Meet our 2025 Entrepreneurs Challenge Cohort! These promising teams hail from across NYU’s global campuses and their concepts reflect that diversity.
Barrow Green is developing a compact, lightweight, energy-efficient and hydrofluorocarbon-free wearable cooling vest to protect workers and consumers against extreme heat. After doing this, we will scale up the cooling power and save the planet.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Lawrence London, School of Law ’89
DEFI stands for Delicious Energizing Fitness Indulgence and is a guilty-less chocolate + functional ingredient snacking experience for fitness loving foodies. Think…. Halo Top, but for chocolate category!
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Tatyana Jones, Stern ’15
Communication inefficiencies dominate every job nowadays from endless meets, emails and slacks, and is specifically bad in partnerships teams and event planning with hosts, vendors, and sponsors struggling to align through siloed systems.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Eliot Brown, SPS ’24
Oishika Chaudhury, CAS ’22
Hawaii’s volcanic heat: Nature’s infinite battery beneath our feet. Like Iceland, we can transform from energy-dependent to energy-abundant by tapping the same force that built these islands. We find then produce the best locations for geothermal!
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Eric Peterson, Stern ’25
Allegra Hosford Scheirer
Sebastian Bayer
im Financial is “a GPS for financial independence,” guiding underserved Latino communities with secure, tech-driven tools—empowering them to build wealth and move away from predatory products toward long-term financial success.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Rodrigo Acuna Cervantes, Stern ’20
Alfredo Cantu
Diego Morones
An original Italian Helathy frozen pizza made out with a superfood for everybody
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Lorenzo Felli, NYU Shanghai ’24
Damiano Messineo, CAS ’23
Alessandro Pignataro, NYU Shanghai ’25
The US out-of-home advertising market grows at 15.2% annually, while ad space expands by less than 3%, creating a market gap. By leveraging the delivery network, we can create mobile billboards that operate not only outdoors but also indoors.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Thomas Hsu, Stern ’23
Winn Hsu, Tandon ’24
Mark Lee, Tandon ’24
Tobi Adeyefa, Tandon ’24
Strava and oura ring/apple watch-like metrics for your digital health (e.g., your personal behavioral data).
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Jenna Sherman, Stern ’25
Margaret Todd
Amaan Mithani, Tandon ’26
A “Swiss Army knife in the sky,” offering a persistent airborne platform for defense, surveillance, and communication – with constant power up and data transfer down – it is a versatile, scalable solution for operational needs.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Taylor Stuart, Stern ’16
William Gammell
Aictopus is like “a 3D printer for software ideas.” Founders input their vision, and our AI rapidly prototypes it into a functional product—no coding required. It’s a tool that empowers creativity and breaks barriers to bring ideas to life.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Annan Yang, Tisch ’24
Ivy Xiao, Steinhardt ’24
Jiayi Bao
Shaoxu Qin, Tandon ’25
Shuyue Shao
Yirong Bian, GSAS ’25
ChatGPT voice for the weight room.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Felipe de Sande Palma, Stern ’25
Ignacio de Sande Palma
Juan Mugica Gonzalez
Athlitix is a Linkedin for sports, using AI analytics to guide athletes on their recruitment journey while helping coaches identify top talent with precision.It simplifies recruitment and player development, providing a clear path to success for both
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Sachin Dasari, Stern ’25
Alexander Seljuk
Girish Kumar Adari
Eden creates living documentation that grows with your company. Many companies have outdated, fragmented docs that lead to confusion and inefficiency. Our self-updating flow-based docs ensure you always have a reliable source of truth.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Alexander Talamonti, Stern ’20
Kayln Kwan, Stern ’25
83.3% of marketing professionals have experienced burnout in their careers. One thing that matters most to them, their time. Living Brands AI provides trustworthy, sophisticated AI tools that make national brand marketers’ lives easier.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Jonny Sabbath, Tisch ’24
Rishov Chatterjee
Subconscious.ai is like Google Maps for marketers, revealing consumer insights instantly. It turns market research from months into moments, providing clarity without guesswork—all at a fraction of the cost. Navigate customer needs with AI precision
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Avi Yashchin, Stern ’07
Madhi Jafari
Pablo Cruz
Sara Vargas
Subodh Dubey
Tatevik Karapetyan
Sustainability tracking and reporting software for universities.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Lena Renshaw, CAS ’25
Christopher Lee
Similar to self-driving cars, is the technological advancement of Toli’s Generative A.I. which will measure humans and clothing with 0 human input, allowing the ability to remotely wear any size garment without the clothing being physically present
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Jeany Zhao, Tisch ’24
Leonard Adams, SPS ’13
Drew O’Connor
For high school and college students who want to express themselves freely and creatively in their group chats, TwoCents is a gamified spatial chatting iOS application that transforms group communication into an interactive and dynamic experience.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Guoliang Liu, Stern ’25
Jonathan Yu, Stern ’25
Joshua Shen, CAS ’25
Lorenzo Jose Ma Tanjutco, Stern ’25
We’re building the Grammarly of building code for analyzing construction designs for compliance before they go to government agencies for review and approval, shaving months off the permit process timeline.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Max Dumas, CAS ’16
Tyce Herrman
Birthvue is a maternal health platform leveraging AI-driven technology, combining provider-led education and in-home contraction monitoring so moms know exactly when to go to the hospital. We’re like the air traffic controller of the maternity ward.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Helene Rutledge, Stern ’97
Roshane Sasson
Ram Goyal, Tandon ’25
Pranav Kangane, Tandon ’25
Vedant Mehta, Tandon ’25
Harshit Shukla, Tandon ’25
Like “genetic stargazing,” where your DNA acts as the night sky, CavaGene is the telescope that brings the unseen into clear focus. As Uber disrupted transportation accessible to all, we democratizes cancer diagnostics into the hands of individuals.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
David Hur, Stern ’26
Zul Rehman, Stern ’26
Cancer detection, like investing shouldn’t rely on risky uncertainty. Early detection saves lives, eliminates unnecessary pain & suffering, and reduces costs for the individual, their families, & society. Invest in our commodity, reliable accuracy.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Ellis Malovany
Robert Puskas
Alan Harris, NYU Langone Health
Steve Bolland
Just like KitchenAid transformed home baking by automating mixing and kneading, we’re automating the time-consuming image analysis in microscopy. This shift makes sophisticated workflows more accessible, leading to better diagnostics in healthcare
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Jonathan Brown
Ready Set Recover is the Noom of surgery, offering patients a physician-vetted, science-backed wellness platform to navigate the physical and mental challenges of surgery. By empowering patients to be proactive, they recover faster, with less stress.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Heather Campbell, Stern ’97
Steve Birnhak, Stern ’95
Imagine a surgical tool that seamlessly integrates personalized regenerative therapies into sports medicine. Vitalis’ Bioblend combines autologous PRP with advanced polymers, delivering optimized tissue regeneration directly at the injury site.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Asser Elashwah, Tandon ’26
Organ-on-a-chip technology for therapy screening
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Weiqiang Chen, Tandon Faculty
Lunan Liu, Tandon ’25
Ayesa Siddeky, Tandon ’26
Cansu Altintas, Tandon ’27
Jaren Buliyat, Tandon ’25
Briana Lopez, Tandon ’26
A GPS plumber for your small intestine—flexible, adaptive, and precise.
NYU Affiliated Member(s):
Shuhao Zhang, Tandon
Vadim Gordin, Tandon
Iskender Sahin, Tandon
Vittoria Flamini, Tandon
Dennis Chi, Tandon
The NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge is made possible by the generous support of the Rennert Family Foundation, Mr. Ira Rennert (MBA ’56), and Mr. Ari Rennert (BS ’01). Teams will compete for the Rennert Family New Venture, Technology Venture, or Healthcare and Biomedical Venture prize. Each prize is awarded as seed funding in the form of a KISS agreement. The total prize amount for each track is $75,000.
