The New Venture Competition, the annual student competition sponsored by Harvard Business School’s Rock Center for Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise Initiative, has released a list of semifinalists who'll compete under the "Social Enterprise" category.
This year, the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, which oversees the NVC, had a record 69 teams enter the competition’s Social Enterprise Track. The preliminary round of judges selected 16 teams to advance to the semifinal round, which will further narrow down the list.
The finalists for the social enterprise track are expected to be announced on Friday, March 30. The grand finale of the NVC, which will include pitches from the finalists for the Business, Social Enterprise and Alumni Tracks, will be held on Wednesday, April 18, on the HBS campus.
Here's the list of the 16 student startups that qualified as semifinalists in the 2018's Social Enterprise track (descriptions provided by HBS and edited by BostInno):
• C3 Solutions: A carbon capture and utilization developer reducing emissions from industrial companies.
• CareZoom: An online platform with evidence, experts and advice for your healthcare delivery project.
• Covalent Networks: A software platform designed for employer-led workforce development programs.
• Dignify: Matches refugees and locals in the developing world to globally outsourced digital work.
• EatWell: Makes healthy eating more available to low-income families with a 30-minute, one-pot meal kit.
• Fontes Irrigation: An "on-demand" irrigation services business that serves farmers in Mozambique.
• Hoom: The $10,000 home. Hoom is the smart, sustainable solution for the global housing crisis.
• ImmerLearn: Use machine learning and novel data to maximize effectiveness of social and public programs.
• Joro: This app helps people track their real-time CO2 emissions to make sustainability a daily practice.
• Neptune: Our sewers have a grease problem. Neptune is building a better grease trap to keep our pipes clean.
• OnTrack Births: Utilizes India's extensive railway network to provide access to quality maternal care.
• SHLD (Self-Healing and Loving Dialogue): Provides teens with daily wellness tips and suicide prevention care through Snapchat.
• STEMgem: An internet of things device toolkit that allows learners to build real, useful and relevant technology.
• Trey: Empowers future college athletes to use sports as a springboard to lifetime success.
• Umbulizer: The company is developing a low-cost, portable ventilator for patients in resource-constrained markets.
• UPON: Their mission is to eliminate labor underutilization and increase women's access to the workforce.
