More than 250 student entrepreneurs competed for more than $55,000 in prizes at the 25th annual HopStart: Hopkins New Venture Challenge on Friday, April 25, at the Inn at the Colonnade. Competitors from across Johns Hopkins University began crafting their business plans and pitches in early February to prepare for the competition under the guidance of mentors, including industry professionals, and Hopkins alumni.
During two rounds of competition, a record 75 teams pitched their startup ideas, including a venture that transforms shipping containers into fully equipped medical centers, an AI-driven platform that helps users better understand and reduce the cost of their medical bills, and a probiotic that aids in eliminating the microplastics that have accumulated in seafood. More than 30 judges, many of them Johns Hopkins alumni, selected winners in each of the competition's four categories. The Pava Center for Entrepreneurship, A-Level Capital, and HopStone Capital sponsored additional prizes.
Michael Rosenbaum, CEO of Arena Analytics and Johns Hopkins University trustee, delivered the keynote address at the HopStart awards ceremony. Rosenbaum reflected on his experiences starting his own successful companies, including Catalyte, a company that uses machine learning to build primarily tech workforces for large enterprises and governments, and encouraged competitors to be resilient in the pursuit of transforming their ideas into reality.
"HopStart provides a unique opportunity for our students," said Pam Sheff, director of the Whiting School of Engineering's Center for Leadership Education. "They are asked over months of competition to develop a business plan and to rethink, refine, and revise their plan under the guidance of industry experts. Once they bring their ideas to competition day, it's clear many of these teams have done the work to think through regulatory hurdles, financial projections, market demand, and so many details necessary to iron out if they wish to seriously pursue their startups."
Teams from the Whiting School of Engineering and the School of Medicine walked away with prizes, including in the competition's four main categories: General Ventures I and II, and Medical Technology and Life Sciences I and II. First-place teams received $5,000, second-place teams won $3,000, and third-place teams won $1,000.
Winning both the General Ventures 1 and Hopstone Capital Awards was Team Chirp Charm, a collaboration between electrical and computer engineering students Nidhi Batra, Emma Dionne, Eric Ji, Thaissa Peixoto, and Lauren Phillips. They created a hands-free alarm worn discreetly on a shoe. Designed to be intuitive and easy to activate in an emergency, the device is powered by piezoelectric energy generated through walking or other movement, minimizing the need for frequent charging and increasing reliability in critical moments. A strong stomp or kick activates a "Listening" mode, indicated by a vibration. If a second stomp occurs within 20 seconds, a 104-decibel alarm is triggered—about the volume of a car horn or your average rock concert—to draw attention quickly and deter an attacker. Otherwise, the device resets automatically. A small side button on the external charm allows users to exit Listening mode or silence the alarm at any time, whether the initial stomp was accidental or the user no longer feels at risk.
Read on for the rest of the winning projects.
HopStart Winners
General Ventures I: Team Chirp Charm
General Ventures II: Team CodaHx, a platform that employs AI to reduce the cost of medical bills, provides users with clear explanations of their charges, scans their bills for errors, and applies for eligible financial assistance. Team members: Yoohyuk Chang, Raam Unadkat, and Oren Wei.
Medical Technology and Life Science Ventures I: Team Parametric, a medical device that noninvasively monitors core body temperature in the EMS space. Team members: Ryan Chou, Jack Coursen, and Prisha Rathi.
Medical Technology and Life Science Ventures II: Team Veina Vascular, a medical device that optimizes blood collection in emergency departments to reduce hemolysis (the premature breakdown of red blood cells), save costs, and improve patient care. Team members: Saardhak Bhrugubanda, Isabella Menendez, Sabine Meurs, Natasha Mody, Antoine Noreau, and Sneha Raj.
The Pava Center for Entrepreneurship Award
NΔVI, an affordable and intuitive navigation tool based on computer vision and haptic feedback that seeks to help blind and visually impaired people navigate independently. Team Members: Sharvi Dadhich, Eldar Mustafayev, Zhonghan Pan, and Ana Paula Pérez Aguirre.
RescueReady, a training app for EMTs and paramedics, featuring flashcards, competitions, and rewards to improve decision-making skills. Team Members: Jamie Stelnik, and Subhasri Vijay.
The HopStone Capital Award
Team Chirp Charm
FloSync, a modified menstrual cup to facilitate collection of indicative biomarkers and at-home monitoring. Team Members: Eliana Gaitan, Nishtaa Modi, Ai Omae, Alisha Parikh, and Himanshi Sharma.
The A-Level Capital Award
FloSync
Posted in Science+Technology, Student Life
Tagged entrepreneurship
