AI-Driven Psychiatry Platform Takes First Place at 18th Annual Global New Venture Challenge
Kivira is an AI-powered platform that helps primary care providers accurately diagnose and treat mental health conditions.
The 18th Annual Global New Venture Challenge (GNVC) has awarded first place to mental health diagnostic tool Kivira.
Kivira was awarded the top prize and $50,000 for its AI-powered platform that helps primary care providers accurately diagnose and treat mental health conditions.
“This is something that is so meaningful, whatever stage you are in, not only because of the training process that the faculty and coaches put us through, which was incredible – it’s so rigorous and hands-on – I think the value that we got out of it is humongous beyond the prize,” said Maria T. Carmona, MBA ’25, cofounder of Kivira. “Everyone on our team has so much ‘why’ behind them that we’re going to make this work, whatever happens.”
Now in its 18th year, the GNVC is a track of the top-ranked New Venture Challenge and is designed exclusively for Chicago Booth’s Executive MBA students. It debuted in 2008 to accommodate the growing entrepreneurial aspirations of Booth’s executive MBA students on each of its three global campuses — Chicago, Hong Kong, and London.
“Each year, the Global New Venture Challenge showcases the remarkable entrepreneurial talent within Booth’s Executive MBA program,” said Alyssa Rapp, faculty lead for the GNVC and adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
“The 2025 cohort brought bold ideas centered around solving real-world problems across an array of industries. It’s been inspiring to watch many of these business plans evolve. I’m proud of how much progress and promise these students demonstrated throughout their GNVC journeys at Booth. I am hopeful many will continue to pursue their innovative, entrepreneurial business models and dreams post Booth.”
The seven finalists, chosen from a group of 20 teams that were selected to participate in the classroom portion earlier this year, presented their business plans to a panel of judges for a chance to win part of a $100,000 investment pool.
The winners of the 2025 GNVC are:
FIRST PLACE
- Kivira ($50,000) //Kivira is an AI-powered platform that helps primary care providers accurately diagnose and treat mental health conditions. Built around a 5-layer system—from rapid screening to treatment guidance—it integrates into clinical workflows, improves outcomes, and boosts provider revenue through CPT codes. Backed by leading investors and partners like Antler and Stanford, Kivira is tackling the crisis of misdiagnosis at scale.
SECOND PLACE
- Zoomies Dog Park ($30,000) // Zoomies Dog Park, Houston’s first subscription-based dog social club, offers 25,000+ sq. ft. of off-leash turf, shaded areas, daycare, food services, live entertainment, and events. Open late, it ensures safety with vaccinated, assessed dogs and aims to be the ultimate hub for canine needs and exceptional amenities for dog parents.
THIRD PLACE
- Prevant ($20,000) // Prevant simplifies healthcare navigation by empowering users to maximize underutilized insurance benefits and access preventative care. Through personalized insights, geolocation-based provider connections, and intuitive recommendations, the platform addresses decision fatigue and fosters proactive health management, delivering a streamlined, patient-centered experience, improving health outcomes and reduces costs for all stakeholders.
Bringing together more than 80 alumni and members of the business community to serve as coaches, judges, panelists, and guest speakers annually, the GNVC is run by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in collaboration with the Executive MBA program at Chicago Booth.
The GNVC is one of four tracks of the New Venture Challenge, a top-ranked business school startup accelerator founded at Chicago Booth 27 years ago. The overall program has supported more than 500 still-active companies that have raised more than $1.5 billion in funding and achieved more than $11.6 billion in mergers and exits. Household names include Tovala, Braintree, Simple Mills, and Grubhub.
// The Polsky Center also runs three additional tracks of the NVC. These serve distinct University of Chicago audiences, including undergraduates, graduate students, and social impact entrepreneurs. The winner announcements for those competitions can be found below: