Announcing the $5K Finalists for the F18 Velocity Fund Finals Competition
On Wednesday and Thursday of last week, students from the University of Waterloo pitched their early-stage startup ideas at the Velocity Fund $5K Qualifiers. A total of 40 teams pitched their innovative startup ideas hoping to be one of the 10 teams selected to move on to the Velocity Fund Finals on Tuesday, November 27, for the chance to win one of four $5,000 prizes.
The $5K competition provides equity-free funding to early-stage startups to help remove some of the barriers that hinder innovation and entrepreneurial growth. Each participant at the Qualifiers had exactly 3-minutes to pitch their solution to a real-world problem and convince the panel of judges that they should get a chance to win $5,000. The judges [startup founders themselves], provided feedback to each student on their pitching style and insights on ways to improve their business ideas. The top five contenders from each night were selected to move on to the final.
We are pleased to announce this term’s Velocity Fund $5K finalists:
Atlas Medical
Atlas Medical aims to mitigate and delay the onset of pressure injuries common to patients bed-ridden in the hospital.
BeBlended provides modern and accessible hair care services for black women.
Embedded Medical Systems
Embedded Medical Systems develops robots and tools to perform minimally invasive surgeries.
FEM in STEM empowers young women to develop careers in underrepresented industries through programming and resources.
Lighthouse Analytics
Lighthouse Analytics is an out of the box analytics solution that generates mission-critical insights for small businesses.
Material Futures Lab
Material Futures Lab uses bacteria to create natural eco-friendly pigments for textile dyeing.
OleoTech
Oleotech is using oleophilic properties of fiber from waste tires to remove hydrocarbons in stormwater runoff.
Pensill makes it easy to find graduate projects and academic opportunities.
PriveHealth
PriveHealth is a gamified cybersecurity training platform for healthcare professionals.
SmartLines is developing a smart sports betting aggregator to show users the best odds, all the time.
Make sure to come out to the Velocity Fund Finals on November 27 to watch awesome startups pitch for $130,000 in funding. The $5K competition will kick off the day at 11:00am, and the $25K competition will start at 1:00pm. Audience members will have the chance to win a pair of Beats headphones or a Bluetooth speaker. Register to attend or join in via live stream!
The Fall 2018 Velocity Fund Finals is sponsored by Thomson Reuters.