Congratulations to Snarr3D, the Spring 2022 TVLIC Texas Champions!
The Spring 2022 Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition was held on Friday, May 6 featuring the top graduate student startups on the UT campus. Nineteen companies competed in four Semifinal rounds in the morning with the winners advancing to the Finals at the AT&T Conference Center in the afternoon.
Snarr3D was awarded the top prize of $15,000 for their patent pending 3D printing technology that unlocks a new era of golf club shaft design, providing golfers with innovative options to improve their game. Brothers Patrick and Scott Snarr, who are both Mechanical Engineering PhD. candidates at Cockrell School of Engineering, make up the team of Snarr3D.
“The Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition has been instrumental in helping Scott and I grow as business leaders and executing the vision we have for Snarr3D,” Patrick said after the competition. “We have to thank Jon and Rebecca Brumley and the entire team at Texas Venture Labs for putting on a world class event and are honored to have been selected as the winners of this year’s spring competition. This generous support from TVL will make an immediate impact on our company and mission to help golfers of all skill levels shoot lower scores!”
The Texas Superstar Award and $5,000 prize went to Droneconia in second place. Droneconia provides the next step in autonomy for drones, aircraft, and other vehicles through its cloud-based mission planning AI that autonomously tells each vehicle how to accomplish a desired mission while satisfying user-defined safety specifications. Droneconia was also awarded the Technology Commercialization Award and a $10,000 prize.
The Texas Rising Star and $2,500 prize went to Pike Robotics in third place. Pike Robotics also was awarded the Pippen Veterans Award of $1,000. For owners of liquid product storage tanks who experience difficulty inspecting roof seals, Pike Robotics provides a next-gen robotic solution that can perform EPA mandated inspections while the tank is still in service.
Better Bees was the winner of the Sustainability Innovation Award and $5,000 prize. Better Bees has developed a unique business model to reintroduce 30 million bees back into the Central-Texas environment over the next five years to make a generational impact in securing the world’s food supply.
The award for Health Innovation and $5,000 prize went to Pickle Systems. The mission of Pickle Systems is to improve the lives of individuals with autism and developmental disabilities through providing a personal, accessible, and hands-off resource utilizing video models, image-based content, and evidence-based guidance.
All nineteen teams also presented two-minute pitches in the E. Craig Nemec Elevator Challenge which awards a $1,000 prize to the top three presenters. The winners were G Squared, Pike Robotics and Snarr3D.
Congratulations to all of the graduate student startups who competed in the Spring 2022 TVLIC! And thanks to all of our judges, sponsors and volunteers who made it possible. Stay tuned for details on the next Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition.