Congratulations to VivaSpire, DropLab and Avro Life Science – and especially the Nanotechnology Engineering students who are key parts of these emerging companies – for their wins at the Fall 2016 Velocity Fund Finals.
, made up of four Nanotechnology Engineering (NE) students, Chris Hajduk, John Grousopoulos, Mostafa Saquib and Pablo Enrique, won a Velocity Fund $5K prize intended to help early-stage companies grow their venture. VivaSpire develops superior portable oxygen delivery systems for patients in need of oxygen therapy.Â
Among the 10 other teams that pitched their idea for $5K was DropLab, comprising NE students Abdullah Abba, Josh Reid, Lucas Zeer and Kamyar Ghofran, that is working on automating lab work using the power of digital microfluidics.
, whose CTO Shak Lakhani is an NE student, won $25K for their colourful medicated stickers that conveniently deliver seasonal allergy medication to children.
Velocity is a leading entrepreneurship program at the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ and the largest free startup incubator in the world. Velocity Fund is a grant program for startups. Each year, it offers $375,000 in equity-free funding to local startups through its Velocity Fund $25K, Hardware $10K and Velocity Fund $5K programs.
Every four months, Velocity Fund hosts a pitch competition in which finalists present their three-minute pitches in front of hundreds of spectators, to a panel of judges who represent local investment, startup and business communities. In choosing the winners, they consider innovation, market potential, market viability and overall pitch.