Immuno Nano Med, a company focused on developing next-generation vaccines against infectious diseases, was awarded first place and $15,000 in the Graduate/Faculty/Staff/Incubator Startup division of Innovation Challenge on Nov. 19 at a reception at MERGE, Iowa City.
The competition is hosted by the University of Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (Iowa JPEC).
Immuno Nano Med is founded by Kevin Legge, a professor in the Department of Pathology. The company's first product will be an inhalable vaccine against influenza virus.
A total of $35,000 was awarded to six Innovation Challenge winners in the Graduate/Faculty/Staff/Incubator Startup division. Placing second and winning $10,000 was Gemme Technology LLC. Gemme Techology, founded by Amy Gemme, created Daytz, a dating app designed for people to meet in real life, not on screens. It's patent-pending "Vibe Check" system allows users to express intentions through sliders that generate 64 combinations of input.
Third place and $5,000 was awarded to Abscora (Mahmoud Hanafy) and fourth place and $2,500 was awarded to NeuroPred, Inc. (Michal Brzus). Two honorable mention awards of $1,250 went to Pani Clean (Sattar Alsaedi) and Casmium LLC (Ashwin Dervesh and Nikhil Herdt).
Nine undergraduates shared $15,000 in seed funding, led by first place winners Easy-Org for Best Technology ($3,000) and ReWrap for Best Non-Technology ($3,000). Easy-Org, founded by Daniel Mendez, is an AI-powered platform designed to simplify how student organizations operate. ReWrap, founded by Kaden Barry, reduces plastic waste with a reusable, mesh-style pallet wrap.
Other winners in the Best Technology category were second place Stride Line (Carson Lane) and third place Scenario (Donovan McKinnon). Lane received $2,000 with McKinnon taking home $1,500. Runner-up in the Best Non-Technology division and receiving $1,500 was ReGrip (Sydney Fox).
WedGen (Savanna Kaczynski) and FlexiFlo (Linnea Rietz) both received $1,000 for Best Consumer Product. Two other $1,000 awards went to Charli Brady (Pathway+) for Best Pitch and TrayGuardian (Ben Peterson) for Judge's Choice.
Iowa JPEC is the hub for entrepreneurial education and outreach at the University of Iowa. It is committed to helping students, faculty, staff, and community members launch and grow businesses.
| Graduate/Faculty/Staff/Incubator Startup Awards | ||||
| Place | Project | Name | Amount | |
| 1st Place | Immuno Nano Med | Kevin Legge | $15,000 | |
| 2nd Place | Gemme Technology LLC | Amy Gemme | $10,000 | |
| 3rd Place | Abscora | Mahmoud Hanafy | $5,000 | |
| 4th Place | NeuroPred, Inc. | Michal Brzus | $2,500 | |
| Honorable Mention | Pani Clean | Sattar Alsaedi | $1,250 | |
| Honorable Mention | Casmium LLC | Ashwin Dervesh, Nikhil Herdt | $1,250 | |
| Undergraduate Awards | ||||
| Best Technology | 1st Place | Easy-Org | Daniel Mendez | $3,000 |
| Best Technology | 2nd Place | Stride Line | Carson Lane | $2,000 |
| Best Technology | 3rd Place | Scenario | Donovan McKinnon | $1,500 |
| Best Non-Technology | 1st Place | ReWrap | Kaden Barry | $3,000 |
| Best Non-Technology | 2nd Place | ReGrip | Sydney Fox | $1,500 |
| Best Consumer Product | WedGen | Savanna Kaczynski | $1,000 | |
| Best Consumer Product | FlexiFlo | Linnea Rietz | $1,000 | |
| Best Pitch | Pathway+ | Charli Brady | $1,000 | |
| Judge's Choice | TrayGuardian | Benjamin Peterson | $1,000 |
