A wearable device that can sense if you're driving drowsy and alert you before it's too late. A "genetic interpretation engine" that enables personalized cancer treatment. An online rental service for baby clothes. These are just a few of the ideas underpinning the startups in the latest cohort of the Harvard i-lab's Fall Venture Program.
This fall, hundreds—yes, hundreds—of startups are taking part in the program. The i-lab welcomed the first 264 ventures last week, and it expects another 100 or so to join in October. That was made possible by the program's introduction of a second applicant deadline for the first time in its history.
The i-lab, which executive director Matt Segneri has maintained is "more than a physical space," has been operating virtually since March.
“Over the last six months, the Harvard Innovation Labs Venture Program has supported more than 500 ventures in an entirely virtual environment,” Segneri said in a statement. “This time has allowed us to create, refine and scale our virtual programming. As we kick off the Fall 2020 Venture Program, we look forward to giving participants access to a wide range of high-quality resources that meet them where they are on their innovation journeys, and help them to learn and grow.”
The i-lab split the startups into two tracks based on stages of business development. Eighty-one startups were put on the Build It track, designed for more advanced ventures, and 183 ventures are participating in the Start It track, focused on helping students develop their ideas and businesses from the ground up.
Below is the list of 81 ventures in the Build It track. Learn about all of the 264 ventures in the Fall Venture Program here, with updates coming in October. Descriptions provided by Harvard i-lab.
acelab: Finding building products, simplified.
Admeeted, Inc.: A video-conferencing social media platform that groups and shuffles users into series of small video calls based on user characteristics.
African Middle Eastern Leadership Project (AMEL): An online university for human rights activists.
AllHere: Fostering student attendance, engagement, and success with mobile messaging powered by AI.
All In: A companion app built for watching live sports on TV that uses prediction questions and breakout rooms to build intimate fan communities.
Almond Finance: Providing people around the world with the tools they need to escape poverty and achieve economic growth through mobile financial inclusion.
Beacon Biomimetics: Developing PhonoGraft, a novel device for repairing damaged eardrums with decreased procedure times and improved healing and hearing outcomes.
Breaktime: A nonprofit social enterprise that elevates young adults out of homelessness through transitional employment and empowerment.
Burgers to Beasts: Helping individuals design ways of mindful living to help them live whole and feel amazing, while keeping their health and happiness at the forefront.
Capchase Inc.: Helping SaaS companies unlock cash tied up in monthly and quarterly-paid contracts.
CaribEd: Restoring hope to students left behind amidst a crisis by creating and distributing engaging learning materials.
Chaku Foods: Making better food for better outcomes.
Change the Tune: The Studio: An innovative summer program that cultivates skills within students & teachers to narrow the opportunity gap.
CodeSciLab: Providing equitable access to STEM education through online programming resources and community outreach.
Coding Together: The virtual coding school.
Conductscience.com: A marketplace for revenue-based tech transfer of academic inventions.
Convallo Bio: Developing the next generation of beneficial bacteria.
Datacule: Developing a new solution for digital data storage that changes the economics and environmental cost of securely archiving digital data.
dData: Predicting macroeconomic indicators by linking hundreds of diverse datasets and combining them to accurately nowcast economic measurements.
Debate Spaces: Creating and delivering a unique debate-centered curriculum to inspire middle school students to be active and engaged citizens.
DeepAlign: Using machine learning to provide an automated cloud platform for cost-effective and easy-to-access invisible aligners.
DozeOn (DO): AI software/wearable app that detects drowsy driving and alerts drivers in real-time.
Evera Technologies Inc.: Creating the physical appointment of the future, Evera Technologies is building a quantitative snapshot of people’s health so they can live happier and healthier.
FIND Surgical Sciences: Integrating Neuroimaging and Electrophysiological datasets for better surgical training, planning, and execution.
FinGig: Committed to helping small businesses and independent workers with financial wellbeing.
Flagship Management, LLC: Managing healthcare equipment using field service, distribution and analytics. Creates jobs for military veterans.
Flame Bearers: The Women Athletes Carrying Tokyo's Torch: A podcast spotlighting international women Olympians and Paralympians on their journeys to Tokyo.
GenUnity: Creating civic leadership programs that support young, working-age adults’ civic learning and engagement in their local communities.
g.Root Biomedical Services, Inc: Building a genetic interpretation engine to help cancer patients find the best personalized treatment options and beat their cancer!
Grow Care: Offering a suite of software products that empowers behavioral health providers to scale their private practices.
HepaHealth: Connecting communities to care to help eradicate hepatitis B in the Philippines.
Hibiscus Monkey: Pioneering "soil-to-skin" mass beauty, creating superior products that shatter stereotypes around beauty, personal care & menstrual needs in India.
Hikma Health: Providing cutting-edge medical data management software to under-resourced communities around the world customized to their needs.
Ife School/Thrive!: Breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty and racism by creating a continuum of care for low-income women and their children.
ImpactPartnerFund: A social impact fund investing in the African region focused on sustainable development through investments in digital skills, green economy, etc.
Innovate for Africa: Training African graduates to be innovators and then placing them at a start-up to support and create the next generation of African entrepreneurs.
International Orchestra of Refugees: Empowering forcibly displaced musicians to become musical ambassadors of peace, through orchestral opportunity and collaborative community.
KARL: Planning personalized dates for couples based on their interests, budget and availability.
Kinnos: Highlight technology enhancing pathogen decontamination by colorizing disinfectants blue for visibility and fading to show full decontamination.
LABHYA FOUNDATION: Enabling governments to create & implement Social-Emotional Learning programs for vulnerable children in India, at scale.
Larissa Health Technologies: Creating a 3D interactive video platform to arm patients to tackle their health care foes with post-op instructions from a friendly avatar.
Leaders Dream Big: Broadening the horizons and maximizing the potential of underserved students through an annual, cost-free Washington DC trip.
Limax Biosciences: Strong, stretchy, and flexible hydrogel adhesive inspired by nature to seal wounds and promote healing.
Little Borrow: An online rental service for baby clothes.
LivelyHood: A safe and simple platform that connects healthy volunteers with elderly and immunocompromised individuals who need help running errands.
Liza, Inc.: A social venture designed to increase access to credit for underbanked populations in America.
Lucidity Health: Using smartphone-based AI to interpret medical imaging and support rule-outs in low-resource settings. It's a second opinion in your pocket.
Manush Labs: An impact accelerator that attempts to solve the deep-rooted problems of India's small and medium-sized cities by empowering social innovators.
Meltdown Creamery: Rescuing fresh produce from being wasted and using it to create delicious plant-based cheeses.
Metric: Analytics software that empowers companies and investors to measure and improve their environmental, social, and governance performance.
Mineral Forecast: Reducing the cost and increasing the probability of discoveries in mining exploration by applying machine learning to exploration data.
MomMe: Developing a wearable device that relieves pain and improves recovery time for moms after childbirth; they currently suffer for weeks.
My-Prosthetic-Art-Space: Making a website that allows a user to build and customize his/her 3D prosthetic leg cover model, download model parts for free, and assemble on his own.
Nearsighted Globe: Using the NG Refractive Kit, Nearsighted Globe provides myopia diagnosis to hard-to-reach rural communities in low and middle income countries.
New Voters: A non-profit, student-run organization that seeks to register young voters and promote active citizenry.
Nour Sunscreens: A line of tinted mineral-based sunscreen developed for dark skin tones.
P0wnU: Cybersecurity bootcamp taught by world-class professionals geared towards training, staffing, and career transformation.
PionEar Technologies: Revolutionizing the treatment of ear and hearing disorders with its innovative patent-pending tympanostomy tube technology.
PlayHouse: A platform that allows organizations to publish virtual playbills for remote performances and allows audience to access them in one centralized app.
Project Safar: Providing long term socio-psychological and peer mentorship support to middle school students from underprivileged backgrouds in India.
Promakhos Therapeutics: Supporting the immune system to fight Crohn's disease
Relevo: Empowering teenagers from vulnerable communities to pursue professional career opportunities.
RESET Third Space: A platform for finding, testing, and utilizing the full range of self-care resources on the market.
ReThink, Inc.: A patented, innovative app that detects offensive messages and gives users a chance to reconsider posting them.
Rossword Puzzles: Teaching crossword lovers how to make their own puzzles. Future goals include community building in the xword community and more publication outlets.
Second Sight: Creating devices that aid the visually impaired and blind by letting them hear what they cannot see.
Shelly Xu Design: The first fashion-tech startup to make beautiful, accessible, 100% zero waste designs.
Shypyard: A serverless development platform similar to Amazon Lambda, with a focus on ecommerce developers.
Sparks Within Reach: Providing supplementary education for students facing housing insecurity and, specifically, online services during COVID-19.
Students vs Pandemics: An interdisciplinary group of graduate and undergraduate students committed to promoting education, advocacy, and service.
Suadela: Increasing young women and girls' power by building their negotiation skills.
The Concordium: An e-support network matching socially isolated seniors with youth volunteers via video-chat. Combatting the loneliness epidemic.
The Dive: Harvard and other prominent university members explaining news topics of their expertise in a very conversational, snappy, and easy-to-digest way.
The Hope Storytelling Project: Creating comfort, community, and connection through sharing, writing, and teaching poetry.
Toppings LLC: Offering free food/grocery delivery by and from the community using the excess capacity of friends and family that are already out shopping.
Troav Instant Delivery: Using machine learning to predict demand of convenience items, stock them in gig cars, and deliver them in only 5 minutes.
TRUPR: An on-demand fitness platform connecting personal trainers to clients in realtime - engage in the sharing economy in-person or virtually.
Visionairy Health: Developing an automated chest x-ray screening solution to reduce radiologists’ workload and increase their efficiency.
Vivid Communications: A tech-enabled PR company using data and proprietary software to streamline and improve the way businesses interact with media.
Vocal Justice: Teaching undervalued high schoolers how to communicate confidently, authentically, and persuasively about social justice - wherever they aim to lead.
Youth Coalition to End Abuse: Coalition to End Abuse is the largest youth-led nonprofit working to end domestic violence through local policy and by raising awareness.
