Introducing iVenture's 8th Cohort
16 startups, 60 students, 8 colleges, 30 majors
Hello, friends and supporters of the iVenture community! We’re back for iV8!
These past few weeks, our 16 teams have been hard at work solidifying their missions & visions, making strides on their core key performance indicators, and progressing through the National Science Foundation I-Corps program. As part of our 8th cohort, these student entrepreneurs have formally joined our astute community of leaders creating global social, cultural, commercial, and technological impact.
We’re thrilled to welcome our largest cohort ever—16 startups from all around the world—from Champaign to Canada to India. Plus, as we’ve begun to offer in-person programming again, our team has taken up space in the new Siebel Center for Design in their Sunset Studio (so please stop by if you’re in town)!
Introducing iVenture 8…
Our 8th generation of iVenture includes 60 students representing the colleges of ACES, Fine & Applied Arts, Information Sciences, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Gies College of Business, The Grainger College of Engineering, the Graduate College, as well as the University of Illinois-Chicago, all supported from across the vast UIUC entrepreneurial ecosystem. Please reach out to our ventures directly to collaborate or learn more.
ASL Aspire is a game-based online platform that teaches STEM literacy to deaf students in middle school.
Contact: asl.aspire.app@gmail.com
By All Means is a clothing and multimedia company building a global culture to bridge the gap between fashion, music, and entertainment communities.
Contact: byallmeansbayarea@gmail.com | Website: https://byallmeansba.com/
Digiphy allows users to buy NFTs without the need for a crypto wallet, using just a credit card.
Contact: Hello@digiphy.io | Website: https://www.digiphy.io/
Faaslahpal bridges the gap between Islam and Americana by creating scrunchie hijabs for non-hijabi Muslim women.
Contact: aasiyah2@illinois.edu
Ferritiva creates accessible devices utilizing saliva-based biotechnology that screen for iron deficiency.
Contact: nathan@ferritiva.com
Gridscale uses homeowners’ excess solar energy to mine cryptocurrency so that we can pay homeowners more than utility companies.
Contact: gridscale.solar@gmail.com | Website: https://gridscale.wordpress.com/
Haylon Technologies combines multiple complementary battery chemistries into a single pack and switches between them as needed to meet energy storage needs.
Contact: naminshah@haylontech.com | Website: https://www.haylontech.com/
Lumnis Capital is a cryptocurrency platform that compartmentalizes data insights in the investment process and synthesizes that information for users.
Contact: ajaye@lumnis.org | Website: https://lumnis.org/
PaletteML enables AI development teams to effectively plan, execute, and manage AI projects through our data-driven project management platform.
Contact: info@paletteml.com | Website: https://www.mlsync.dev/
Panthea Health empowers people to make more informed, economical healthcare decisions by providing a data-driven, easy-to-use search engine for finding the right healthcare providers near them.
Contact: rao23@illinois.edu
Poetic is a lyric writing assistant that helps musicians write better lyrics, faster.
Contact: nkapse2@illinois.edu
IlliniBox operates a reusable container and cup platform to eliminate single-use waste.
Contact: jholdi2@illinois.edu
Salam Kisan is an agricultural ecosystem providing a centralized end-to-end solution for farming communities.
Contact: dhanashree@salamkisan.com
Shape Dimensions is an online portal that connects 3D modelers and customers to a network of printers to enable local printer-to-customer transactions.
Contact: shapedimensions3d@gmail.com | Website: https://shapedimensions.com/
Symmetry Wood makes wood from bacteria without cutting down trees to combat deforestation.
Contact: admin@symmetrywood.com | Website: http://symmetrywood.com/
WeHearYou® creates technology solutions for those with various exceptionalities beginning with a universal remote that transforms accessible doors into automatic doors via a personal button.
Contact: pierre@wehearyouasl.com | Website: https://wehearyouasl.com/
In addition to our largest-ever venture cohort, we welcomed our largest class of 9 Program Fellows—working on operations, marketing, content creation, and more. These leaders have been instrumental in mentoring our entrepreneurs and increasing the visibility of our program to highlight the incredible work our crew does on a daily basis. Be sure to check out our social media (LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube) and website for frequent updates!
iVenture Demo Day: Save the Date!
After 2 years of virtual events, we are proud to announce that this summer’s iVenture program will return to the in-person Demo Day in Chicago at the office of Amount, founded by Gies Business alum Al Goldstein. This event will be hosted on Wednesday, July 27, from 4:00-7:30pm, and we would love to see you there! Please fill out the RSVP here if you plan to attend, and add this event to your calendar here.
Other Showcase Week Activities
Additionally, the iVenture team will host a week’s worth of events leading up to the Demo Day finale. As a part of our community, we would like to invite you to our Entrepreneurs @ Illinois Social at TechNexus on Friday, July 22 and our Mixer at mHUB on Monday, July 25. More information on these events can be found here, and sign-up forms are below.
Thank you to Origin Ventures!
We wouldn’t be here without the generous support of our close friends at Origin Ventures! The iVenture Accelerator is a program within the Origin Ventures Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and our success is made possible by a gift to Gies College of Business from their founding partners, Steve Miller (BS '87) and Bruce Barron (BS '77).
Even more graciously, the duo has diligently interacted with every single one of our 250+ student entrepreneurs and has enthusiastically extended their interest and involvement over the years.
Thank you again, Origin Ventures, for your unwavering support for iVenture and the other initiatives in the Origin Venture’s Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership. We look forward to continuing to change the world together!
