Statistics Student Among 2022 eGames Winners

On Monday, April 18, the NC State entrepreneurship community gathered in person to watch the 2022 eGames Award Ceremony emceed by NC State alumni and Fox Sports reporter, Amanda Busick.

Originating in 2009, the eGames is NC State’s largest annual startup competition awarding over $100,000 in cash prizes to NC State entrepreneurs. There are two tracks for the competition — the student track and the Daugherty Endowment Track for officially registered startup companies that have licensed NC State intellectual property in the past three years. 

Student teams compete in two categories — “Think” and “Do.” The “Think” category is for teams in the early stages of their venture, as early as just an idea. The “Do” category is for students with an established startup that is looking to grow or scale, and may have existing customers, products, or investment. All participating student teams — including finalists and non-finalists — were also able to compete for Extraordinary Impact Awards in Social and Environmental Impact, Design and Prototype, Arts, and Built on Cloud.

Officially registered startup companies who have licensed NC State intellectual property in the past three years were allowed to compete in the Daugherty Endowment track, offering $50,000 in prize money to winners of this track.

With students being back on campus and eager to show off the ventures they’ve been working on, there was a large turnout of applicants for this year’s eGames. 49 student teams applied, however, only 10 student teams could make it to the final round after preliminary judging by judges across the country. The competition culminates in the Awards Ceremony, where after pitching to the live audience and taking home cash prizes, student teams got to showcase their businesses at the expo event co-hosted by the NC State Alumni Entrepreneurs Network. “I love seeing the creative energy that flows from the teams presenting at the eGames. This year was no exception. The energy and excitement carried over into the expo, as well. You know it’s been a successful event when people are still deeply engaged in conversations at the end of the evening,” said Dr. Tom Miller, Senior Vice Provost Entrepreneurship and McPherson Family Distinguished Professor.

Below is a recap of all the 2022 eGames winners. We thank all the contestants for their enthusiastic participation and their creative efforts to improve their communities and the lives of many people with the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit the Wolfpack is known for!

IMPACT AWARDS

These awards are given to teams showing exceptional promise or impact in four particular areas: the Arts, Social and Environmental Impact, Design and Prototype, and Built on Cloud.

DAUGHERTY ENDOWMENT AWARDS

The Daugherty Endowment awards ventures that have licensed NC State technology in the past three years. This category is made possible through The Richard and Marlene Daugherty Entrepreneurialism Endowment and the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology and Sciences and is held in partnership with NC State’s Centennial Campus’ Office of Partnerships and Economic Development and the Office of Research Commercialization.

$25,000 First Place: Vizma

Vizma Life Sciences is developing next-generation, low-cost molecular imaging as an alternative to existing medical imaging technologies to deliver unprecedented diagnostic power that is safer and more convenient.
Team Members:

• Thomas Theis
• Patrick TomHon
• Carlos Dedesma

$15,000 Second Place: Mammae

Mammae Biosciences is working to commercialize a cost-effective and scalable method for producing LacNAc, a key probiotic and beneficial, health-promoting human milk oligosaccharide (HMO), to meet the growing consumer demand for foods containing HMOs.
Team Members:

• José M. Bruno-Bárcena

$10,000 Third Place: DNAli

DNAli Data Technologies is developing an end-to-end DNA data storage platform to enable long lasting and eternally relevant data storage that is also sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Team Members:

• Kyle Tomek
• Albert Keung
• James Tuck

STUDENT AWARDS: “THINK”

Teams in the “Think” category are in the early stages of startup development. These teams may just have an idea or are currently seeking customers or further business validation.

$9,000 First Place: Spir Medical

Spir Medical is creating a bag valve mask resuscitation device.
Team Members:

• Travis McKay | College of Engineering

$7,000 Second Place: Rampart Crop Defense

Rampart Crop Defense is combating crop death by mildew prevention.
Team Members:

• Samuel Brown | Poole College of Management
• Ramya Vijapurapu | College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
• Taylor Vickers | College of Engineering
• Austin Ladner | College of Engineering

$4,000 Third Place: Cervu

Cervu is seeking to improve access to care and the effectiveness of PFPT to result in better outcomes.
Team Members:

• Abigail Scheer | College of Design
• Alan Rosenbaum | College of Engineering

STUDENT AWARDS: “DO”

The “Do” category represents student teams that are looking to grow or scale their venture. These teams may have investment, customers or working product they are looking to bring to market at scale.

$10,000 First Place: Wolfpack Medical

Wolfpack Medical is working on the Sawyer Junctional Tourniquet, an emergency trauma tourniquet.
Team Members:

• James White | College of Engineering
• Alan Rosenbaum | College of Engineering
• Robin Brocato | College of Engineering
• Kelsey Ling | College of Engineering
• Danielle Zenner | Poole College of Management

$8,500 Second Place: Dyelation

Dyelation creates sustainable, proprietary thermoglow ink for apparel.
Team Members:

• Arissa Wheeler | College of Design

$6,500 Third Place: ByteSize Learning

BytzeSize Learning has developed fun and engaging learning courses for elementary through high school students.
Team Members:

• Ayden Hochstein | College of Sciences

Thanks to Our Sponsors

The eGames is made possible thanks to the financial support of IBM, Carimus, Eastman Chemicals, The Variable, SDE Software Development Europe, NC State Arts and the Daugherty Endowment with funding partnership from the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science and collaboration with the NC State Office of Partnerships and Office of Research Commercialization.

In addition to this we would like to thank our in-kind sponsors Holly Jean Jackson, Business Builder Accelerator, Patent Hacks and Raleigh Founded for their support of student entrepreneurs. 

We also thank our wonderful judges who volunteered their time to make the eGames judging possible.

To learn more about the eGames visit go.ncsu.edu/e-games.

This post was originally published in Entrepreneurship News.