Manifest, the maker of a software that standardizes 401(k) transfers, won first place and $315,000 at the University of Chicago’s New Venture Challenge on Wednesday.
The student startup, which is a member of the college’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Incubator, was one of 11 startups that received portions of a $700,000 cash prize pool, made up of funds from the college and various investors. The pool was originally only $400,000, but during deliberations, several judges decided to add to it, making it the highest cash prize pool ever given at the challenge.
Of the $315,000 Manifest received, $20,000 of it was from Pritzker Group Venture Capital, which has also accepted Manifest into its fellows program this summer. The startup sells its software to 401(k) providers, like Vanguard or Fidelity, and it helps save them time and money when their clients transfer funds from one 401(k) account to another.
Mindful Urgent Care, a startup that offers same-day, non-emergent mental health and substance abuse psychiatric services to insured and cash-paying patients, came in second place, receiving $125,000. Earlier this year, Mindful Urgent Care was the winner of UChicago’s Global New Venture Challenge and they are slated to open a New York location in the next month.
In third place came Coeus.ai, a startup making a software that allows video game streamers and gamers to automatically create hundreds of highlights out of any video game stream or gameplay. They won $90,000, $40,000 of which was from Chicago-based OCA Ventures.
“Every team that presented in today’s finals is a real and operational company that can grow beyond this program,” said Starr Marcello, executive director of the Polsky Center and an adjunct professor, in a statement. “We are proud of all the teams that presented to our investors today, and those that took part in the 22nd year of the NVC. We are excited to see them grow.”
The other eight startups in the competition received investments as well. Muu, which makes a Brazilian ice cream, and BrewBike, which offers cold brew services on college campuses, both received $45,000. BrewBike also competed in Northwestern University’s VentureCat earlier this month and came in second place, winning $15,000.
Oxalo Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical startup developing a drug to prevent kidney stone formation, took home $25,000. nuBorn Medical, which makes a smart baby bottle system to diagnose and treat feeding problems in preterm infants, took home $15,000. And four finalists, Seurat Theraprutics, FORSEEaBill, Sweet Karma and Haystack, each received $10,000.
Typically, only 10 startups are chosen to compete in the finals, but the college made an exception, saying that the quality of the companies this year made it hard to narrow down.
“This was another fantastic year," said Steven Kaplan, a professor of entrepreneurship and finance at Chicago's Booth School of Business, at the event. "We had four or five other teams we could have put in the finals that we didn’t have room for. We’re hopeful that some of them will be very successful and show us that we made a mistake.”
The startups pitched to 27 judges, including Jim Dugan, the CEO, co-founder and managing partner at OCA Ventures, and Penny Pritzker, the founder of PSP Capital and the former U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Barack Obama.
The NVC is ranked one of the top accelerator programs in the U.S. and its winners have included top Chicago companies like SimpleMills, Grubhub and Braintree. Other Chicago startups that have participated in the NVC include InContext Solutions and Tovala.
The competition is also just one of several UChicago hosts for its student entrepreneurs. Earlier this month, it hosted the Social New Venture Challenge, which aims to coach and award student entrepreneurs whose company has a social mission behind it.
Autism in Motion Clinics, a startup that aims to provide autism therapy to children in rural communities throughout the U.S., won first place and $45,000 at the SNVC on May 22.
