2023 NVC Winners
Meet the NVC winners! These 15 teams collectively won $163,000 in cash prizes.
Nearly 200 judges from all over the world have chosen the 2023 winners in the Business Goods & Services, Consumer Goods & Services, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Social Innovation, and Explorer Tracks. We also awarded 9 other cash specialty prizes.
Congratulations to all the teams!
417
Total Participants Entered
161
Total Teams Represented
$163K
Total Cash Awards
Business Goods & Services
Ellexco: $20,000
Lingchen Kong SEAS '24
Xitong Liu SEAS Faculty Member
Technologies to extract lithium from unconventional aqueous sources are needed to meet the future lithium demand. Ellexco has envisioned a novel idea to extract lithium from brines. Ellexco offers a chemical-free, electricity-driven innovative technology to directly convert geothermal brine to lithium hydroxide, which would lower environmental impacts and carbon footprint.
1st place winner ($10,000) and Cirrus Labs' Best Tech Venture ($10,000)
amplifIED: $15,000
Kimberly de la Pena GWSB '23
Gaby DeAndrade GWSB '23
Lana Synder GWSB '23,
Lauren Loadvine GWSB '23
AmplifIED is a comprehensive DEI solution platform that provides a customizable dashboard with the ability to update in real-time. AmplifIED offers data analytics to drive progress, measures success towards an inclusive workplace, and access to advisory services. This platform's differentiation is the transparency offered from HR to employees.
2nd place winner ($7,500) and Equity and Inclusion Prize ($7,500)
NFBus: $5,000
Edoardo Brunello GW Exchange Student '23
Enrico Sgarbossa
NFBus is an online marketplace through which bus companies offer their tickets as digital tokens. This allows them to retain more control, save costs, and introduce ticket reselling. Buyers can instead compare, purchase, and enforce policies through a single platform that accepts both fiat and crypto currencies.
3rd place winner ($5,000)
Consumer Goods & Services
Immorta: $17,500
Sonia Schmidt GW Law '24
Devan Geib
Immorta is a social media platform where users can upload, store, and share multiple types of media – photos, videos, stories, recipes, and more. This platform will serve as a collective memory book, where loved ones’ legacies can be celebrated during their life and preserved beyond their death.
1st place winner ($10,000) and Best Storytelling ($7,500)
Seeker: $15,000
Sebastian Ewel GWSB '23
Aditya Jaju GWSB '23
Seeker will provide guarantor services to international students renting apartments in the US, enabling them to secure housing without a US-based guarantor, in exchange for a fee, also giving landlords peace of mind.
2nd place winner ($7,500) and Best Financial Understanding ($7,500)
J Street: $5,000
Millicent Li GWSB '23,
Kennedy Generalli GWSB '23,
Camila Zamalloa GWSB '23,
Gerel Enkhbol GWSB '22
A coffeehouse serving locally-sourced specialty drinks, while providing relaxation, connection, and creation through art. J Street seeks to be a space for customers to rent coloring or other art supplies at their leisure, with a good cup of coffee at their side to open up their creative channels.
3rd place winner ($5,000)
Healthcare and Life Sciences
CRYODough: $17,500
Iris Brammer SMHS '26
Cryodough is a reusable dough that is malleable even below 32ºF and delivers consistent cooling without restricting movement that can be sculpted for any area of the body. Cryodough is a household essential for first aid, especially for homemakers, to rapidly ice accidental burns without interrupting cooking and busy activities.
1st place winner ($10,000) and Best MVP ($7,500)
NFTY: $15,000
Abhisri Ramesh SMHS '26,
Abdulla Ahmed SMHS '26
Rithvik Chekuri SMHS '26
Phillip Parel SMHS '26
Avanthika Ramesh
Currently, providers share medical images by burning >150 million CDs annually, a process that is expensive, unprotected, and incompatible. NFTY utilizes blockchain to streamline the sharing of medical images in a way
that is secure, private, and HIPAA-compliant for private practice imaging centers and patients that require frequent imaging.
2nd place winner ($7,500) and Best Customer Discovery ($7,500)
Kornerstone Health Solutions, LLC: $5,000
Louis Eke, PhD SMHS '24
The present proposal integrates a nano-tech wearable mouthguard device designed as a concussion tracking device in real-time. The device synthesizes the brain-wave imaging, releasing the results to a phone and computer for clinical neurological assessment and prompt response.
3rd place winner ($5,000)
Social Innovation
MiCorte: $17,500
Rafael Caballero GW Law '25
Santiago Perez
MiCorte is a text message/WhatsApp service that will automatically check
immigration court hearing information from the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) and notify immigrants in real-time about changes to hearing date/time, location, or presiding judge. MiCorte guarantees immigrants will not miss hearings and helps them avoid in absentia orders.
1st place winner ($10,000) and Quinn Prize for Social Impact ($7,500)
YIMU: $17,500
Yijia Gu GWSB '24
YIMU is a non-profit organization committed to support Chinese and Asian sexual minority women through producing documentary series, broadcasts and films. Our mission is to raise public awareness of the Chinese and Asian LGBTQ+ women community to eliminate stereotypes, improve mental health and trigger social change.
2nd place winner ($7,500) and Viewers' Choice Award ($10,000)
ADF (AgDev Fund): $5,000
Brent Miller GW Law '25
AgDev Fund is a global private equity fund which provides a global investment platform in the agri-food sector. ADF will focus on food-value chain investments in East Africa, providing increased food security to the region and a diversified, high-profit investment for investors.
3rd place winner ($5,000)
Explorer
GlobeER: $1,500
Olivia Ouimet GWSPH '25
Nitya Bonda GWSPH '25
GlobeER is developing a technology to mitigate the concern of finding healthcare services in a foreign country for travelers who experience a health crisis. GlobeER aims to reduce the burden of healthcare emergencies by providing a worldwide database of healthcare institutions in the palm of your hands.
First place winner ($1,500)
Liquid Handling Robot: $1,000
Daniel Liu Schmid SEAS '23
Ruby Limanowski SEAS '23
Orooluwa Emmanuel SEAS '23
Helen Knight SEAS '23
Joshua Welch SEAS '23
Liquid Handling Robot aims to revolutionize the handling of small live biological samples with their computer-controlled robot. With a focus on delicately extracting and dispensing soft cell spheroids while preserving their integrity, their functional prototype promises to be a game-changer in the field of biomedical engineering.
Second place winner ($1,000)
Circinus: $5,500
Sarah Ahmad GWSB '26,
Jiajie (Steven) Qi GWSB '24
Circinus revolutionizes vacations and travel planning by leveraging AI and
Machine Learning to automatically generate a dream itinerary based on your
travel destination, budget, and interests. You have the power to discover your dream destination like a traveler, not just a tourist. Circinus brings relaxation back into your vacation.
Third place winner ($500) and Spirit of NVC award ($5,000)
Auxdience
Natasha Roque GWSB '23
Kerem Esmergil GWSB '24
Noorah Bin Musained GWSB '23
Sierra Larson GWSB '26
Shatha Almousa GWSB '24
Auxdience is the premier mobile app for music lovers make friends with like-minded music fans in their city. Purchase a single ticket to a show and connect with fellow solo concertgoers in a pre-show, in-app group chat. Then, enjoy VIP in-person socials and exclusive deals together at the venue!
Bash Dash
Anna Cate Broome GWSB '25
Maria Sanchez GWSB '26
Shayla Gornstein GWSB '26
Solomon Wozniak GWSB '26
With just a few clicks on the BASH DASH platform selecting a date and party type, the party comes to you. You can pick from a variety of parties such as a painting or soccer among many more! BASH DASH will send you everything you need for a great party!
District of Commuters
Patrick Quinn GWSB '23
Joie Jolevare GWSB '23
Adam Friend
District of Commuters is a startup dedicated to improving the commuter
experience in the DMV by aggregating and curating meaningful information
for DMV commuters and thus improving their experience traveling to and from
their office. Our purpose is to make everyone's commute a little easier.
GAMMI
Anas Mheir Alsaadi GWSB '23
Ieshuha Abreu GWSB '23
Giovanna Lino GWSB '23
Malcolm Nyman GWSB '23
Ala Al Farsi GWSB '23
Our solution is to create an app where kids will be able to develop financial skills through our learning path which combines games similar to Duolingo and simulations. Additionally, parents will be able to monitor and control their children’s financial expenditures.
Maverick Trading
Maxwell Brenner SEAS '23
Maverick Trading is an artificial intelligence solution for automatic stock market investing. We provide an autonomous machine learning-trained trader for personal investors who wish to invest hands-free in the stock market. Our solution is a more dynamic and better-performing alternative to traditional mutual funds.
PickUp
Margaret Murrell GWSB '26
PickUp is an app designed to match athletes for pick-up games based on a variety of characteristics including their sport, age, skill level, and location. The goal is to connect athletes through a shared platform where they can find a community that encourages them to pursue their passions.
SideStreets
Ad Lane GWSB '23
For many tourists, favorite memories are stumbled upon, not planned. SideStreets optimizes the urban discovery process, enhancing exploration, experience, and community livelihood alike through real-time mapping that prioritizes local, authentic opportunities. Its goal: to map those fleeting moments which are happening around us all the time, one serendipitous decision away.
Stroke Up Power!
Rian Bogle SEAS '23
Sarah Antonevich SEAS '23
Matteo Sanchez-Dahl Gonzalez SEAS '23
Stroke-Power-Up is developing a smartphone application with a suite of functionally-focused activities for rehabilitating speech, language, and cognitive abilities after traumatic brain injury. Providing a personalized practice environment will empower patients to build up their cognitive abilities through a daily evidence-based therapy regimen that provides actionable analytics for tracking progress.