HYRD, an app that brings recently relocated adults together over common interests and group events to decrease loneliness, won the $1,000 first prize at University of Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center’s (Iowa JPEC) Startup Games on March 6 at the Hilton Garden Inn Iowa City Downtown University.

For nine years after earning a bachelor’s degree, Dana Njenga worked eight hours a day, five days a week, repeating the cycle week, after week, after monotonous week. But when the time came for rest and relaxation, Njenga, her husband, and three children rarely answered the call.