The Landuyt Center for Entrepreneurship (name pending approval from the Board of Trustees) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has announced the winners of the 2026 Cozad New Venture Challenge. In its 26th year, Illinois’ largest venture creation program attracted more than 350 teams and over 900 students and awarded more than $700,000 in investments and prizes, including its first-ever $100,000 grand prize.
Cozad New Venture Challenge Demo Day at the Illinois Conference Center, Champaign. Photo Credit: Della Perrone Photography, April 16, 2026
Open to all U. of I. students, the semester-long program guides teams through every stage of venture creation — from validating an idea and refining a business model to pitching investors and tapping a broad network of mentors and resources. Since its founding in 2000, Cozad has awarded more than $5 million in funding and prizes and helped launch some of Illinois’ groundbreaking startups. This year, the program introduced four specialized tracks — Healthcare Transformation, Technology, Consumer Packaged Goods, and Online and Multi-Industry Innovation — giving teams targeted guidance tailored to their ventures.
“Seeing a record number of teams this year and awarding our first-ever $100,000 grand prize reflects just how far this program has come and the incredible depth of entrepreneurial talent at Illinois.”
Jed Taylor, Assistant Dean for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Grainger Engineering and Landuyt Executive Director of Landuyt Center
Jed Taylor, Landuyt Executive Director of the Landuyt Center for Entrepreneurship and Assistant Dean for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Grainger Engineering, said, “Seeing a record number of teams this year and awarding our first-ever $100,000 grand prize reflects just how far this program has come and the incredible depth of entrepreneurial talent at Illinois. The transformational commitment from the Landuyts gives us the ability to grow this program in every dimension — larger prizes, deeper mentorship and more pathways for student ventures to reach the market.”
The center’s new name reflects more than $20 million in cumulative contributions from Richard Landuyt (’78, B.S., Electrical Engineering) and Gayle Landuyt (’78, B.S., Industrial Engineering), whose landmark investment also funds the center's director position, supports a Chicago presence at the Discovery Partners Institute and previously endowed the first joint professorship between Grainger Engineering and Gies College of Business.
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 16, where about 200 teams pitched to nearly 300 judges at the Illinois Conference Center, followed by the Finals on April 17 at the I Hotel, where eight finalists competed for top prizes.
Archean Sciences team receiving the grand prize at the Cozad Finals Event on April 17. Photo Credit: Holly Birch Photography, April 17, 2026
Archean Sciences is growing real human neurons on a chip and using them to transform how we develop drugs and run AI. Today, testing treatments for neurological conditions (like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s) is slow, expensive and often inaccurate because lab models don’t reflect how the human brain works. Archean changes that by enabling faster, more predictive drug testing while also offering a far more energy-efficient alternative to traditional computing chips.
Traditional computer chips consume enormous amounts of energy. Neurons, by contrast, are extraordinarily energy efficient. Archean’s biological computing system can run AI workloads at a fraction of the energy cost of conventional silicon chips.
The grand prize-winning team won over $120,000 in total funding and prizes, including a $10,000 Paul Magelli Innovation Award from Illinois Ventures and $10,000 from Origin Ventures.
“This funding will allow us to build out our operations and team, expand our technical moat through targeted R&D, and iterate on our products and services. More broadly, it marks an important early step in our effort to commercialize technology developed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in service of our mission to advance science and improve health.”
Austin Ellis-Mohr, Archean Sciences co-founder and Ph.D. student in electrical and computer engineering
Austin Ellis-Mohr, Ph.D. student in electrical and computer engineering and co-founder of Archean Sciences, said, “This funding will allow us to build out our operations and team, expand our technical moat through targeted R&D, and iterate on our products and services. More broadly, it marks an important early step in our effort to commercialize technology developed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in service of our mission to advance science and improve health.”
Co-founder and Mechanical Science and Engineering Professor Mattia Gazzola added, “I think that beside the monetary prize, the real value of the program lies in the coaching and exposure to potential investors. We really had to ‘rewire’ our brains and literally learn a new communication language, very different from the scientific one we are used to. Cozad helped us sharpen our message and understand mechanisms we are typically not concerned with in academia.”
Cephal Corps accepts the Second Place prize. Photo Credit: Holly Birch Photography, April 17, 2026
Second Place | $50,000
Cephal Corps, led by Carle Illinois College of Medicine student Al Smith, has developed a portable guidance system that improves accuracy, reduces variability and enables non-specialists to perform life-saving procedures. Cephal Corps also won the Health Innovation prize with $15,000 in funding.
Third Place | $25,000
UncertIA receives the Third Place prize. Photo Credit: Holly Birch Photography, April 17, 2026
UncertIA, led by aerospace engineering graduate students Gokul Puthumanaillam and Manav Vora, has developed software that helps robots make smarter real-time decisions, cutting energy waste, reducing downtime and lowering operating costs. The team also secured $50,000 SAFE investments each from Multimodal Ventures (Chicago) and Pear VC (Silicon Valley). The startup won $125,000 in total funding and prizes.
Runner-up Teams | $5,000 each
Echo Me — This startup designs toys that target difficult speech sounds by integrating speech therapy techniques into engaging play. Each toy produces a corresponding speech sound, encouraging kids to play, listen and learn.
Second Chance Innovations pitching at the Cozad Finals Event. Photo Credit: Holly Birch Photography, April 17, 2026
AI/O — This training platform helps police officers practice high-stakes communications through realistic, repeatable simulations with measurable performance feedback. Police receive extensive firearms training but limited, inconsistent communication training despite most encounters relying on verbal interaction. AI/O provides scalable, scenario-based training that enables officers to repeatedly practice and refine their communication, improving decision-making, safety and outcomes. AI/O also won the $5,000 Cozad Asset Management Best Pitch prize.
Second Chance Innovations — This startup creates wearable neuro-rehab devices that detect muscle intent and assist upper-limb movement, enabling higher-intensity therapy for stroke patients. Second Chance Innovations also won second place in the Health Innovation prizes category with $7,000 in funding.
Dark Matter Robotics — This startup designs automation solutions for labs and manufacturing. Labs and manufacturing rely on workers for repetitive material handling, limiting throughput and increasing cost, since existing automation is expensive and inflexible. EnterpriseWorks-based Dark Matter Robotics delivers flexible, deployable systems that automate workflows, reduce labor costs, increase throughput and enable rapid deployment without infrastructure change.
Slate AI — Slate AI automates video data workflows. An AI agent ingests, backs up, organizes, tags and delivers footage, replacing manual, error-prone processes for filmmakers and content teams handling terabytes of media.
PearVC and Multimodal Ventures Investments | Total $125,000
UncertIA (description above) | PearVC and Multimodal Ventures | $50,000 each
Brekfuz | Pear VC | $25,000: Brekfuz turns every employee’s expertise into a live, queryable knowledge base accessible in under 200 milliseconds. The result: Human teammates and AI agents get instant answers without waiting on a person to be available.
Health Innovation 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.
Jungle BioTech | Third Place | $5,000: Jungle Biotech is transforming drug development by helping drug companies identify candidates that will fail before they spend $100M+ on clinical trials to find out. Approximately 90% of drugs fail, and each costs more than $2B and 10 to 15 years. This startup brings 60 years of proven nuclear safety engineering to drug development.
2026 Cozad New Venture Challenge participants from multiple teams at Demo Day. Photo Credit: Della Perrone Photography, April 16, 2026
Rural Health Innovation Prizes | $30,000
Peri Assist | $15,000: Peri Assist is an improved assisted vaginal delivery device with a novel ring design to reduce neonatal and maternal injury.
LumeNIRS | $10,000: LumeNIRS is a cutting-edge device using near infrared light therapy to promote and monitor surgical wound healing easily and noninvasively to facilitate early infection intervention and better patient wound outcomes.
Jvala | $5,000: Jvala is the first AI-native tracking app for unpredictable chronic
Team Jvala receiving the Health Innovation Prize. Photo Credit: Holly Birch Photography, April 17, 2026
condition flares (POTS, Lupus, Rheumatoid), predicting flares up to 48 hours in advance by connecting wearable data, environmental signals and patient symptoms into a single clinical dataset.
Advancement in Sports Medicine Prize | $20,000 ($10,000 each team)
Flex-Able: Flex-Able is an assistive glove that enhances grip strength and stabilizes joints in individuals with joint subluxation and hand weakness, providing independence in daily tasks through sensor and motor-assisted technology. Flex-Able addresses limitations in performing daily tasks due to a lack of connective tissue strength. Its solution incorporates flexible sensors that detect finger movement and apply mechanical pressure to the fingers.
Unity Motion: Unity Motion is an AI-driven biomechanical platform that uses camera-based movement assessment to generate a personalized corrective and progressive training program to reduce injuries and improve readiness.
Landuyt Business and Engineering Partnership Prize | $20,000 ($5,000 per team)
Globi: This social app helps connect people through shared culture, language, religion
Team Globi receiving the Landuyt Business and Engineering Partnership Prize. Photo Credit: Holly Birch Photography, April 17, 2026
and values. Users can discover events, make friends and find dating connections in one place.
Sign Quest: SignQuest is a card game that teaches American Sign Language to hearing families of Deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
Pedal Pro: PedalPro is a bedside mechanical pedal device for hospitalized patients that promotes active lower-leg movement to improve blood circulation and reduce the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) during periods of immobility.
SCG Global Impact Prize by Samyang Chemicals Group | $20,000
PaveSense (formerly PaVision)delivers AI-powered pavement condition analytics using low-cost cameras, turning any fleet vehicle into a continuous road-condition sensor for safer, smarter and more efficient infrastructure management.
PaveSense (formerly PaVision) receiving the Global Impact by Samyang Chemicals Group. Photo Credit: Holly Birch Photography, April 17, 2026
Gies Business Larry F. Voitik Prize | $3,000
Agrivoy is a booking platform for agritourism. One platform for farm and ranch stays, activities, vineyard tours, u-picks and workshops, it connects travelers with real farm experiences and gives hosts a modern way to reach guests.