Two startup teams from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Tilden Therapeutics and Avea Robotics, secured a combined $65,000 in funding at the 13th Annual College New Venture Challenge (CNVC) Finals, hosted by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago.
The 2025 CNVC Finals, held on March 7, featured six student-led teams pitching their business plans to a panel of judges, with each team receiving funding to support their ventures.
Illinois Grainger Engineering also distributed the Grainger Engineering CNVC Prize, with a total prize pool of $75,000 among seven teams from Illinois Grainger Engineering's Startup City Scholars program including Tilden Therapeutics and Avea Robotics. This prestigious prize supports CNVC intercollegiate teams. Participation in the final round of the CNVC competition was not a requirement for competing for the Grainger Engineering CNVC Prize. In total, Startup City Scholars CNVC intercollegiate teams that were either led by Illinois students or included Illinois team members secured $105,000 in funding through the program.
Tilden Therapeutics won fourth place (tie) with $50,000 in funding. Tilden Therapeutics (formerly Orion Oncology) is commercializing revolutionary drugs to address the deadly process of tumor spread during stage IV cancer, which is responsible for 90% of cancer-related deaths. The startup is focusing its efforts on triple-negative breast cancer, the deadly and spread-prone subtype of breast cancer that has extremely limited treatment options. Led by UChicago students, the intercollegiate team included Illinois bioengineering student Ayaan Siddiqui.
Avea Robotics won sixth place with $15,000 in funding. Led by computer engineering student Aryan Indarapu, along with aerospace engineering students Ethan Winnike and Vikram Vadrevu, Avea Robotics is developing autonomous, collaborative floor-cleaning robots designed for mid-sized commercial buildings. By targeting cleaning contractors and universities, the startup is transforming commercial cleaning with a smart, scalable and cost-effective solution. Their system of vacuums, scrubbers and workstations works seamlessly to reduce labor costs, improve efficiency and ensure consistent cleanliness.
The CNVC, an undergraduate student startup accelerator, is open to returning undergraduate students from UChicago, as well as students in the entrepreneurship track of Illinois Grainger Engineering's Startup City Scholars program. Throughout the winter quarter, participants refine their business plans in a credit-bearing course at Chicago Booth. At the culmination of the program, finalist teams present their ventures to a panel of judges, competing for investment opportunities.
Jed Taylor, Illinois Grainger Engineering’s assistant dean of innovation and entrepreneurship, remarked, "We are immensely proud of all the teams that participated in this year's College New Venture Challenge. Their achievements highlight the strength of collaboration between the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago in nurturing groundbreaking innovation. Congratulations to all the teams. We look forward to seeing their continued success in transforming industries and improving lives."
Grainger Engineering CNVC Prize Recipients:
- BioPack | $10,000 | BioPack is transforming sustainable packaging with novel, fully biodegradable materials. They aim to make sustainability convenient and achievable by offering easily disposable materials with a combination of quality and affordability.
- kWh | $10,000 | kWh is creating a two-sided marketplace that connects producers and consumers for market-driven green energy trades — with 20% increased revenue for producers and reduced costs for consumers.
- Trvise | $10,000 | Trvise has developed VortexLens, a smart headset focused on improving quality control in manufacturing. It combines computer vision and AI to offer real-time manufacturing guidance, providing step-by-step instructions and quality control tracking.
- Hpad | $5,000 | Hpad has developed a cheap and effective bedsore solution through hydrogen gas therapy. Its two devices, H-Pad and H-VAC, target bedsore prevention and treatment in hospitals, nursing homes and home health agencies.
- RCMX | $5,000 | RCMX is a marketplace for back-office outsourcing solutions targeting independent medical practices. Its marketplace lists services from third-party partners and products fully owned and operated by RCMX under a private label.
Through the nine-week-long cohort, Startup City Scholars students leverage Chicago’s many resources for entrepreneurs, encouraging them to build businesses in Chicago after graduation. The collaborative entrepreneurship program is successfully helping students of both institutions bring their innovative ideas to the market. Startup City Scholars past intercollegiate teams include successful startups like Resolv, Top Tier Lessons, DeepWalk, Haylon Technologies and Sakura MedTech.
Read about the other winning teams of the 2025 CNVC program here.