About this Event
Kaplan Pitch Tank is the Startup Studio’s year-end event in which the top student-led startups at Illinois Tech will compete for a prize pool of over $50,000!
Here's what you can expect:
Audience Choice Competition
When you arrive at Kaplan Pitch Tank, you will receive a voting token which you can use to vote for your favorite startup. You will have 45 minutes to explore the startup exhibition room to meet the founders and learn about their startups before deciding who to vote for.
Finalist Pitches
In the beginning of April, 5 of the following startup teams will be selected as finalists. Each finalist will have the opportunity to pitch LIVE to a panel of experts for a chance at the $50,000 prize pool! Here is this year's co-hort:
- Mosaic closes the talent gap in tech manufacturing by developing students into skilled professionals through AI-curated projects, reducing hiring times and training costs for employers.
- Biagon Molecular Engineering - Many small-to-medium-sized biotechnology firms that target GPCRs rely on expensive in vitro testing to discover drug leads with the desired biochemical activity. Biagon's proprietary machine learning algorithm can predict the biochemical activity of new drug leads, accelerating lead optimization by reducing the number of development cycles to reach the desired product.
- Spaces - The three interlinked problems we aim to address are the rising costs of socializing leading to loneliness and social isolation; corporations facing challenges in achieving quality marketing engagement with their ideal consumers, now often funneled through costly digital mediators like influencers; and local venues struggling to attract community engagement and sustain foot traffic.
- ElBreathe - Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB), a lung condition with long-term health effects if left untreated, disproportionately affects elite level athletes compared to the general population, yet there is no organized screening for the condition and current diagnostic standards do not make the special considerations necessary for this unique population. EIBreathe is an AI-powered screening tool that intakes an athlete’s personal characteristics and lung function values to provide a recommended diagnosis and help catch EIB early.
- Build Your Indyfund seeks to give unsophisticated retail investors the tools and platform to democratize investing and hedge their bets the way they want. Users will be able to easily mitigate risk and re-balance their portfolio (their "Indyfund"), employ powerful AI to understand the market and make informed decisions, and invest directly with communities and influential individuals across multiple platforms.
- MenuX - We aim to increase the ticket size of fast casual restaurants organically without advertisements or promotions.
- Blendr offers a unified platform that enriches the college experience by seamlessly integrating social connectivity, academic collaboration, and campus engagement. It transforms how students and faculty interact, participate, and support each other within the college ecosystem, addressing the need for improved social connectivity and community building on campus.
- Droyd is an AI agent platform for young e-commerce entrepreneurs with less than four months of experience, that completely manages and scales your online store.
- H2.0 Resilience - We address the challenge of assessing flood-prone zones for city water departments. Our solution, an ML model, predicts flood risk indices and offers mitigation strategies.
Special Keynote Speaker
More details to come!
Awards Ceremony
We will announce the audience choice winner and the three grand prize winners of Kaplan Pitch Tank.
Grand Prizes:
1st place - $30,000
2nd place - $15,000
3rd place - $5,000
Networking Event
We will have an optional networking event with music, free food, and drinks following the awards ceremony. This will be an opportunity to chat with the founders, judges, and fellow audience members!
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship—Tellabs Innovation Alley, 3137 South Federal Street, Chicago, United States
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