36 student startups head to the 2016 BPC

BPC 2015 grand prize winning team Vie Diagnostics pitches judges during the 2015 Investment Round.

A powerful catalyst for turning student innovation into new ventures, the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship’s UW Business Plan Competition has selected the 36 teams competing for top honors at the nineteenth annual BPC. A total of 93 teams with more than 300 students from 10 colleges and universities submitted their initial entries to the first round of the BPC. Now the top 36 teams representing six universities from across Washington state will present their ideas to more than 275 judges from the Seattle entrepreneurial community at the Investment Round of the competition on Wednesday, April 27.

The BPC is best known for the visibility it provides student entrepreneurs and the connections that are made among judges and students. This year, a total of $85,000 will be awarded, from the $25K Herbert B. Jones Foundation Grand Prize, the $10K WRF Capital Second Place Prize to the seven $2.5K Best Idea Prizes. This year’s Best Idea Prizes include REI’s Best Retail Innovation Idea and Cambia Health Solutions’ Best Health/Healthcare Idea. New this year are the Big Picture Prizes, including UIEvolution’s $5,000 Internet of Things (IoT) prize and AARP’s Aging in Place prize.

Learn about the 36 teams below and read more about the BPC 2016 sponsors and prizes here.

AAArdwolf Technologies
Robert Masse, UW Materials Science

AAArdwolf Technology is deploying a next-generation battery testing platform composed of low-cost hardware and cloud-connected software. This market will allow us to perfect our technology before pursuing larger markets for IoT science instruments.

ACRELO
Jack Parker, Spencer Seim, Ryan Kadletz; Pinchot University MBA

Marketing automation software for the commercial real estate industry that increases broker efficiency by eliminating manual, repetitive data entry.

Aquapel
Di Sun, Mariko Howard, Adam Zhu, Jenny Wang, Bruno Out, David Zerby; UW Electrical Engineering, UW Bothell Electrical Engineering, UW Bothell Mechanical Engineering, UW Japanese, UW Political Science, UW Foster School of Business

Aquapel patented technologies create a self-cleaning system for solar panels by creatively manipulating water droplets movement on the panel’s surface. By doing this, we eliminate labor cost, minimize water usage, and cut back the payback time by 25 percent.

Bathing Beauteas
Joyce Tang, Emily Smith, Sara Al Mughairy, Stephanie Mai; UW Foster School of Business, UW Human-Computer Interaction and Design, UW Communications

Bathing Beauteas is a reinvented tea bath experience that combines historical bathing traditions and today’s natural ingredients to empower the modern woman. We aim to provide a healthy in-home spa experience to help high-energy, high-impact women.

Bellhapp
Rishabh Jain, Corey Cole, Trevor Allen, Max Schreiber; UW Foster School of Business, UW Informatics, UW Human-Centered Design and Engineering

Bellhapp is a technology startup dedicated to revolutionizing the way restaurants do business. We work with restaurants that want to move part of their customer interaction onto an adaptive mobile platform by providing an ecosystem that links the consumer, waitstaff, and management team better than ever before.

BridgeCare Finance
Christina Chase, Jamee Herbert, Mike Chiles, Audra Jung; Pinchot University MBA

BridgeCare Finance offers bridge financing to break down the cost barriers of childcare for working families. We create greater choice, higher quality care options and the ability to maintain continuous career paths.

CadaVR
Ryan James, Mark Laughery, Ahmad Aljadaan; UW Biomedical and Health Informatics, UW Human-Centered Design and Engineering

CadaVR is a virtual reality platform to help teach students anatomy and physiology. We like to call it a living cadaver lab because it gives students a hands-on learning experience like a physical cadaver lab, and will simulate things that a physical cadaver lab cannot, such as the heart beating normally and pathologically.

Capture
Kyle Huber, Vijay Kumar, Sara Al Mughairy, Matt Robinson, Annie Pyle, Paula Kosasih; UW Foster School of Business, UW School of Law, UW Human-Computer Interaction and Design, UW Computer Science, UW Interaction Design

Capture disrupts the traditional photography industry, helping great photography make sense for all great moments. Capture is an online platform that connects customers with qualified, local freelance photographers in a simple, cost-effective manner.

Club Genie
Matthew Davis, Mark Lloyd, Cara Morgenstern; UW Foster School of Business

Club Genie will be the first company to successfully offer a wide range of golf clubs to consumers via web-based subscription model.  A Club Genie subscription will provide a risk-free way to get name brand golf clubs at an affordable monthly rate.

Decaf Style
Chun-Chia Kao, Archana Narayan, Yu-Liang Liu, Muhamad Said, Matthew Willett; UW Chemical Engineering, UW Foster School of Business

Decaf Style: Decaf On The Way to Go is currently developing new natural and cost-effective materials that provide instant beverage decaffeination without use of chemicals or affecting the taste.

DTS Aerospace
Sarah Robbins, Drake Perez, Taylor Prince; Washington State University Civil Engineering, WSU Mechanical Engineering

DTS Aerospace provides flammability testing services to aerospace manufacturers. Our automated testing design provides customers with more reliable and accurate data on tested airplane interior materials.

Emobie Labs
Lindsey Arnold, Ryan Porter, Gabe Feeley; UW Human-Centered Design and Engineering, UW Chemistry, Stanford University Computer Science

Emobie Labs creates affordable, social robot companions for children to support social and emotional development.

Engage
Emily Willard, Katherine Brandenstein; WSU Bioengineering

Engage develops medical technology for developing countries with a shortage of resources, initially through the product SafeShot to reduce the spread of bloodborne diseases.

FitTraction
Justin Lee, Christian Taylor, Ian Turner; UW Computer Science, UW Foster School of Business

FitTraction is a workout tracking app that is driven by its ability to build and provide human relationships that foster accountability. It will benefit health clubs and personal trainers by improving retention and increasing training revenue.

Goodi
Tianyi Chen, Max Lo, Yingkai Wang, Zehao Sun, Priyanka Balasubramanian, Yuwei Ding, Yuan Zhuang; UW Economics, UW Computer Science, UW Electrical Engineering, UW Human-Centered Design and Engineering

Goodi is a unique online tutoring app, which combines artificial and human intelligence to solve academic problems for students. Goodi is committed to providing a marketplace for questions and answers in the academic field via crowdsourcing.

Hair Vision
Ali Ziadloo, Erik Logan, Shubha Mandyam Pratiwadibhayankar, Donald Brockett; UW Foster School of Business

To men who are concerned about hair loss, Hair Vision provides a fast, accurate, and convenient way to monitor their hair loss, giving them confidence in their hair.

Hitch’d
Daniel Behrman, Ryan Gerber, Ken Horenstein; UW Foster School of Business, UW Human-Computer Interaction and Design

Hitch’d is the world’s first mobile-forward, data-driven booking solution for couples looking to plan their dream wedding. Our goal is to create a streamlined service that simplifies and accelerates the wedding planning and vendor booking process.

Ionic Windows
Anthony Moretti, Ian Hochstein; UW Chemical Engineering, UW Foster School of Business

Ionic Windows provides membranes to flow battery manufacturers that enable a 25 percent capital cost reduction, making grid-scale renewable energy economically viable.

JikoPower
Michael Jooste, Marene Wiley; UW Foster School of Business, UW Political Economy

At JikoPower, thermoelectric generators harness wasted energy and convert it into electricity to charge cell phones, LED lights, and other small devices. By doing this, JikoPower is able to provide safe, sustainable energy to people around the world.

Joe Chocolates
Renee Chang, Sam Tanner, Grace Bentson; UW Visual Communication Design, UW Foster School of Business

At Joe Chocolates, the mission is to make the best chocolate-covered espresso beans, allowing people to take their favorite Seattle coffees with them around the city and around the world.

Kazoo
Kamal Manchanda, Vinish Benny, Diwaker Gunturi, Shaun Lewis; UW Foster School of Business

Kazoo streamlines the kid’s birthday party planning process by providing a one-stop shop for parents to select a venue, book catering, hire entertainers, choose party supplies and send invitations using real-time integration with suppliers.

MetRS
Christopher Joyce, Ryan Delacruz, Colin Johnston, Omeed Faghih; UW Biochemistry, UW Foster School of Business, UW Pharmacy

MetRS has discovered new antibiotics that have great potency against drug-resistant bacteria like MRSA and Staph. If approved this drug could save approximately $27 million in healthcare costs and 55 lives daily.

miPS Labs
Alex Jiao, Jenna Strully, Ned Whalen, Rob Thomas, Aakash Sur, Winnie Leung; UW Bioengineering, UW Foster School of Business, UW Biomedical and Health Informatics

Preserve your cells today. Regenerate your body tomorrow. miPS Labs offers consumers cell preservation and personalized stem cell generation for stem cell therapies and diagnostics.

MultiModal Health
Brian Mogen, Lars Crawford, Tyler Libey, Dimitrios Gklezakos; UW Bioengineering, UW Neurobiology, UW Computer Science & Engineering

MultiModal Health develops connected platforms using affordable sensing and analytic technology to understand and improve health for everyone.

Night Light
James Rothenberger, Adam Riddle, Tristan Lee; UW Foster School of Business, UW Human-Computer Interaction & Design

Night Light is a traffic signal company that utilizes laser and LED technology to provide municipalities, states, and corporate partners illuminated signals that improve pedestrian safety.

nomAD Technologies
Jonah Friedl, Conner Brennick, Tanner Strobel; Washington State University Carson College of Business, Entrepreneurship , WSU Computer Science

nomAD Technologies puts brands at the heart of the consumer environment with captivating advertising displays and supportive software.

Ocumen
Shane Colburn, Nerea Alayo, Alan Zhan, Snigdha Singh, Lionel Wang; UW Electrical Engineering, UW Physics, Foster School of Business

Ocumen offers a sensor for mobile, instant monitoring of eye pressure to assist in glaucoma management. The sensor will be implanted through a well-known sutureless surgery procedure, which is critical for the acceptance of the sensor.

Revwoo
Rafael Wong, Liz Koser, Jedidiah Crews; UW Foster School of Business

RevWoo.com is a B2B online accounting services marketplace matching entrepreneurs with vetted accountants for on-demand advice and projects.

Rite-Rain
Weston Dotson, Jeremy Gratz, Megan Tollefson; Eastern Washington University Mechanical Engineering

Rite-Rain is the first product that controls hose-attached lawn irrigation sprinklers using ground moisture sensor technology, resulting in water cost savings and increased convenience for homeowners.

SafeFlame
Kevin Cussen, Sam Wright, Stacy Hanks, Luiza Pompeo; UW Foster School of Business, UW Political Economics

A service-based approach to bringing a healthy, renewable, and competitively priced fuel source to energy-insecure constituents in the developing world.

Safe-Fur
Ipolitas Dunaravich, Ashley Smith, Javier Schialer, Ashley Smith, Alex Zhouk, Sebastian Schialer; UW Foster School of Business

The world’s first self-recharging implantable GPS.

Scholarship Junkies
David Coven, Emily Majors, Mikael Hernandez; UW Mechanical Engineering, UW Chinese Language and Literature, UW Communications, UW Applied Physics

Students helping provide free, top quality support for anyone striving to fund their college success.

Smart Charger Pro
Yanbo Qi, Yutian Qian, Samson Smith, Niccolo Fortes, Nannan Jiang; UW Chemical Engineering

The Smart Charger Pro offers customers a smarter and customizable way to charge their electronic devices; utilizing flexible rates, a quicker charge or a longer life per charge and improved battery health can be achieved while reducing battery waste.

Tack
Kevin Ye, Nick Mao, Keegan Farley; UW Psychology, UW Foster School of Business, UW Informatics

Teams are currently juggling three different tools just to talk internally, and the worst part is none of the tools talk to each other. Tack provides a mobile platform that helps non-technical teams collaborate by combining communication and task management

VESPAR
Larry Chang, Mae Oreiro, Mark Dela Rosa, Brian Som, Rachel Renolds, Dane Jessen, Katie Kenny; UW Tacoma Information Technology, UW Tacoma Business Administration

VESPAR, LLC is a software company specializing in point of sales systems for drive-thru ordering. Our vision is to revolutionize the way drive-thru ordering is conducted.

Z-ion+ Technologies
Marvin Mecwan, Ruying Chen, Sabrina Kamran, Marleny Santos; UW Bioengineering, UW Pharmacology, UW Foster School of Business

Z-ion+ technologies utilizes patent-pending technology to make non-stick, long-lasting, durable coatings that can be applied to any vascular medical device to prevent complications due to blood clots.