On the evening of July 21, eleven teams pitched their ventures as part of the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute’s (YEI) tenth-annual Demo Day. Ranging from a sustainable clothing line to a backyard ice rink company, to renewable food ventures and a charitable giving platform, the ventures were diverse, exciting and impactful.
Prior to YEI Demo Day 2016, the presenting teams, who are all part of the YEI Fellowship, had spent the past ten weeks diligently working on various aspects of their ventures. Their hard work was demonstrated in Luce Hall to an enlivened audience that was standing-room only. After the eleven presentations had concluded the audience was able to oVote for their favorite venture. The audience award went to April Koh of Spring, a screening application that matches patients who experience depression with accurate treatment plans. YEI Demo Day 2016 was an outstanding showcase of the YEI Fellows and the incredible amount of hard work and passion each student has poured into their venture.
April Koh (YC ‘16) and the team behind Spring, the application that screens patients for depression in provider waiting rooms and matches patients with the most effective treatment for them through a 10-minute questionnaire on an iPad.Xiuqi Cao (YC ‘17) of Fyrno, a mobile app that makes music discovery fun, interactive, and social.Stephen Kump (SOM ‘17) of Charityvest, a mobile and web technology platform tht enables the average U.S. donor to make easier, more meaningful and more impactful charitable donations while drastically lowering administration costs for nonprofits.Laura Melendrez (SOM ‘16) and Debra Broberg (SOM ‘16) are founder of Amor & Rosas, an affordable luxury fashion line for women that lie their lives to the fullest, incorporating ancestral techniques from Latin America to modern designs from New York.Cat Wu (SOM ‘17) of Ugly Fruit, a brand of Re- Harvest Foods that provides a portable, easy to eat, guilt-free indulgence to satisfy cravings in between meals for busy professionals, parents and students.Co-founders Luke Sellers (YC ‘17) and Aaron Jones (YC ‘17) of Chops, an all-natural, high-protein snack company that provides consumers with a superior quality option to the dry and tough beef jerky that is currently on the market.Krystyna Taheri (SOM ‘17) of Zeally, an online job board that helps liberal arts college students find internships and jobs they love.The Humidified High Flow Nasal Cannula (HHFNC) developed by PremieBreathe, a low-cost breathing aid for newborns designed to treat pneumonia and other resporatory illnesses which cause over one million preventable deaths each year.Sumit Kadakia (MEM/MBA ‘16) of Renewal Mill, a venture creating a more sustainable food system by harnessing currently discarded material from industrial food production to deliver nutritious and wholesome ingredients.Patrick Sullivan (YC ‘18) of Connecticut Bail Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting racial and economic justice within the pretrial process of the criminal justice system.Dylan Gastel (YC ‘18) of EZ Ice, a company that makes customized backyard ice rinks that can be installed in under an hour on any surface (i.e. lawn or hardcourt) without any tools whatsoever.
