The University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering, in partnership with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago, is pleased to announce the 14 teams for the 12th annual College New Venture Challenge (CNVC), an undergraduate student startup accelerator. This selection includes five teams from the University of Illinois.
The CNVC is the undergraduate track of the Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge (NVC), a top-ranked U.S. accelerator program. In 2019, the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation expanded the CNVC program by partnering with the University of Illinois. Through this partnership, a select group of entrepreneurial students from The Grainger College of Engineering’s Startup City Scholars program collaborate with UChicago students to build transformative businesses and take part in the CNVC competition.
The collaborative entrepreneurship program is successfully helping students of both institutions bring their innovative ideas to the market. Startup City Scholars past UIUC teams include Top Tier Lessons, DeepWalk, Haylon Technologies, Teneez, and Sakura MedTech.
Through the nine-week-long cohort, participants develop their business plans during a credit-bearing course at Chicago Booth and at the end finalist teams present to a panel of judges for financial investment. The winning CNVC startups received $150,000 in investment in 2023. The CNVC finals will take place on March 1, 2024.
The following University of Illinois led teams have been selected to take part in the 2024 CNVC.
BYLD Innovations: Led by Karan Jain, Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering student, BYLD Innovations is building a cutting-edge, portable, and foldable 3D printer for increasing accessibility to 3D printing and innovation.
Craft-A-Lotta: Led by Madeline Rodriguez, Aerospace Engineering and ILEE Dual Degree student, Craft-A-Lotta is a secondary market, go-to ecosystem for previously owned craft supplies that allows crafters to buy and sell craft supply lots from one another at a reduced price point.
KalyaanKosh: KalyaanKosh, led by Kushagra Gupta, Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering student, is a pioneering Indian jewelry startup bridging the gap between traditional jewelers and online customers. The startup aims to empower small to medium-sized jewelers, showcase their craftsmanship, and connect them with online buyers, all while fostering collaboration with freelance designers.
MethaFarm: MethaFarm, led by Mechanical Science & Engineering student Taly Escamilla, aims to localize and improve the sustainability of small-scale farm waste management systems. MethaFarm utilizes small anaerobic digesters to process the waste into fertilizer and biogas, which can be converted into electricity. The carbon byproduct is then captured and sold.
Resolv: Led by Information Sciences student William Lawson, Resolv is building a blockchain security tool that allows crypto businesses to recover stolen assets.
Read about other teams that have been selected to take part in the 2024 CNVC here.