The Grainger College of Engineering
Technology Entrepreneur Center

A Historic Year for Innovation at Illinois: Cozad New Venture Challenge 2025 Winners Announced

4/22/2025 Urvashi Jha

Written by Urvashi Jha

The 2025 Cozad New Venture Challenge has marked a significant milestone in its 25-year history, showcasing unprecedented growth and remarkable entrepreneurial talent from across the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The annual business venture creation program saw 305 registered teams comprising 700 students from 12 different colleges and representing 48 diverse fields of study—making it the largest cohort since the program began in 2000.

Insert caption here
Cozad New Venture Challenge Demo Day at the Illinois Conference Center, Champaign. 

The experiential program, led and managed by the Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC) in The Grainger College of Engineering, fosters entrepreneurial thinking and has supported the launch of business ventures, awarding over $3.9 million in funding and prizes since its inception.

“Cozad teams exemplify what happens when brilliant minds from across disciplines converge with purpose and vision. They now join an illustrious community of Cozad alumni who have transformed industries and created significant impact.”

Jed Taylor, Assistant Dean for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Grainger Engineering and Executive Director of TEC

“The Cozad program’s growth reflects the university’s commitment to entrepreneurship education and real-world innovation,” explained Jed Taylor, Assistant Dean for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Grainger Engineering and Executive Director of TEC. “This program thrives thanks to collaborative partnerships across campus and beyond, including significant support from the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Gies College of Business, corporate sponsors, alumni networks and regional innovation hubs that provide both funding and mentorship opportunities for our student entrepreneurs.”

“Cozad teams exemplify what happens when brilliant minds from across disciplines converge with purpose and vision. They now join an illustrious community of Cozad alumni who have transformed industries and created significant impact. Congratulations to all participants who demonstrated exceptional creativity, resilience and entrepreneurial spirit throughout this year’s challenge.”

Beginning in February, participants developed their business concepts through workshops on customer discovery, value propositions, finances and presentation techniques. In April, the competition advanced through two key stages: Demo Day on April 2, where 190 teams pitched to 245 judges at the Illinois Conference Center, followed by the Finals on April 17 at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, where six finalists competed for top prizes.

Grand Prize Winners: Tandemn and Nora AI

Insert caption here
Tandemn and Nora AI accept the First Place tie prize.

Tandemn and Nora AI jointly won first place in the competition, each securing a $60,000 investment.

Tandemn is revolutionizing the AI computing landscape with their innovative platform, which connects underutilized Graphics Processing Units (GPUs, specialized electronic circuits designed for parallel processing) and converts them into powerful distributed clusters that deliver scalable, secure and cost-effective AI workloads. In an era where AI development is often bottlenecked by limited access to cost-prohibitive computational resources, Tandemn’s solution enables organizations to significantly reduce computing costs while providing GPU owners with a new revenue stream for their underutilized assets.

“Cozad gave us invaluable validation, funding and a platform to dream big. While everyone talks about ‘democratizing AI,’ the reality is that GPU access remains a huge barrier—Tandemn aims to change that.”

Mankeerat Sidhu, Tandemn co-founder and electrical and computer engineering undergraduate student

Led by Mankeerat Sidhu, an electrical and computer engineering undergraduate student, and Hetarth Chopra, a graduate student in statistics, Tandemn is addressing the “GPU-as-a-service” market that is expected to reach $50 billion by 2032. 

Sidhu said, “Cozad gave us invaluable validation, funding and a platform to dream big. While everyone talks about ‘democratizing AI,’ the reality is that GPU access remains a huge barrier—Tandemn aims to change that.”

Tandemn also won the Dr. Paul Magelli Innovation Award, securing $10,000 among other in-kind prizes and funding.

 

Nora AI is transforming talent acquisition with their AI interviewer that conducts human-like interviews at scale. Their innovative platform addresses the significant challenges companies face in efficiently screening large volumes of candidates while maintaining a personalized, fair and consistent evaluation process.

“The exposure, mentorship, and resources from the Cozad experience have helped us get a crucial step ahead. Winning the grand prize has shown us that we have a product with real potential, and we’re determined to turn that potential into reality.”

Brijesh Muthumanickam, Founder of Nora AI and autonomy and robotics engineering graduate student

Led by autonomy and robotics graduate engineering student Brijesh Muthumanickam, Nora AI can engage candidates in conversational interviews that adapt based on responses, evaluate technical and soft skills, and provide comprehensive feedback to hiring managers. This technology not only streamlines the recruitment process but also helps eliminate human biases that can affect traditional interviewing methods.

“The recruitment industry, particularly tech recruitment, is definitely a competitive space, and we know we need to move fast,” said Muthumanickam. “Cozad has given us momentum and validation, but we recognize this is just the beginning of our journey. The exposure, mentorship and resources gained from the Cozad experience have helped us get a crucial step ahead. Winning the grand prize has shown us that we have a product with real potential, and we’re determined to turn that potential into reality.”

Here is some caption text
Cozad Finals Event at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
kWh accepts the Third Place prize.
kWh accepts the Third Place prize.

Third Place | $35,000 

Led by industrial and enterprise systems engineering student Arham Shah, kWh secured third place with their groundbreaking approach to energy management in India. The team won $50,000 in total funding, including the $15,000 DREAUM Award sponsored by Samyang Chemical Group.

kWh is developing a platform that integrates and monetizes distributed energy assets to strengthen grid resilience and prevent blackouts across India. Their solution aggregates and optimizes various energy resources, including renewable generation, battery storage and flexible loads, creating virtual power plants that can respond to grid demands in real time. By enabling more efficient use of existing energy infrastructure, kWh is addressing a critical need in a country where power outages remain a significant challenge to economic growth and quality of life.

Fourth Place | $25,000

Insert caption here
Sprout team showcasing their startup at the Finals Event.

Sprout, led by Carle Illinois College of Medicine student Kellie Cao, secured fourth place with their innovative medical device addressing congenital heart defects in children. The team has developed a mechanically expandable conduit that can “grow” with pediatric patients, potentially eliminating the need for multiple high-risk surgeries throughout childhood.

Sprout also won the $7,500 Health Innovation Prize awarded by the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and $5,000 Best Pitch at Finals Prize sponsored by Cozad Asset Management.

Finalist Prizes | $10,000

Voca Health and Earlynosis each won the $10,000 Finalist Prize.

Earlynosis, led by bioengineering graduate student Mohammadreza Ghaderinia, has created an AI-powered wearable biosensor for real-time sepsis detection. The device analyzes biomarkers and vital signs to provide early alerts.

The AI-powered wearable biosensor is aiming to offer rapid, precise and personalized sepsis monitoring for early intervention, fewer ICU admissions and lower costs, particularly for rural and underserved healthcare settings. Globally, sepsis kills over 11 million people yearly, and 80% of deaths are preventable with fast action.

Earlynosis also won the $2,500 Health Innovation Prize awarded by the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

Voca Health, led by Carle Illinois College of Medicine student Shreya Rangarajan, enables ENT specialists and speech-language pathologists to monitor adult voice disorder management with real-time analytics and remote feedback. Their AI-driven platform provides non-invasive monitoring, personalized feedback and remote oversight for patients aged 18 to 60, improving engagement and clinical outcomes.

Voca Health also won the $5,000 Health Innovation Prize awarded by the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

Other Prizes

In collaboration with the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Cozad provides specialized workshops, mentoring and dedicated funding and prizes. The prize pool for health-care-focused innovation is sponsored by the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the Henry Dale and Betty Smith Sports Medicine Innovation Fund and the Barkmeier Tice Rural Health Innovation Fund at Carle Health Center for Philanthropy.

HEALTH INNOVATION PRIZE | Up to $25,000
  • Sprout (above) won $7,500 and Voca Health (above) won $5,000 besides the finalist prize and other prizes.
  • Blink Systems won $5,000 for their multi-directional wheelchairs, which let users experience true freedom of motion by allowing them to control their motion by merely leaning their body in any direction.
  • Dila Sure won $5,000 for their innovative solution to improve cervical dilation during intrauterine procedures.
  • Electrokare and Earlynosis each won $2,500. Electrokare aims to revolutionize electrolyte monitoring by piloting the first readily accessible, non-invasive electrolyte tracker hooked up to your smartwatch’s ECG.
Here is some caption text
Awards Ceremony and Celebration Event at the Campus Instructional Facility.
RURAL HEALTH INNOVATION PRIZE | Up to $30,000
  • Heart Restart won first place in this category with $7,500 in funding. The team is innovating solutions for improving existing treatments for cardiac arrest by developing a defibrillator extension to allow health-care providers to use the dual sequential external defibrillation (DSED) technique. DSED is currently impossible without two defibrillators.
  • PINATA Diagnostics won second place with $7,500 in funding. The team is innovating rapid point-of-care protein diagnostics. Earlynosis won third place with $5,000 in funding.
  • FASTPADS won fourth place with $5,000 in funding. The team is developing ultrasound pads with visual instructions to facilitate pre-hospital FAST ultrasound training and completion.
  • CareID won fifth place with $5,000 in funding. CareID is developing technology to provide quick and secure access to critical patient data for paramedics on scene, ensuring faster, safer and more informed medical decisions. 
ADVANCEMENT IN SPORTS MEDICINE PRIZE | $20,000
  • FASTPADS won $10,000. (Above)
  • Heart Restart won $6,000. (Above)
  • PINATA Diagnostics won $4,000. (Above)
GRAINGER ENGINEERING COZAD PRIZE | $20,000 ($5,000 per team)
  • Avea Robotics received funding for its autonomous, collaborative floor-cleaning robots designed for mid-sized commercial buildings.
  • Instinfo aims to make your research stronger by automatically discovering and organizing online resources related to spoken ideas in real time.
  • Rapid Analytix Division (RAD) enables rapid and precise prediction of performance of supplementary cementitious materials in just five minutes.
  • VeriGuard is a B2B SaaS platform providing AI-powered deepfake detection to enterprises, helping them prevent fraud, protect brand integrity and ensure compliance by identifying manipulated audio, video and images in real time through application programming interface and an analytics dashboard.
LANDUYT BUSINESS AND ENGINEERING PARTNERSHIP PRIZE | $20,000 ($5,000 per team)
  • AirEmbrace is a patient-controlled, post-surgical compression garment aimed at improving patient comfort and reducing complications after a mastectomy.
  • CreatoRain is a platform that enables specialty retail and ecommerce brands to establish a foundational social media ecosystem.
  • Echo Me aims to help prevent the development of speech disorders in young children through the use of guided play.
  • Electrokare. (Above)
GLOBAL IMPACT INNOVATOR AWARDS | Up to $8,000
  • EduConvert won $4,000 in funding. EduConvert is an AI-powered customer relationship management tool built for education providers who want to simplify lead management and improve student recruitment.
  • MetaFrazo won $2,000 in funding. The platform offers AI dubbing and translation for media with lip sync, voice clone, and on-screen text translation.
  • StructSense won $1,000 in funding. The team is developing a wireless sensor-based structural health-monitoring service to help government agencies in Nigeria with detecting and mitigating potential structural damage on bridges in near real time to reduce inspection costs by up to 60%.
  • ConnectED won $500 in funding. This mentorship platform connects high school students with university mentors to provide personalized, affordable guidance for college applications.
DR. P. STREET COLLEGE INNOVATION PRIZE | $3,500
  • Strand Logic is a tech startup revolutionizing Black hair care through innovation. The startup’s first product automates the separation of synthetic braiding hair into evenly sized sections, reducing prep time, increasing efficiency and eliminating the need for extra assistance.

Editor’s Note: The story will be updated with details about other prize-winning teams. Learn more about our prize descriptions and eligibility terms.

Share this story

This story was published April 22, 2025.