayard Carlson GWSB '18
Spencer Legred CCAS '17
David Meehan GWSB '17
Dennis Marquis
We provide gardeners and growers with clean water to run their operations, in both an affordable and environmentally friendly way.
$10,000
Finalist ($5,000)
Sustainable Energy and Infrastructure ($5,000)
Trident Innovations
Adrian Britt CCAS '17
Thomas Garvis SEAS '17
David Sullivan CCAS '17
By implementing an innovative portable water desalinator, Trident Innovations aims to alleviate human health impacts from unclean drinking water.
$5,000
Opportune LLP Clean Energy Venture ($5,000)
Fourth Wave Studios
Joseph Schiarizzi SEAS '18
Fourth Wave Studios builds augmented reality apps which make education material more visual and interactive than ever before.
$5,000
Finalist ($5,000)
Opal: Medical Equipment Management System
Connor Roberts SEAS '17
Opal is a comprehensive equipment management system that delivers the power and efficiency of condition-based maintenance to the healthcare sector.
$5,000
Finalist ($5,000)
New Ventures
Berg Bites
Daniel Berg GWSB '18
Marguerite Bottorff
With heart healthy oats, Omega 3 powerhouses like chia/hemp seeds, Berg Bites are the guilt free snacks that are sinfully delicious!
$25,000
2nd Place Winner ($10,000)
Finalist ($5,000)
Blank Rome's Best Undergraduate Venture ($10,000)
Agaport
Joshua Pulman GWSB '17
Mimi Shojai CCAS '17
Tatiana Seikaly CCAS '17
Agaport will be the first online platform to search, compare, and book storage space in Freeports, located within free trade zones.
$22,500
3rd Place Winner ($5,000)
Finalist ($5,000)
Best International Venture ($7,500)
Best Interdisciplinary Venture ($5,000)
Corkbord
Luke Bogacz GWSB '19
Trevor Ewen
Corkbord is an Online marketing system designed for local businesses to spread the word about unique events across multiple channels.
$5,000
Quality Support, Inc's Veterans Prize ($5,000)
The Pocket Palette
Lynda T.C. Peralta GWSB '17
The Pocket Palette: A single-serve makeup kit that empowers women to focus on priorities and stop carrying bulky bags.
$7,500
4th Place Winner ($2,500)
Finalist ($5,000)
Drwr
James Carbone GWSB '19
Rowland Zhang ESIA '16
drwr is an antiques and collectibles e-commerce platform. It improves buyer/seller experience through a user-generated taxonomy system.
$5,000
Finalist ($5,000)