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UW engineering students well-represented in the UW Business Plan Competition winning teams

A sea of student teams and judges at the 2015 UW Business Plan Competition Investment Round

Update 5/22/15: Final round winners are now indicated, including two teams not in the Sweet Sixteen that won Best Idea prizes (TriboTEX and miPS).

On April 28, 2015, 37 student-led startup teams from colleges and universities across Washington State pitched their entrepreneurial ideas to 250+ judges. The event was the investment round of the 2015 Business Plan Competition, presented by the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship at the Foster School of Business.

Teams moved on to the “Sweet Sixteen” and final rounds on May 21, 2015—and a chance to win the $25,000 Grand Prize.

Most of the Sweet Sixteen teams include UW Engineering students.

$25,000 Grand Prize sponsored by the Herbert B. Jones Foundation
$2,500 Best Idea Prize: Innovation sponsored by Perkins Coie

Vie Diagnostics is developing clinical diagnostics that will improve patient care, reduce physician resource strain, and save money for payers. Vie Diagnostics' disruptive molecular diagnostic technology will allow patients to be tested and treated for sexually transmitted infections in a single visit, reducing healthcare costs and increasing patient satisfaction.

  • Babak Moghadam, CoMotion Commercialization Fellow
  • Mark Borysiak, UW PhD Candidate Chemical Engineering
  • Charlie Corredor, UW PhD Candidate Chemical Engineering

$10,000 Second Place Prize sponsored by WRF Capital
$2,500 Best Idea Prize: Health/Healthcare sponsored by Cambia

At Empreva, we aim to empower and engage women across the world to take their health into their own hands by providing a safe, convenient, and comfortable method for birth control and STI prevention.Empreva is developing birth control and combination birth control/anti-HIV products to benefit the health of women in high-HIV burden areas of the developing world who lack options for protection. For every purchase of an Empreva birth control product in the U.S., Empreva will donate one combination product to a woman in need in the developing world to help achieve sexual health and empowerment for women everywhere.

  • Renuka Ramanathan, UW PhD Bioengineering
  • Anna Blakney, UW PhD Bioengineering
  • Matt Brady, UW Foster MBA
  • Jonathan Kilpatrick, UW Foster MBA
  • Tracy Lam-Hine, UW Foster MBA
  • Yonghou, UW Research Scientist UW Bioengineering

$7,520.15 Finalist Prize sponsored by the Friends of the BPC
$2,500 Best Idea Prize: Consumer Product sponsored by Accenture

Hook is a home automation hub that offers smart home capability to the price sensitive consumer. Customers are able to convert existing electronics in the home to smart compatible devices, keeping these products up-to-date for years to come. Consumers will enjoy convenience with control via their mobile devices, savings on energy costs, and improved home safety. With an affordable price and remarkable ease of use, Hook aims to make smart home technology accessible to the masses.

  • Rahil Jain, UW PhD Electrical Engineering
  • Robert Moehle, UW Foster TMMBA
  • Mexwell Wheeler, UW Research Engineer

$5,000 Finalist Prize sponsored by Fenwick & West

vHAB is a virtual rehabilitation platform that helps patients regain fine motor skills to lead autonomous lives again. vHAB enables occupational therapists to customize patient treatment and accurately monitor progress through engaging and dynamic video games. System portability and precision metrics pose a competitive advantage for rehabilitation facilities, allowing delivery of quality treatment to patients - anywhere, anytime. vHAB saves rehabilitation facilities time and money. Most importantly, vHAB empowers patients to reclaim their independence.

  • Brian Mogen, UW PhD Bioengineering, UW Foster Tech Entrepreneurship Certificate
  • Tyler Libey, UW PhD Bioengineering
  • Lars Crawford, CoMotion Commercialization Fellowship Program
  • Dimitros Gklezakos, UW PhD Computer Science
  • Rita Jabbouri, UW Foster Evening MBA
  • Ellyce Shulman, UW Foster Evening MBA

$5,000 AARP Prize sponsored by AARP

Co optical specializes in lifestyle management technologies, with a flagship product that revolutionizes diabetes management by continuously and non-invasively monitoring blood glucose. This wearable device, structured as a pair of glasses, improves convenience and enhances the overall user experience allowing seamless integration of lifestyle management strategies into the everyday lives of people with diabetes.

  • Samuel Byrd, WSU Bioengineering
  • Amber Graviet, WSU Chemical Engineering
  • Zane Duke, WSU Bioengineering
  • Qassem Naim, WSU MBA

$5,000 Wells Fargo Clean Tech Prize sponsored by Wells Fargo

NOVA Technologies' Smart Solar Window uses transparent nanotechnology to create clean, local electricity that can turn skyscrapers into giant solar arrays and reduce HVAC systems costs, an innovative link to a carbon neutral future.

  • James Mayther, WWU MBA
  • Christian Erickson, UW PhD Chemistry
  • Ryan Sumner, WWU MS Chemistry
  • James Kinzele, WWU Electrical Engineering
  • Adam Slater, WWU Electrical Engineering
  • Sarah O'Sell, WWU Industrial Design
  • Tyler Dawson, Sustainable Design
  • Hannah Bouscher-Gage, Marketing and Sustainable Business
  • Ashley Loper, Plastics Engineering

$2,500 Best Idea Prize: Technology sponsored by UIEvolution

TriboTEX aims to extend the operational life-span of industrial machinery by improving efficiency where lubricated friction takes place. TriboTEX’s self-assembling nanostructured lubricious coating provides regenerative effects to frictional surface during normal operation.

  • Pavlo Rudenko, UW Materials Science & Engineering
  • Tom Gultieri, UW Materials Science & Engineering
  • Qassem Naim, UW Business Administration
  • Matt Henly, UW Business Administration

TriboTEX was one of two teams not in the Sweet Sixteen to win a Best Idea prize.

$2,500 Best Idea Prize: Marketplace sponsored by Ebay Enterprise

Park A Lot is a platform connecting private businesses who have unused parking spaces with customers looking for parking. Lot owners sign up on a hop-on, hop-off platform and their lots become available to the public, generating them revenue. Customers use Park A Lot's website or app to purchase parking on a lot of their choice from their home or mobile device.

  • Justin Meith, UW Foster MBA
  • Bo Gao, UW Foster MBA
  • Diane Dettline, UW Foster MBA
  • Daniel Johnson, UW Foster MBA
  • Anna Nordstrom, UW Foster MBA

$2,500 Best Idea Prize: Service/Retail sponsored by REI

SmartyPants reinvents toilet training and mitigates adult incontinence issues to prevent millions of diapers from ending up as a biohazard in landfills. It predicts impending bowel events and alerts users to get to a toilet. The company's innovative, first-of-its-kind, technology creates value for the consumers by saving on diaper purchases and the environment by reducing waste and biohazard from disposable diapers.

  • Shon Schmidt, UW PhD Bioengineering
  • Christian Redd, UW PhD Bioengineering
  • Vince Wu, UW Electrical Engineering

$2,500 Best Idea Prize: Sustainable Advantage
sponsored by Sensors In Motion

JikoPower makes thermo-electric generators to turn ordinary cook stoves into personal charging stations for off-grid households that have small electronic devices in the developing world. JikoPower POWERS devices, but it EMPOWERS people.

  • Ryan Ahearn, UW Mechanical Engineering
  • Aaron Owen, UW Mechanical Engineering
  • Daniel Parrish, UW Mechanical Engineering

$2,500 Best Idea Prize: For the Future
sponsored by DLA Piper

miPS (pronounced "my PS") is the first consumer stem cell generation and cell banking service. miPS allows consumers to store their adult cells to prevent cellular aging, generate stem cell lines for research, and use banked cells for future stem cell therapies.

  • Alex Jiao, UW Bioengineering
  • Jenna Strully, UW Business Administration
  • Ned Whalen, UW Business Administration

miPS was one of two teams not in the Sweet Sixteen to win a Best Idea prize.

Other Teams in the Sweet Sixteen

Auctora's automated recruiting tool seamlessly screens, sorts, and schedules candidates so that corporate recruiters can utilize their time more effectively while sourcing job applicants. No dealing with paper resumes; no back-and-forth emails between recruiters and candidates - welcome to recruiting in the 21st century!

  • Rama Gokhale, UW CSE and UW iSchool
  • Chris Wigley, UW Foster MBA
  • Bryan Djunaedi, UW CSE and Biochem
  • Eric Zeng, UW CSE
  • Samir Babi, UW CSE
  • Ambarish Chandrasekaran, UW Foster MBA

Authality's first product, Klide, is the most secure and convenient smart lock, and the only smart lock that meets the demands of Airbnb hosts. Klide pairs a physical lock with a mobile app that allows hosts to distribute revocable "keys" to guests and control access remotely.

  • Alex Takakuwa, UW PhD Security and Privacy Research
  • Matt Dorsett, MS CSE
  • Belinda Ban, UW Foster MBA
  • Esther Perman, UW Foster MBA

Benchmark Environmental is changing the way we treat storm water. By combining innovative design with new technologies, our treatment solutions are affordable, easy to install, and low maintenance. Benchmark Environmental's products enable more companies and municipalities to treat storm water runoff effectively--a win-win for customers and the environment.

  • Colette Hooper Arechavaleta, UW Foster MBA
  • Joe Dennis, UW Foster MBA
  • Tyler Enslow, WSU Chemical Engineering

Bettery provides consumers with the most cost effective, convenient, and sustainable portable power solution on the market. Bettery taps a growing demand for sustainable solutions by offering batteries as a low cost subscription service.

  • Vishaal Diwan, UW Tacoma CSS
  • Brendan Crawford, UW Tacoma CES
  • Chris DeJarlais, UW Tacoma Business Finance & Computer Science

Go KEFI is an experience-based travel website that helps you plan vacations based off desired experiences and budget. The team won first place at Spokane Startup Weekend 2014, and has since sparked a movement for a new way to travel.

  • Amanda Scott, WSU Business
  • Monica Bomber, WSU Chemical Engineering
  • Troy Carpenter, WSU Economics
  • Travis Person, WSU Computer Science
  • Derek Hyatt, WSU Social Sciences and Hospitality Management