VentureCat: 25 Startup Teams, $325K In Prize Money

Kevin Kaspar, a student in Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering, is the founder of InfernoGuard which won the top prize at VentureCat

VentureCat 2022 Winners

Business Products and Services: Xenah Developers

Xenah Developers provides pre-seed startups with technical expertise and services while offering our student developers opportunities to excel in their field.

Students: Niraj Shah, McCormick ’23; William Xenakis, McCormick ’23; Matt Beretta, Weinberg ’23; Herry Lenz, Weinberg ’23

Social Impact: GreenGrahi

GreenGrahi is a circular economy company engaged in turning food waste from food processing companies into high quality and sustainable protein, fat, and fertilizer for animal and plant nutrition.

Students: Siddharth Sharma, Kellogg ’22

Consumer Products and Services: Beni

Second place winner – $50,000

The Beni browser extension finds the best secondhand swaps while you shop your favorite brands. It’s like Honey meets Expedia for recommerce.

Students: Sarah Pinner, Kellogg (MMM) ’23; Kate Sanner, Kellogg ’22; Sarah Leonard, Kellogg ’23; Sarah Rogers, Kellogg ’23; Hunter Zhang, Northwestern ’23; Jacqueline Hong, Kellogg ’22; Danielle Ma, Kellogg ’22; Ashkaan Khatakhotan, Kellogg ’22; Catherine Sullivan, Kellogg ’23

Energy and Sustainability: InfernoGuard

Grand prize winner – $150,000

InfernoGuard provides prompt wildfire detection and notification to large-scale landowners.

Students: Kevin Kaspar, McCormick ‘24

Life Sciences and Medical Innovations: Nspire

Nspire creates novel respiratory devices to improve patient health while decreasing healthcare costs.

Students: Wadsworth Williams, Feinberg ’22; Olga Cuznetova, Kellogg ’22; David Kohan-Ghadosh, Pritzker ’23; Jacob Kurian, McCormick ’22

Wild Card: Zuri Fertility

Third place winner – $25,000

Audience favorite – $2,000

Zuri Fertility is a personal, digital fertility app empowering patients with the knowledge, confidence, and access needed to succeed in their fertility journey.

Students: Blair Matthews, Pritzker ’22 ; Giuliana Zaccardelli, Feinberg & Kellogg ’22

DON’T MISS: POETS&QUANTS’ BEST 40-UNDER-40 BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSORS OF 2022 AND WHARTON FRESHMEN BEAT A CROWD OF MBAS IN MAJOR VENTURE COMPETITION