GW Startups Win Big at GW New Venture Competition

Innovations from the George Washington University community were celebrated Thursday evening as entrepreneurs walked away with thousands of dollars in funding during the New Venture Competition, hosted by the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE).

The competition, one of the largest collegiate startup events in the country, awarded more than $100,000 in total cash prizes to student-led ventures.

The finalists, after delivering their presentations to a panel of judges Wednesday, then gathered at the Jack Morton Auditorium Thursday for an awards ceremony, where winners received checks to help turn their ideas into market solutions.

From an initial 215 teams in the first round, 65 advanced to the semifinals. Nine of the 10 GW schools were represented.

OIE Executive Director Bob Smith praised participants for their hard work and dedication throughout the process.

"Congratulations to all our teams in this year's programs," Smith said. "NVC caps a year-long extracurricular learning experience for the GW community. Whether teams won prizes or not, the learning was what the program was all about."

This year's finalists pitched their ideas across five industry tracks: Consumer Goods and Services; Business Goods; Health Care and Life Sciences; Social Innovation; and, new this year, Food Innovation.

NVC is made possible through philanthropic support from many corporate and individual donors, as well as the generous time of volunteer judges.

That support made the introduction of the inaugural Food Innovation Track possible. Introduced through a partnership between OIE and the Global Food Institute, with support from donors including Trustee Stacie Lissette, J.D. '92; Dylan Lissette, B.B.A. '93; Trustee Todd Klein; Robert Wilder, M.B.A. '87, J.D. '88; Trustee Ray Brimble, M.A. '76, and YUM! Brands, the track supports ventures that seek to transform how food or beverages are cultivated, processed, produced, stored, distributed, consumed or upcycled/disposed.

Jon Hixson, M.B.A. '99, chief sustainability officer at YUM! Brands, said he was impressed by the students' ideas, noting that many addressed serious challenges in the food industry, particularly food waste, with solutions that could have global impact.

"It's great to see entrepreneurs who can come up with new ideas, product lines and businesses from scratch," Hixson said. "That pipeline of innovation is exciting, and I especially value ideas new entrepreneurs can bring to solving real challenges."

Brimble said the initiative reflects the university's focus on cross-disciplinary collaboration and its value in the spirit of entrepreneurship.

"I want GW to be known for innovation, entrepreneurial thinking," Brimble said. "Having the courage and the systems to bring things that were just a glimmer in one's eye to reality is always going to be what we should be about. So this event really characterizes that as well."

In each category, first-place winners received $10,000, with second- and third-place teams earning $7,500 and $5,000, respectively.

Bio Shield and Leave No Trace of Clinical Research Waste each took home the highest total prize money, earning $15,000.

Bio Shield won the $10,000 first-place prize in the Food Innovation Track and the $5,000 Global Impact Prize. The company developed a solution to food waste by transforming winery agricultural byproducts into an edible, antioxidant-rich coating for fresh produce that extends shelf life and reduces reliance on single-use plastics and chemical preservatives. The venture was created by Shalva Iashvili, a business and technology student at the Business and Technology University in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Leave No Trace of Clinical Research Waste, an all-GW team, won the $10,000 first-place prize in Social Innovation and the $5,000 Innovation in Sustainability Prize. The team includes Riley Lima, a senior majoring in public health; Aditya Loganathan, a Master of Business Administration student; Andrew Meltzer, a professor of emergency medicine; Daniel Shpigel, an assistant professor of emergency medicine; and Deeksha Ravi, a sophomore majoring in health data science.

Their venture is expanding from a pilot project into a redistribution platform for surplus medical supplies from clinical research sites to hospitals and clinics in underserved communities in Washington, D.C.

"We found that clinical research sites are accumulating waste in large amounts, while underserved clinics are interested in receiving supplies at a discounted rate," Lima said. "Together we can ensure that commonly wasted products are actually used on patients before they end up in the landfill."

Also taking home a top prize was Kaizen Analytics in the Business Goods Track. It was founded by GW Master of Business Administration student Ozioma Scott, as well as Olujimi Scott. The company replaces scattered training logs and spreadsheets with an integrated platform for track and field coaches, helping them plan workouts, track performance and improve athlete outcomes.

In the Health Care and Life Sciences Track, Vamp won first place with a mobile-first blood donation platform designed for college students. The app helps users find nearby drives, schedule appointments and track their impact, with the goal of increasing both immediate donations and long-term participation. Team members include Tim Kardi, Lizzy McGillen and Stefanie Podolny, sophomores in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, as well as Ahlay Hussain and Faysal Alameddine.

In the Consumer Goods and Services Track, Dear Curls took the top prize. The team includes Judy Marouf, a senior engineering student; Riya Bundele, a junior studying international business; and Rand Attallah and Fatimata Diagana, both senior business students. The team created an AI-powered hair care app that provides personalized routines for users with curly and textured hair, based on hair type, product ingredients and local climate.

At the end of the awards ceremony, Smith congratulated the teams and said the milestone was just the beginning of a much longer journey for the finalists.