2020 New Venture Competition Winners
Meet the NVC winners! These 15 teams collectively won $215,000 in cash prizes.
169 judges from all over the world have chosen the 2020 winners.
Congratulations to all the teams!
428
Total Participants Entered
206
Total Team Represented
$215k
Total Cash Awards
Social Ventures
Cognitive Gym
Katherine Hurley GSEHD '23
Cognitive Gym is an engaging online curriculum specifically designed to help adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder meet employment and other goals.
$30,000
1st Place Prize - Social Track & Fosun Graduate Social Venture ($20,000)
Best Women's Venture Prize ($10,000)
Rice Wrap
Panisara Pummalee GWSB '20
Lenon Adam GWSB '20
Daniel Nguyen SEAS '20
Rice Wrap is a biodegradable food packaging used for sealing food in containers to keep it fresh and secure.
$27,500
Fosun Best International Prize ($10,000)
Quinn Prize for International and Social Venture ($7,500)
Most Innovative Food & Beverage Industry Prize ($5,000)
Runner-Up Prize ($5,000)
Jheike
Rachel Puri ESIA '21
Prashansa Thapa
Jhielké is a for-profit social venture making sustainable artisan handbags by empowering women in Nepal and using profit-shares to educate underprivileged children.
$15,000
Social Venture Runner-Up ($5,000)
Fosun Undergraduate Social Venture Prize ($10,000)
Zulun
Michael Chergosky Corcoran '22
Yumjirdulam Olontumen GWSB '22
Keila Davila-Olmo GWSB '18
Zuulun tackles textile waste by transforming post-consumer textiles into weighted blankets.
$10,000
Best Art & Design Venture for Corcoran Students Prize ($10,000)
Realm
Rushi Challa SMHS '23
Nandan Srinivasa SMHS '23
Hoon Min SMHS '23
Jacob Shalkevich SMHS '23
Project REALM collects discarded medical supplies that are sterile and unused from hospitals to redistribute them to local free clinics.
$5,000
Social Venture Runner-Up ($5,000)
Plantarion
Andy Nevers GWSB '22
Alexa Gau
Plantarion is a technology platform connecting plant-based service providers (chefs, nutritionists, etc.), and consumers (vegans, and other veggie curious individuals)
$5,000
Best Food & Beverage Industry Venture Prize ($5,000)
Technology Ventures
Ichosia Biotechnology
Ahmad Aljaberi CCAS '20
Anna Grim CCAS '21
David Hyon GWSB '21
Lucas Vining-Recklitis CCAS '22
Ichosia Biotechnology is developing a scalable method of mass-producing an enhanced red blood cell product through novel genetic engineering techniques.
$40,000
1st Place Prize - Tech Track Winner & Kulkarni Prize for Best Technology Venture ($20,000)
Fosun Best Health & Wellness Venture ($10,000)
Blank Rome's Best Undergraduate Prize ($10,000)
RestEasy
Shelly Mishra SMHS '23
Aditya Maddali SMHS '23
Krithika Rao SMHS '23
RestEasy is a wearable pediatric asthma monitor that quickly detects and alerts stressed parents about nighttime asthma attacks.
$22,500
Viewers Choice Award ($10,000)
Best Medical Device Venture Prize ($7,500)
Runner-Up Prize ($5,000)
Cybergraph
Benjamin Bowman SEAS '23
Craig Laprade SEAS '22
Howie Huang SEAS Faculty
CyberGraph is an AI-powered tool for threat detection and network monitoring which generates comprehensive incident stories for cyber analysts.
$10,000
Technology Venture Runner-Up Prize ($5,000)
Best US Veteran and Military Innovation Prize ($5,000)
LingoCoach
Pedram Hosseini SEAS '22
LingoCoach is a reliable and trustworthy communication coach that will help you throughout your life's journey.
$5,000
Runner-Up Prize ($5,000)
New Ventures
People Powered Doors
Kenneth Gannetta GWSB '21
Carrie Gannetta
Skye Kussmann GWSB '20
People Powered Doors (PPD) captures and stores kinetic energy generated from manually operated swing and revolving doors.
$25,000
1st Place Prize - New Venture Track Winner $20,000
Opportune Clean Energy and Healthcare Prize $5,000
Songwriter's Dream
Jacy Case CCAS '22
Collin Cadet CCAS '23
Rumi Robinson CCAS '22
Songwriter's Dream will give you the building blocks to create your own music and help consolidate the music writing process.
$5,000
New Venture Runner-Up ($5,000)
BladesWork Unlimted
Robert Plante GWSB '21
Christian Helms
BladesWork Unlimited is a dedicated marketplace in the custom cutlery niche and provides a unique experience for bladesmiths to showcase their work to an expanded customer base.
$5,000
New Venture Runner-Up ($5,000)
Benjamin
Jay Grieve SEAS '22
M. Amin Hosseini GWSB '21
Michael Rand GWSB '21
Pasha Abrishamchian ESIA '19
Benjamin is an application that puts students on an optimal financial path through user- tailored recommendations and actionable items.
$5,000
New Venture Runner-Up ($5,000)
Hotmaps
Gilad Kabilow GWSB '20
Matan Wilchek
HotMaps is a map-based data analysis software that revolutionizes hospitality market analysis by combining big data with actionable intelligence methodologies.
$5,000
ParagonLabs Prize for Workplace Innovation Prize ($5,000)