Demo Day 2017
For the past eleven years, Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI) has been granting summer fellowship opportunities to young entrepreneurs across Yale’s campus. This year was no different. On July 20, 2017, investors, faculty, family and friends gathered in Luce Hall to support the ten ventures represented by YEI this summer. Each team has worked incredibly hard all summer, however BridgeYear took home the audience vote. A diverse group, with student entrepreneurs ranging from Yale College, School of Management, School of Medicine and School of Music, each venture’s presentation was captivating and effective, resulting in a very successful evening. Congratulations to each venture in the 2017 YEI Summer Fellowship!
Zoe Loyd (FES/SOM ’17) from Zoni Foods kicked- off the evening, sharing her and co-founder Nilofer Ahmed’s (SOM ’16) venture of healthy, frozen, stovetop meals. Each meal is vegan, and described as a socially responsible way for consumers to feel good about what they are feeding themselves and their families.
Chris Garwood (Music ’17) and Igor Lichtmann (Music ’18) of tonebase- an online platform for high level music education. For a low, monthly rate, subscribers gain access to thousands of instructional videos from some of the most influential and highly regarded musicians in the industry.
BridgeYear, presented by Victoria Chen (SOM ’17) is a non-profit traveling career exploration and support service that shares and exposes inner-city high school students to high-growth career opportunities post-graduation. This year, BridgeYear was awarded the audience vote.
Powerhouse, an app that allows consumers to control their carbon footprint and energy costs. Compared to a nutrition label, Powerhouse breaks down what energy is good, what energy is bad, and when customers can benefit from powering down and lowering their carbon footprint. Katrina Barlow (SOM ’17) describes her venture similar to making the customer’s home like a Toyota Prius.
Alva Health, founded by Sandra Saldana-Ortega, PhD (SOM ’17) is cutting edge in stroke detection. At risk patients wear a bracelet monitor that tracks limb movement, and compares it to patterns of someone having a stroke. The monitor then alerts emergency personnel as well as the patient’s caregiver, where medical professionals can treat the patient at the early stages of experiencing a stroke.
Connect with all of your closest friends in one space, with Up For. Founded by Brahm Gardner (YC ’17) and Jackson Simon (YC ’19, pictured), this app allows users to invite friends from different groups to different activities around their college campus’. With real time software, each invitation expires just after 5 minutes from being sent. Up For takes optimal communication to the next level.
Verb- the caffeinated energy bar. Founded by Matthew Czarneki (YC ’18, pictured), Andre Monteiro (YC ’18), Bennett Byerley (YC ’19) and Isaac Morrier ( YC ’17), Verb changes the way consumers gain their energy. Using Green Tea caffeine, the tasty and healthy bar leaves consumers energized, and ready to take on their active lifestyles, without any jitters.
SepDX is changing the way clinicians treat sepsis. Founded by Melissa Davis (SOM ’17, pictured), Ankur Kapadia (SOM ’17), Prashant Krisnakuma (SOM ’16) and David Kaufman, MD, YNHH, this phone application uses an electronic checklist and decision-support tool that aids clinicians in the way they diagnose and treat sepsis in their patients.
Founded by Victor Wang (YC ’18, pictured), Henry Iseman (YC ’18), and Trang Duong, Penta collects prosthetic limbs from the US, and repurposes them for patients in Vietnam. There have been over 420 prosthetic donations to date.This social venture is changing the lives of those with a limb disability internationally.
Arix Technologies is cutting edge in corrosion detection. Founded by Dianna Liu (SOM ’18, pictured), Petter Wehlin (YC ’17, pictured) , Bryan Duerfeldt (YC ’17) and David Weber (SOM ’18), their robotic prototype plans to detect corrosion using advanced data analytics.