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!
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.
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
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
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.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY
