UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

UC STARTUP
INNOVATION CHALLENGE

$100K Prizes

Global Investor Networks

Corporate & VC Judges

Mentorship

Pro-Bono Legal Services

2021 UC Startup Innovation Challenge - Winners Announced!

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CONGRATULATIONS EARLY STAGE, GROWTH STAGE, &
SOCIAL IMPACT PRIZE WINNERS!

Two UC-affiliated companies that focus on climate change solutions have won the 2021 UC Startup Innovation Challenge and will each take home a $50,000 prize. Nearly 250 UC-affiliated startups participated in this year’s competition, held in partnership with Xtreme Tech Challenge (XTC), the world’s largest tech-for-good startup competition. Ten finalists — five each in the early- and growth-stage tracks — were invited to pitch their innovations to a panel of judges and a global audience of roughly 5,000 industry leaders, corporate investors and venture capitalists during the weeklong Global Corporate Venturing Digital Forum.

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SOCIAL IMPACT PRIZE

The inaugural Social Impact Prize is a $10,000 award in recognition of startups that are driving social change and justice, reducing environmental impacts, or providing access, resources, and opportunities to under-served groups through innovation. Winners were selected based on an assessment of the Tech for Good impact of their service or technology.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FINALISTS AND
THANK YOU TO ALL PARTICIPATING UC FOUNDERS!

EARLY STAGE TRACK

UC Innovation Challenge Finalists - Early Stage Track

GROWTH STAGE TRACK

UC Innovation Challenge Finalists - Growth Stage Track

2021 UC Startup Pitch Competition

EARLY STAGE TRACK

AUCTUS SURGICAL

UC San Francisco

Auctus Surgical, Inc. is developing a less-invasive spinal implant system – known as a vertebral body tethering system(VBT) – to correct pediatric scoliosis. The system incorporates a dynamic magnetic technology permitting a child’s spine to be non-surgically adjusted; eliminating the need for traumatic fusion surgery.

EARLY STAGE TRACK

FIXING CO2

UC San Diego

Fixing CO2 is a cleantech startup that focuses on carbon utilization and production of clean fuels and chemicals to help mitigate climate change. The company is building a reactor (electrolyzer) that converts carbon dioxide to fuels and chemicals using renewable sources of energy (solar, wind). It is developing an electrolyzer and electrocatalysts for the electrochemical CO2 reduction.

EARLY STAGE TRACK

KOVADX

UC Berkeley

KovaDx is building tools that make the diagnosis and monitoring of sickle cell (as well as other intrinsic and extrinsic hemolytic anemias) faster and more accessible.

EARLY STAGE TRACK

TAKACHAR

Berkeley Lab (LBNL)

Takachar is focused on dramatically increasing the amount of plant-based residues (biomass) economically transformed into marketable products around the world. Using a novel concept called oxygen-lean torrefaction, Takachar is simplifying reactor design to enable small-scale, portable, and decentralized biomass conversion that cuts transportation cost of transporting loose, wet, and bulky biomass from rural communities.

EARLY STAGE TRACK

XIRETSA

UC Santa Barbara

Xiretsa is developing a new class of antibiotics that can treat infections unresponsive to current antibiotics and combat the growing antibiotic resistance problem. Xiretsa’s technology originated at the University of California Santa Barbara, has been demonstrated to cure mice of untreatable superbug infections, and represents the first new class of broad spectrum antibiotics to be discovered in the past 50 years.

GROWTH STAGE TRACK

MEMCOMPUTING

UC San Diego

MemComputing is disrupting High-Performance Computing by delivering the performance expected of Quantum Computing with its non-quantum Virtual MemComputing Machine (VMM). The VMM is a Compute as a Service offering that is live today and free to evaluate. Visit https://memcpu.com to register.

GROWTH STAGE TRACK

MYOGENE BIO

UCLA

MyoGene Bio is a preclinical biotechnology startup dedicated to developing cutting edge therapies for muscle diseases. Our first approach is a gene editing therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a devastating muscle wasting disorder.

GROWTH STAGE TRACK

SOPHIE'S BIONUTRIENTS

UC Davis

Sophie’s BioNutrients, the grand prize winner of the 2019 The Liveability Challenge, is a Singapore-based company using patent pending fermentation technology to grow alternative protein from microalgae. Using very little land, water, and energy, the company will bring this sustainable technology to the world to solve the food security issues.

GROWTH STAGE TRACK

SQUISHY ROBOTICS

UC Berkeley

Squishy robots are mobile sensing, rapidly deployable, air-droppable robots for disaster rescue, remote monitoring and space exploration. Its emergent technologies are at the fusion of robotics, mobile sensing, machine learning, big data fusion and smart IoT.

Their sensors provide first responders with the chemical sensor data and visual information needed to safely plan a mitigation response, all from a safe distance away from the “hot zones.” Its scalable and reconfigurable robots can carry customized, third-party equipment in a variety of deployment scenarios.

GROWTH STAGE TRACK

SYMSOIL

UC Berkeley

SymSoil has products and services for regenerative agriculture to improve the profitability of farmers. SymSoil captures & cultivates indigenous soil microbes and, with a patent-pending process, makes products based on the complete soil microbe biome. RC and FIB, its flagship products, sequester carbon, reduce irrigation needs, and increase produce flavor while improving soil health.

 

OUR JUDGES

Amit
Aysola

Managing Director, Wanxiang Healthcare Investments

Jun Ho
Bae

Investment Manager, RedBeat Ventures,
AirAsia

Noramay
Cadena

Co-Founder + Managing Partner, MiLA Capital


Jonathan
Charles

Investment Director,
Samnsung Catalyst Fund

Christopher
Chu

Vice President +
Managing Director,
Samsung Catalyst Fund

Patrick
Chung

Partner,
Xfund

Alex
de Winter

Vice President of New Ventures, Danaher Innovation Center

Darek
DeFreece

General Counsel,
500 Startups

Angelo
Del Priore

Partner,
HP Tech Ventures

Linda
Elkins

Chief Technology Officer, Gore Innovation Center W.L. Gore & Associates

Lindy
Fishburne

Managing Partner, Breakout Ventures

Marcelino
Ford-Livene

Managing Director & Head of the Executive in Residence Program, Intel Capital

José
Galeano

Managing Partner, Reference Capital

Vitaly M.
Golomb

Partner,
Drake Star Partners
(former HP Tech Ventures)

Arvind
Gupta

Partner,
Mayfield Fund;
Founder, IndieBio

Scott
Levine

Managing Director,
Samsung Catalyst Fund

Sven
Lingjaerde

Managing Partner, Reference Capital

Vice President,
Citi Ventures

Andrew
Maywah

Investment Director + Founding member,
TDK Ventures

Austin
Noronha

Managing Director,
Growth Ventures & Innovation, Sony;
Managing Director,
Sony Innovation Fund

Jay
Onda

Startup Investments, Orange Silicon Valley

Christie
Pitts

General Partner,
Backstage Capital

Raj
Singh

Managing Director,
JetBlue Technology Ventures

Rafi
Syed

Partner,
Bow Capital

Christine
Tsai

Founder and CEO, 500 Startups

Ken
Washington

Chief Technology Officer,
Ford Motor Company

James
Wu

Principal, M12
(Microsoft's Venture Fund)

Michael
Young

Founding Partner,
Tale Venture Partners

OUR PARTNERS

EXTREME TECH CHALLENGE (XTC)

XTC is the world’s largest startup competition for entrepreneurs addressing global challenges.

GLOBAL CORPORATE VENTURING DIGITAL FORUM

GCV Digital Forum is a leading global annual convening of 500+ corporate VCs, corporate strategy executives, C-level innovation officers and corporate development executives for relationship cultivation and knowledge transfer.

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