Connor Vicory and Vicory Solutions won first place and $3,000 at the University of Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (Iowa JPEC) Summer Fellowship Accelerator Demo Day on July 23 at MERGE, Iowa City. 

Vicory Solutions provides a hospital cleaning management platform that standardizes, verifies, and tracks environmental cleaning across healthcare facilities.

The Demo Day pitch competition marked the culmination of 10 weeks of progress for eight ventures founded by University of Iowa undergraduates. A total of $7,000 was awarded to three businesses. Stridelane (Carson Lane and Nicholas Gorsich) placed second and received $2,500. Third place and $1,500 went to Keaton Herzberg and Event ConnecTD. 

Stridelane provides LED pacing lights to help runners achieve personal bests during practices and track meets; Event ConnecTD streamlines event staffing by connecting organizations with skilled professionals in one online marketplace.

Stridelane also earned the University of Iowa Venture Capital Club’s Most Investable Venture Pick award and received SONY headphones.

The competition was judged by Josh Immerfall, owner of several pubs and eateries, Leslie Nolte, founder of Nolte Academy and Open Doors Dance Festival, and Ravi Patel, president of Hawkeye Hotels. 

Iowa JPEC’s Summer Accelerator Fellowship is a fulltime summer program that equips students with resources and mentorship needed to grow their businesses. 

About Iowa JPEC: Iowa JPEC fosters entrepreneurship and innovation across the state of Iowa by providing a range of educational, training programs, and support services for entrepreneurial ventures and existing small-to-medium size businesses. Iowa JPEC is dedicated to nurturing the growth of new ventures and assisting them in reaching their full potential.