Immuno Nano Med, a company developing next-generation vaccines for infectious diseases, won first place and $15,000 in the Graduate/Faculty/Staff/Incubator Startup division of the University of Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center Innovation Challenge on Nov. 19 at a reception at MERGE in Iowa City.
UI JPEC’s Innovation Challenge is an entrepreneurial competition that awards seed funding to startups and business ventures across multiple divisions and categories.
Kevin Legge, a professor in UI’s Department of Pathology, founded Immuno Nano Med. The company’s first product will be an inhalable influenza vaccine.
Six Innovation Challenge winners in the Graduate/Faculty/Staff/Incubator Startup division received a combined $35,000. Gemme Technology, LLC, placed second, winning $10,000. Amy Gemme founded the company, which created Daytz, a dating app designed for in-person meetings. The app’s patent-pending Vibe Check system uses sliders that generate 64 input combinations for users to express intentions.
Abscora, founded by Mahmoud Hanafy, won third place and $5,000. NeuroPred Inc., founded by Michal Brzus, took fourth place and $2,500. Two honorable mention awards of $1,250 each went to Pani Clean, founded by Sattar Alsaedi, and Casmium LLC, founded by Ashwin Dervesh and Nikhil Herdt.
Nine undergraduates shared $15,000 in seed funding. Easy-Org won first place for Best Technology, receiving $3,000. Founded by Daniel Mendez, the AI-powered platform simplifies student organization operations.
ReWrap won first place for Best Non-Technology, also receiving $3,000. Kaden Barry founded the company, which produces reusable mesh-style pallet wrap to reduce plastic waste.
Stride Line, founded by Carson Lane, placed second in the Best Technology category with $2,000. Scenario, founded by Donovan McKinnon, won third place and $1,500. ReGrip, founded by Sydney Fox, was runner-up in the Best Non-Technology division, receiving $1,500.
Finishing out the awards with Best Consumer Product were Savanna Kaczynski’s WedGen and Linnea Rietz’s FlexiFlo, each receiving $1,000. Best Pitch and $1,000 went to Charli Brady for Pathway+ and the Judge’s Choice this year was Ben Peterson’s TrayGuardian, which took home $1,000.
