Introducing the Semi-Finalists of the 2025 New Venture Competition!
Boston University’s $80K New Venture Competition has selected its semi-finalists for 2025, advancing one step closer to determining which student-led ventures will share in this year’s substantial prize pool.
The annual competition, organized by Innovate@BU, provides BU students and recent alumni with a platform to showcase their entrepreneurial concepts while competing for funding that can transform ideas into viable businesses. Participants receive valuable feedback from industry experts, build their professional networks, and gain visibility within Boston’s innovation ecosystem.
This year’s semi-finalists represent ventures from across BU’s schools and colleges, including Questrom School of Business, College of Engineering, College of Arts & Sciences, Metropolitan College, College of Communication, Sargent College, Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, and School of Public Health. Their innovations span diverse fields, including agricultural technology, educational tools, healthcare solutions, sustainable products, and digital platforms that address real-world challenges.
The competition will culminate at Innovators’ Night on April 16, with finalists pitching to a panel of judges for their share of $80,000 in non-dilutive funding. Beyond the financial awards, participants gain professional development opportunities and connections that extend well beyond graduation.
Let’s meet the teams advancing to this crucial stage of the competition:
General Track Semi-Finalists
Agrinova
Founded by Meritxell Ortodo (ENG’26) and Trinity Olander (CAS’26), Agrinova is developing the NOVA device, a portable and cost-effective solution that utilizes microbial biosensors to detect bioavailable heavy metals in soils and plants. This device provides real-time data to address contamination challenges in agriculture, offering farmers actionable insights for safer and more sustainable farming practices. The NOVA device integrates hydrogel-embedded microbial biosensors with advanced microfluidics, delivering accurate, on-site results. It overcomes the high costs, delays, and limitations of traditional lab-based methods by providing affordable, portable, and specific detection of harmful metals like cadmium and manganese.
BrightBook
Founded by Tommy Ross (Questrom’24), BrightBook is an AI-powered platform designed to alleviate teacher burnout by enabling educators to create fully customizable, standards-aligned lesson plans in under 60 seconds. It simplifies the lesson planning process, allowing teachers to focus on delivering impactful education. The platform provides a comprehensive suite of instructional materials, including lesson plans, rubrics, and worksheets, which teachers can personalize to suit their specific needs. By integrating these functions into a single interface, BrightBook streamlines the teaching process, significantly reducing lesson preparation time and helping educators maintain their professional judgment and creativity.
Clueless by Design
Founded by Rey Dwivedi (COM’25), Clueless by Design is a next-generation closet automation app that utilizes AI and AR to help users manage their wardrobes efficiently. Inspired by the digital closet from the movie Clueless, the app allows users to upload photos of their clothing, categorize them, and receive outfit suggestions. It features a “Smart Closet” that analyzes wardrobe patterns to suggest new combinations and integrates with users’ calendars for event-specific recommendations. Additionally, the app offers seamless shopping integration and self-avatar customizations, aiming to streamline fashion choices and reduce decision fatigue.
CollegeBuddy
Founded by Joy Prashant Mehta (Questrom’25), CollegeBuddy is developing a comprehensive application platform designed to streamline the higher education application process in developing countries, with a focus on India. The platform consolidates various college applications into a single, user-friendly system, allowing students to input their personal information and essays once, select their desired colleges and courses, and submit applications from one central location. It features predictive analytics tools to assess admission chances, a community platform for peer interaction, alumni networking for guidance, and an AI-based recommendation engine for course and college suggestions. The platform also plans to incorporate career counselors and consultants to further assist students.
Communiti
Founded by Uzochi Nzerem (MET’26), Ananya Agarwal (CAS’25), Eugene Jung (CAS’26), Venessa Maduka (ENG’26), and Jacky Lin (CAS’28), Communiti is a campus engagement platform designed to help college students at Boston University discover clubs, events, and student communities through an intuitive interface featuring advanced search and recommendation systems. It centralizes the university’s extracurricular ecosystem, offering tools for students to explore opportunities with personalized recommendations and real-time data, including a social media feed. The platform facilitates direct communication between club leaders and students, incorporates gamification elements to encourage participation, and provides real-time notifications for upcoming events. Communiti aims to streamline event management for club leaders and offer BU administrators insights into student engagement preferences, enhancing the overall campus experience.
DocReserve
Founded by David Johnson (Questrom’26), Dominick Ruggiero, and Brandon Ciaravino, DocReserve is an industry-exclusive scheduling platform designed for medical practices and medical sales representatives. It addresses the inefficiencies in scheduling between medical offices and sales reps, who often rely on unannounced visits and cold calls with low success rates. The platform offers a two-sided interface, allowing medical offices to publish available meeting slots and customize them for various purposes, such as educational programs or sample drop-offs. Reps can easily sign up for these appointments, filtering by specialty, meeting type, and location. This system streamlines the scheduling process, reducing the time and effort for both parties and enhancing productivity.
Epoch Labs
Epoch Labs is an AI tennis analytics platform that utilizes a portable single-solution camera to provide real-time analytics, AI coaching feedback, injury prevention insights, and live-streaming. Founders Betty Zhao (Questrom’25) and Farida Abdelmoneum (ENG’24) are addressing the shortcomings of existing technologies and offering a comprehensive solution that includes personalized feedback on player stance, racquet angle, and match strategies, along with detailed performance metrics and precise line-calling. Epoch Lab’s single-camera setup requires no professional installation and features court cue calibration, ensuring accurate analytics and seamless live-streaming capabilities. Epoch Labs aims to enhance the tennis experience for athletes, coaches, and directors by offering an all-in-one tool for data-driven performance optimization.
Koppla
Founded by Sina Nedadahandeh (Questrom’25) , Koppla is a startup that offers a HIPAA-compliant digital marketing platform tailored for mental health providers, enabling them to expand their practices without compromising patient care. Designed to help small healthcare practices establish a strong digital marketing presence, the platform uses AI-powered tools and healthcare-specific resources to ensure compliance with industry regulations. The platform includes features such as templated resources, SEO trend aggregation, and automated compliance checks, all designed to support healthcare practitioners in maintaining a robust online presence.
Stava
Founded by Aryaman Shrivastava (CAS’26) and Richie Jiang (Questrom’27), Stava is an AI-powered efficiency tool integrated into Visual Studio Code, designed to optimize the onboarding process for developers. It addresses the challenge of inefficient onboarding by automating pull request feedback, providing instant corrections on code conventions, dependency implementation, and structural issues. This reduces the need for senior developers to focus on minor fixes, allowing them to concentrate on high-level improvements. Stava’s key features include natural language search functionality to help developers quickly locate relevant code and direct IDE integration to streamline workflows. Unlike code completion tools, Stava focuses on educating developers about company codebases, filling a critical gap in developer tools.
VisionX
Founded by Rushikesh Jagdhane (MET’26), VisionX is a real-time vehicle tracking and traffic management system designed to enhance efficiency, security, and congestion control in logistics hubs and urban areas. It offers features such as geofencing, automated alerts, smart parking, and AI-driven analytics to optimize traffic flow. Deployed at India’s largest port, JNPA, VisionX has achieved a 40% reduction in congestion and faster clearance times. The system addresses key issues in the logistics and transportation industry, including congestion, lack of real-time tracking, unauthorized parking, and poor traffic management. By leveraging AI, IoT, and predictive analytics, VisionX provides a seamless and secure transportation ecosystem, integrating with existing infrastructure to minimize costs and improve operational efficiency.
Social Impact Track Semi-Finalists
BU Eco Terrier Network
Founded by Assad Farman (Questrom’25), Mostafa Tawfik (Questrom’25), Muhammad Umar Khan (Questrom’25), and Besart Grabanica (Questrom’25), BU Sustainable Terrier Network is a platform designed for Boston University students to facilitate the free exchange, donation, and reuse of items, particularly during semester transitions. It aims to address the issue of excessive waste at the university, where approximately 115 tons of usable items are discarded annually. The platform operates through a mobile application that uses BU email authentication to create a secure environment for users to list and browse items without hidden fees or complex negotiations. It features location tagging for convenient pickups and provides data insights to help the university optimize sustainability efforts. An informal poll showed strong interest among students, with plans to gather ongoing feedback for continuous improvement.
Busy Bee Refills
Founded by Christa Campbell (Questrom’25), Maria Saldivar Palacios (Questrom’25), and Matthew Luponio, Busy Bee Refills is a startup offering a sensor-based subscription service for household essentials, designed to provide a seamless and sustainable solution for pantry inventory management. The service features aesthetically designed, refillable jars equipped with real-time weight sensors that monitor product levels and automatically reorder when supplies are low. This eliminates the need for fixed subscription schedules and prevents overstocking or running out of essentials. By partnering with ethical, sustainable brands, Modern Milk Man creates a dynamic marketplace that connects eco-conscious consumers with high-quality, curated products, reducing waste and decision fatigue. The platform also supports sustainable brands by providing access to a wider market and offering advanced data analytics and customer insights, fostering mutual growth and strengthening the sustainable marketplace.
Culinary Commons: Public Kitchens as Social Innovation
Founded by Andrea Catania (MET’24), Culinary Commons is an initiative focused on establishing public kitchens as essential community infrastructure to foster food justice and social cohesion in urban areas like Boston. These kitchens serve as more than just cooking spaces; they are platforms for social change, enabling individuals to connect with their culinary heritage and build community ties. By addressing the lack of accessible venues for food-related gatherings, Public Kitchen aims to create spaces where people can share meals and engage in culinary activities. In 2024, they partnered with DS4SI to prototype Boston’s first semi-permanent Public Kitchen, hosting diverse programming co-designed by community members. This initiative seeks to develop a long-term public kitchen in 2025, with the community playing a central role in its design and implementation.
HealthPair
Founded by Tanusha Tholla (MED’28), Riya Sandler (Sargent’27), Talya Cohen-Neamie (MED’28), Beamlak Mideska (Sargent’26), Ayomide Egbejoda (SGT, SPH’26), and Samara Ruberg (SPH’25), HealthPair is a student-led venture focused on enhancing medical literacy and healthcare advocacy for college students transitioning to adulthood. They tackle the issue of ER overuse and low health literacy by offering a three-pronged solution: university-embedded healthcare literacy courses, online healthcare literacy modules, and integration into pediatric clinics and ERs. Their 14-week skills-based course, developed in collaboration with Boston University, is designed to be replicated across universities. Additionally, HealthPair provides online modules and partners with Boston Medical Center to offer workshops and resources for young patients. This student-driven initiative aims to bridge the gap between young adults and the healthcare system, empowering them to manage their health effectively.
Idori
Founded by Noah Sorin (Questrom’24), Idori is a startup that creates sustainable learning experiences for children aged 4-8 through storybooks, eco-friendly plush toys, and hands-on activities. Their products aim to instill simple, sustainable habits in children by addressing environmental issues like deforestation, ocean conservation, and climate change. Idori’s offerings include characters from the planet Idori, such as Benjy the Treehopper, to make learning engaging and relatable. Each plush toy is crafted from organic cotton, and their books are made with bamboo and herbal dyes. For every plush sold, a tree is planted, contributing to real-world environmental impact. Idori incorporates the Waldorf 3H teaching methodology, focusing on emotional, mental, and practical learning. The startup actively involves parents, educators, and children in product development through community tests and feedback to ensure their offerings meet the needs of their audience.
NeuroBrance
Founded by Mark Lucas (ENG’26), the NeuroBrace is a cost-effective, mass-producible tremor suppression device designed to reduce arm tremors in patients with neurodegenerative diseases. This wearable device utilizes IMUs to detect tremors in real time and employs a pneumatic system that inflates a pneumatic bladder to apply targeted compression on the affected limb, stabilizing movement. This non-invasive, portable solution offers an alternative to traditional treatments like medication or deep brain stimulation, which can be costly or have significant side effects. In collaboration with a neurorehabilitation clinician, the team plans clinical trials to refine the device’s comfort, functionality, and usability, ensuring it meets clinical needs and enhances users’ quality of life.
Orobor
Founded by Jakob Esterowitz (ENG’27) and Jonah Dickson (COM’25), Orobor is a sustainability-focused startup founded by two Boston University tennis players, transforming discarded tennis strings into high-purity polyester material for manufacturing. They address the significant waste challenge posed by millions of pounds of tennis strings that contribute to microplastic pollution and CO₂ emissions. Orobor’s closed-loop recycling system collects used strings from various sources and processes them into high-quality recycled polyester yarn. This yarn is then used by apparel brands seeking eco-friendly materials, creating a circular economy. By focusing specifically on tennis string waste, Orobor achieves a higher purity in their recycled material, making it suitable for performance-grade applications.
Udayaa
Founded by Tanya Shizan (Questrom’26), Udayaa is a student-first crowdfunding platform designed to support high school social entrepreneurs in India by providing tailored campaign tools, mentorship, and a supportive network. It addresses the lack of resources for over 250,000 students at International Schools in India who engage in social impact projects but struggle to sustain and scale their initiatives. Udayaa offers structured fundraising support, impact tracking, and mentorship from experienced social entrepreneurs, without requiring NGO paperwork. The platform has successfully supported campaigns like the Vaitalika Foundation and GirlUp Hyderabad, helping students sustain their missions and promoting community development. Udayaa’s infrastructure includes low-cost payment processing and regulatory support, ensuring students can raise funds legally and efficiently.
UniMate
Founded by Nhan Ton (CAS’25), Minh Dinh (CAS’26), Nguyen Le (CAS’26), Xuru Zhao (CFA’25), and Julia Tran (Questrom’27), UniMate is a web platform designed to facilitate access to information about studying abroad by enabling international high school students to connect and chat with past applicants who are currently studying at universities worldwide. The platform addresses the challenges faced by prospective international students in finding relevant and reliable information during the college search process. By offering an online space for students to engage in conversations with peer mentors, UniMate provides a centralized hub for comprehensive resources and genuine insights into college processes. This approach aims to streamline the research process, making it more accessible and efficient, while maintaining an authentic experience for students seeking to study abroad.
Vipo.ai
Founded by Amr Zaid (Questrom’26), Vipo.ai is an AI-powered app designed to enhance the accessibility and effectiveness of Parent-Child therapies. It provides real-time feedback to parents during interactions with their children, emulating the guidance typically offered by psychologists. Developed with input from Ph.D. level child development experts, the app aligns with scientifically validated therapeutic methods. Vipo.ai distinguishes itself by integrating advanced AI with established therapy methodologies, offering personalized, evidence-based feedback tailored to each interaction. Collaborations with child psychologists have helped refine the app’s features, ensuring it is both effective and user-friendly.
