Eight startup ventures have been selected to go head-to-head in the Maryland Institute College of Art's annual UP/Start Venture Competition for the chance to win seed funding for their entrepreneurial endeavors.
The finalists were selected out of a pool of 43 entrepreneurs who competed in a virtual round one "Pop Up and Pitch" event on November 19. Now, they have a few months in an incubator program to prepare for the final event on April 12, at which a panel of judges will name the winning companies. The total $100,000 funding award, provided by the Philip E. & Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation, will be divided among the winning ventures.
Scroll down for a list of finalists and a description of each venture.
The UP/Start competition, now in its seventh year, is spearheaded by the Joseph Meyerhoff Center for Career Development. It aims to provide capital and mentorship to help student ventures grow into sustainable businesses.
Stacy Stube, who took over the program last year, said she's especially focused on ensuring the program's entrepreneurs have the resources and support they need to keep advancing their ventures even after the competition. That's why she's taken this year's finalists on a series of field trips to visit past fellows and other key individuals in the Baltimore entrepreneur community.
"It made such a difference to get out of our building and into the ecosystem and through doors that wouldn't normally be open for you," said Stube, Ratcliffe Center’s associate director.
She's even introduced the finalists to companies and individuals that can help with building a prototype of their concept, or ensuring the product is ready for manufacturing. Taking those steps now will help ensure the finalists have closed all the missing links ahead of the competition.
"Sometimes people wait until after the competition to get out there with their work, but I think the minute you decide you're here to show up for the entrepreneurial endeavor, the clock starts ticking. So let's really show up and go all-in," she said.
Stube, who herself is an entrepreneur, said that learning how other now-successful startups once struggled or experienced failure can be immensely helpful for young founders. It's a reminder that just because your concept may have hit a roadblock or you have to adjust your business model, it doesn't mean you can't still succeed.
This type of generational mentorship has been happening in Baltimore for years, said Stube, who described the city's startup scene as "welcoming and inviting."
"We are not a city that is trying to step over each other to get ahead," she added.
In addition to introducing members of the current cohort to local resources, Stube has also sought to reconnect with past UP/Start winners and finalists to help them overcome any new hurdles they might be facing.
"It's important not to let them drop off," she said. "We know the statistics on startups and the challenges they face."
The UP/Start competition this year was open to MICA students and alumni in the Baltimore university's 2021 and 2022 graduating classes.
Here's a quick look at the eight finalist ventures, including what they aim to do and their founder(s), summarized using descriptions provided by MICA:
- Blvck Door (Founded by Iman Carr) — An online platform that bridges the gap between creatives of color and employers who see the benefits of an equitable, diversified workforce.
- Compressent (Herschel Ruben) — The Compressent Desk Chair is designed for autistic people, neurodivergent people or anyone who experiences overstimulation of the nervous system and needs a calming mechanism to be productive in their everyday lives. The chair applies pressure on certain nervous system points to help calm and prevent sensory overload and can be used — without stigma — in any work environment.
- Convo (Emma Koramshahi, Aleks Romano and Julia Breskin) — A data visualization tool that uses AI and animation to bring equity into the virtual meeting space. The tool tracks how people participate in a meeting and provides real-time feedback and a visual summary.
- Core Immersive Labs (Paolo Narciso) — A global innovation lab that offers job placement services as well as free training, tools and opportunities for underserved populations around the world to help them become entrepreneurs, builders and architects of the metaverse.
- Knock the Block (Book Karnjanakit) — A deck of creative and self-care card prompts to help people overcome the universal artistic challenge of art block: the state of not being able to come up with ideas or feeling stuck.
- Mira (Jana Thompson, Mackenzie Legg, Kelly Lynch, Justine Cantu and Heather Waugh) — A virtual twin to help users meet their goals and take the breaks they need during the day. A custom Mira avatar will help users set daily, ongoing and long-term goals, and check-in throughout the day, encouraging users to accomplish their goals while also understanding and tracking their well-being and meeting them where they are.
- Pharma-D (Kristen Karlovich) — A tool library of at home/take home medical devices that gives more widespread and easier access to taking care and monitoring an individual's health. Pharma-D would allow people to access and understand their own health, make educated decisions, give professionals more insight on the health and care one needs, cut down on the cost of testing and be an aid to medical professionals and facilities.
- Storypets (Monika Reddy Vootukuri) — Voice assistants that deliver bedtime stories to kids in the voice of the parent or the grandparent instead of a generic AI voice. A mobile app is used to record a story, which is stored in the physical product, or Storypet. Kids can listen to it whenever they want and can also narrate stories to the pet.
