VentureCat 2026: The Results!

Northwestern’s Annual Student Startup Competition returns to campus for its 12th year. The VentureCat 2026 Public Showcase was held on Wednesday, May 27, and featured the best and brightest Northwestern student-founded ventures competing across five industry tracks for a non-dilutive prize pool of more than $175,000! Congratulations to Trevor Abbott, Founder and CEO, and Quinn McGinley, Head of Product Engineering at HaptE, for winning the Finals Grand Prize - ultimately taking home $100,000 at the Public Showcase. HaptE is a computer vision system that reduces execution errors and optimizes the warehouse floor in real time. 

"This means a lot. HaptE has been around The Garage for three years now. We've gone through a lot of iterations, and it took us a while to get here, but every single year we came to VentureCat thinking, 'Next year, we're gonna do it,' and we finally did. It feels really good." — Trevor Abbott, Founder and CEO, HaptE 

Joining HaptE on the winners' podium was Eva Poliakova, Co-Founder and CEO at HydroFlo, who took home Second Place, bringing their total winnings to $50,000. HydroFlo is a smart catheter technology to monitor shunt flow and detect shunt failure in hydrocephalus, a chronic neurological condition. 

Daniel Medina, Founder and CEO at Restless, ultimately took home Third Place and $25,000 as well as the Audience Favorite Award of $5,000. Restless is a better-for-you energy drink to attack the day without crashing. 

This year, we welcomed VentureCat alumni back to the VentureCat stage as the event emcees! Angie Mercurio McC '26, Co-Founder & CEO of nLab and VentureCat 2025 Third-Place Winner, and Noah Edelman '25, Co-Founder and former CEO of The Neuron (acquired) and VentureCat 2023 Finalist and Audience Favorite, hosted the evening. While we were busy watching the pitches live, we were also thrilled to welcome a virtual audience to join us via livestream. You can watch the entire VentureCat 2026 Public Showcase Livestream recording below. 

venturecat.nu/livestream

In the weeks leading up to the event, each of the 25 Semifinalists participated in a four‐week Pitch Prep Program, including one‐on‐one pitch coaching and industry expert consultations.

"What's clear about this year's VentureCat cohort is that they're building with real intention," said Mike Raab, Executive Director of The Garage, Northwestern's student startup incubator. "They've embraced AI as a fundamental part of how they work. Not as a shortcut, but as a tool for solving bigger problems faster. The result is a group of founders generating more revenue at this stage than we've ever seen. The bar has been raised this year."

This year, VentureCat distributed more than $175,000 in non-dilutive funding to competing student ventures thanks to generous contributions from our sponsors. We’d like to thank Microsoft for Startups - Founders Hub and Cooley for joining us as general sponsors, and Exelon for returning as a sponsor of our Energy & Sustainability Track.

Semifinals were held in a closed-door format at The Garage on the morning of May 27. Selected experts in corresponding fields judged each track. The first-place winner in each of the five tracks advanced to the finals, in addition to one Wildcard winner chosen from the second-place track winners. Now, to the track results!

First and Second Place Winners from the Track Semifinals

‍Business Products and Services Track
First Place: HaptE is a computer vision system that reduces execution errors and optimizes the warehouse floor in real time. Undergraduate Team: Trevor Abbott, McCormick ’26, Kellogg Certificate; Quinn McGinley, McCormick ’28
Second Place: CityVerse AI turns site photos into structured data, transforming operational data into project intelligence. Graduate Team: Neal Agarwal, SPS ’27

Consumer Products and Services Track
First Place: DoseUp is an app that helps people on GLP-1 stay on track by tracking their shots and progress so they see real results. Undergraduate Team:  Aryan Kalluvila, Weinberg ’27
Second Place: Restless is a better-for-you energy drink to attack the day without crashing. Graduate Team: Daniel Medina, Kellogg ’27

Energy & Sustainability Track
First Place: EdgeLine automates construction design review by bridging otherwise incompatible data formats to detect conflicts between various project documents and engineering design files before construction begins. Graduate Team: Sean Gibbons, Kellogg ’28
Second Place: Aura Life Science  - Just as the lightbulb allowed factories to work the night shift, we’ve bioengineered photosynthetic microbes to work around the clock, converting light and CO2 into high-value research enzymes. Graduate Team: Jacob Bhoi, Feinberg + Weinberg ’26

Life Sciences & Medical Innovation Track
First Place: HydroFlo is a smart catheter technology to monitor shunt flow and detect shunt failure in hydrocephalus, a chronic neurological condition. Undergraduate Team: Eva Poliakova, Weinberg ’27;  Rishi Garg McCormick ’27; Viet Tong, McCormick ’27
Second Place: LumaLift is a consumer wearable bodysuit aimed to help alleviate lumbopelvic pain in pregnant women by lifting and compressing the belly. We are a startup by women, for women, because we believe discomfort should not define pregnancy. Graduate Team: Lucy Burton, Kellogg ’26; Tiffany Sorto, McCormick ’26; Fiona McKay, Kellogg ’27; London Wheeler, Kellogg ’27

Social Impact Track
First Place: Symbia grows carbon-neutral leather out of recycled Kombucha and Bacterial culture. Undergraduate Team: Rayden Yap, McCormick ’29; Travis Kim, Weinberg ’29; Marco Hartono, McCormick ’29; Nicolas Angel-Ordonez, McCormick + Weinberg ’29; Nolan Jones, Kellogg ’27
Second Place: Xpnse AI is the financial coordination layer for the millions of organizations running on volunteer treasurers and spreadsheets. Graduate Team: Shannen Lawson, Kellogg ’27; Eden Growney, McCormick ’26

The first-place winners in each track - plus Restless, the Wildcard Winner - moved on to pitch in a closed session with our impressive panel of finalist judges, who kindly donated their time and expertise to today’s events. This year, we welcomed Sach Chitnis, Co-Founder and Partner at Jump Capital; Dr. Garry Cooper, Co-Founder and CEO at Rheaply; Stephanie Farsht, CEO and Co-Founder at Small Wonder; Patrick Flavin, President at Portal Innovations; and Lotika Pai, Chief Small Business Officer & Managing Deputy Commissioner at the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.

Congratulations to ALL of the VentureCat participants – finalists, semifinalists, and winners. We can’t wait to see what you do next! __________________________________________________________________________

VentureCat 2026 was made possible thanks to the 75+ volunteer pitch coaches, track advisors, and judges. You can learn more about all of the participating teams, track advisors, and judges in our online program here.

‍If you would like to contribute to this important program, your gift will support VentureCat resources and awards for future participants. Join us in supporting tomorrow's leaders driving forward groundbreaking solutions, and fostering a culture of innovation at Northwestern.