May 4, 2018

The Spring 2018 Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition will be held May 4, 2018 on the University of Texas at Austin campus in the new Rowling Hall, located at 300 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, next to the AT&T Executive Conference Center.  The event is free and open to the public.  No need to RSVP.  Check out the schedule below and feel free to sit in on the ventures that pique your interest.  The top five teams will compete in the Finals beginning at 2 PM in the Crum Auditorium, Rowling Hall.

E. Craig Nemec Elevator Pitch Competition

RRH 3.304

9:00 AM – 11:00AM – Concurrent with Semifinals – All competitors will provide 2 minute elevator pitch (3 minute transition).

Semifinals

Division I – RRH 3.310

9:00 AM             Pigeybak
Pigeybak is a mobile app that connects people with their favorite mom and pop shops. Through its platform, Pigeybak enables a unique connection in which active social media users allocate a reimbursable commitment fee to become the brand ambassadors for the businesses. The company seeks to align the ambassadors’ interests with the companies’ towards reaching a previously set goal.  Carlos Gomez del Campo, MBA 2019; Rodrigo Lascurain, MBA 2019

 9:35 AM              lettershine
lettershine is an online community for teen girls to connect over STEM, sports and arts. Its mission is to create meaningful and productive interactions online, where girls are encouraged to pursue their interests while also feeling comfortable to seek guidance. lettershine will monetize through: 1) corporate sponsorships, 2) paid-for-content from partners on the platform and 3) advanced functionality access. lettershine is taking a user-centric approach to platform and brand development, engaging in several design workshops and summer events with Austin high school students.  Jacqueline Sigler, MBA 2019; Aswathi Nandakumar, MBA 2019   

 10:10 AM           Jump Credit
Jump Credit is an alternative credit technology that will accurately predict risk on student loans in developing countries by using psychometrics, machine learning and cutting edge research in economics.  John William Meyer, MS Economics 2018

Division II – RRH 3.402

9:00 AM              AutoGraphene
 AutoGraphene develops a new technique – automatic exfoliation – to manufacture atomically thin two dimensional materials for research labs in both academic and industry institutes. Such techniques can produce high quality monolayer materials more efficiently. Profit is based on direct sale of materials produced, direct sale of the machine, consumable goods, service and partnership.  Jingjing Feng, Ph.D. 2019 Physics; Liuyang Sun, Ph.D. Physics 2018

9:35 AM              Boreas Technologies
Boreas Technologies is committed to enhancing the durability and survivability of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aviation platforms currently utilized by the intelligence community.  Liberty is a patent-pending advanced cooling solution constructed from novel techniques and provides twice the cooling capacity of the conventional solution at a fraction of its cost.  Brian Fuentes, MSTC 2018; Tyler McWilliam, MSTC 2018; Jermaine Cohen, MSTC 2018

10:10 AM           Varuna
Varuna’s mission is to deliver a highly intelligent, self-managing grow environment to a set of American consumers that are currently at a loss for options. Varuna will remove the barriers to entry for hydroponic gardening with a system designed to reduce time and education constraints; thus, allowing individuals to practice home cultivation quickly and easily. Greg Schultz, MSTC 2018; Jason Carrier, MSTC 2018

10:45 AM           WindSails
WindSails produces a relatively low-cost auxiliary marine propulsion and energy generation solution for the shipping industry. To meet and exceed the new environmental regulatory requirements with minimal down-time and ship modification, WindSails offers a high-altitude wind energy system to reduce engine demands by up to 38%. Additionally, the system will generate energy while docked and store for on-demand use. Krystal Nakoneczny, Ph.D. Candidate 2021,Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics; Hiroyuki Takagi, MBA 2018

Division III – RRH 3.414

9:00 AM              UrbanHouse
Urbanhouse is a boutique brand of hostels for North America with both private and shared accommodations. At its core, Urbanhouse will provide the consistent and guaranteed experience of a traditional hotel, the local authentic flavor of an Airbnb and the community and accessible price point of a hostel.  Ashely Hemphill, MBA 2018; Erica Pocs, MBA 2018; Michael Massad, MBA 2018

9:35 AM             Coinbook
Coinbook is a platform that allows investors to easily access and monitor in leading crypto index funds with no minimums. Coinbook acts as a wealth management tool to provide individuals, wealth managers, corporations and financial institutions safer investment options through a user-friendly interface and back-end technology solutions.  Gordon Bowman, MBA 2019; Anthony Santaga, MBA 2019; Dan Ben-nun, MBA 2019

10:10 AM           ON-IT
ON-IT is an application based rewards system with the aim to incentivize patients to increase medication adherence. ON-IT provides patients with an easy to use application to track the timeliness of their medication, while providing medical researchers and pharmacists information. ON-IT’s revenue comes from selling the data on compliance to medical research firms and foundations. Renee Weissend, MBA 2018: Sara Lamason, MBA 2018; Laurel Fitzgerald, MBA 2018: Zach Streichler, MPA 2018

10:45 AM           Wholesome Select
Wholesome Select (WS) is a subscription-based digital wellness and content provider. By leveraging big data analytics and relevant cultural knowledge from local experts, WS collaborates with and inspires Latino households and employees to sustain a healthy lifestyle by cooking nutritious, affordable and fun food. WS uses validated health science to deliver recipe and education content, complying with government/insurance requirements, to qualify for household/employer reimbursement.  Jonathan Ulloa, MBA 2019; Tom Hong, MBA 2019

11:20 AM          Wilder Systems
Wilder Systems helps aircraft manufacturers cut costs and improve quality by integrating mobile, collaborative robots which do not require significant factory reconfiguration to implement. Will Wilder, MBA 2018

Division IV – RRH 4.402

9:00 AM             Lawtomation
Lawtomation makes attorneys more efficient by automating a universal portion of document review. The company sells on a subscription model per seat.  Alex Shahrestani, JD Law 2018

9:35 AM             Drones of Prey
Drones of Prey is creating an autonomous defense system designed to protect all property types from aerial incursions by unknown drones by utilizing image and sound recognition, launch platforms and defense drones. Drones of Prey is building a subscription service that will provide increased security and privacy. The system will detect, hunt and capture any invading UAV and coordinate with law enforcement/security post-capture.  Kevin Lenau, MBA 2018; Michael Cohen, MBA 2018

10:10 AM           Secure Logic
Secure Logic brings digital awareness to the physical world.  By collecting and recording digital signatures of the smart things all around us, our Sentinel products feed data to our GlobalDetect platform, creating a connected global digital neighborhood watch that can be leveraged by security service monitoring providers to create new revenue streams.  Mike Volling, MSTC 2018; Molly Mae Potter, MSTC 2018; Geoff Korrub, MSTC 2018; Paul Jespersen, MSTC 2018; Nasos Economou, MSTC 2018

10:45AM            elop.ai
elop.ai is a simple easy to use tool that lets anyone design beautiful fully functional mobile apps with no coding required. The business model consists of a $1,000/month subscription for elop’s prototyping tools plus a source code fee based on the complexity of the project built using our platform.   Adrian Cruz Ramos, MSTC 2018; Sami Suteria, MSTC 2018; Boya Dai, MSTC 2018; Chi Ma, MSTC 2018

Division V – RRH 4.314

9:35 AM             foodish.io
Getting in three square meals a day can be tough. Foodish.io lets consumers build personalized meal replacement drinks that are better tasting and made with better ingredients. The solution is simple: users visit foodish.io, answer a few questions about their dietary goals and foodish.io recommends a daily meal replacement beverage that fits their needs. Josh Berrington, MBA 2018

10:10 AM           Blended
Blended is a hands-on, experiential wine education concept where customers will learn about wine from sommeliers. Guests will taste different varietals, identify their preferences and create their own wine blended including juice and custom label. Blended will have a similar format to a cooking class and at the end, consumers will take home their unique, custom bottle of wine. Lexie Silverman, MBA 2019; Angela Heppard, MBA 2019; Andrina Schmitz, MBA 2019

10:45 AM           Somerset Sparkling
Somerset Sparkling has arrived to deliver a refreshingly simple and healthy alternative: delicious sparkling water combined with a subtle energy lift that consumers can enjoy guilt-free throughout the day.  With zero calories, zero grams of sugar or sodium, the sparkling waters will capitalize on powerful and growing trends in consumer behavior towards simpler and healthier formulations, premium branded products and the performance benefits of all-natural caffeine. Brook Stroud, MBA 2019