Finalists Announced for the 2018 Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge

Eleven teams have been selected to pitch their ventures during the finals of the Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge on Wednesday, May 30.

The New Venture Challenge, a year-long, intensive business launch competition, has accelerated more than 200 currently-active companies that have generated $9 billion in market value – including national brands such as Grubhub, Braintree/Venmo, and Simple Mills.

On Wednesday, May 30, NVC finalists will present to a panel of distinguished judges and compete for over $1 million in cash and in-kind services. And this year, thanks to a recent $5 million gift from Chicago Booth alumnus Rattan Khosa, the first-place prize will be a minimum of $150,000 – the highest first-place prize ever awarded at the New Venture Challenge. In subsequent years, the Rattan L. Khosa First-Place Prize will increase to approximately $200,000 – which is among the largest prizes awarded in a business school competition.

“The quality of our New Venture Challenge teams continues to increase year after year,” said Starr Marcello, executive director of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and adjunct professor. “The variety of teams selected for this year’s finals show the breadth and depth of the resources that the University of Chicago offers in training the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

The finalist teams that will be presenting include:

BrewBike provides coffee to college communities in the most convenient way, every day. We serve cold brew coffee at lean retail locations and through wholesale accounts. And by empowering students to launch BrewBike at their schools, we provide great coffee incredibly easily at college communities from coast to coast.

Coeus.ai empowers video game streamers and gamers by utilizing proprietary machine-learning algorithms to automatically create hundreds of highlights out of any video game stream and gameplay – creating more quality content, extending fan engagement opportunities, saving valuable time, and increasing their earnings opportunities.

FORSEEaBill is an innovative platform technology that provides life science organizations with decision support in identifying the appropriate payer for every test, procedure, and service performed during a clinical trial. FORESEEaBILL allows researchers to spend less time navigating burdensome and complex billing rules and more time on the job that matters – bringing novel treatment options to patients.

HayStack ABI is a data-driven management platform for restaurants. Combining advanced data science with an easy, code-free web interface, HayStack surfaces critical insights to spur action and drive growth. For the first time, executives can view all their information in one place, see suggested opportunities, and take and monitor actions- all in one platform.

Manifest is a distributed ledger solution that will standardize 401(k) transfers by creating a network between providers and streamlining the process eliminating the $2.5B providers lose each year due to these inefficiencies. With Manifest, 401(k) providers would increase revenues, decrease overhead, and increase client satisfaction.

Mindful Urgent Care will offer same-day, non-emergent mental health and substance abuse psychiatric services to insured and cash-paying clients. The treatment plan consists of an initial in-person evaluation lasting approximately 20-30 minutes. Patients will then receive follow up visits via a telehealth video conferencing platform in increments of 10-15 minutes, every 3-4 weeks.

Muu is a Brazilian ice cream that has less calories, more protein and less fat than traditional brands. By switching sugar for natural sweeteners and using only high quality natural ingredients, MUU’s formula is tasty and healthy at the same time.

nuBorn Medical is creating a smart baby bottle system to diagnose and treat feeding problems in preterm infants.

Oxalo Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company committed to ending the epidemic of kidney stones. Spun out from the University of Chicago, the company is developing a first-in-class drug to prevent kidney stone formation by leveraging expertise in microbiome research, nephrology, and technology commercialization.

Seurat Therapeutics is a biotech startup developing a new medication that can stop migraines before they start. Seurat’s mission is to develop a novel therapeutic to treat frequent and chronic migraine (more than 4 attacks per month) using a nasal spray delivery method.

Sweet Karma is a dessert company focusing on innovative dessert forms focused on health and fitness conscious people. They are starting with frozen novelty – which includes ice cream in bars, sandwiches, cones.

Doors open for the NVC finals at 8:00 a.m. in Harper Center, C-25, and remarks will start promptly at 8:30 a.m.

Winners will be announced at the Polsky Innovation Showcase in the Harper Center Winter Garden. The Polsky Innovation Showcase is an interactive celebration of entrepreneurship, innovation, and collaboration in the university community. Set up like a science fair, entrepreneurs and innovators from across the campus community will demo their start-ups, products, and or/technologies at different tables in the Winter Garden. The Innovation Showcase will begin at 3:30 pm.

The NVC Finals will also be livestreamed. Register to attend or livestream the 2018 NVC Finals here and the Polsky Innovation Showcase here.

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