Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship

2026 Brown Venture Prize Finalists and Judges

The ninth annual Brown Venture Prize is an exciting competition spotlighting the most innovative ventures from Brown University. A distinguished panel of judges, composed of seasoned Brown alumni entrepreneurs, investors, and mentors, meticulously chose the top eight finalists for 2026.

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2026 Brown Venture Prize Finalists and Judges

The ninth annual Brown Venture Prize is an exciting competition spotlighting the most innovative ventures from Brown University. A distinguished panel of judges, composed of seasoned Brown alumni entrepreneurs, investors, and mentors, meticulously chose the top eight finalists for 2026.

Grab Your BVP Tickets

Tickets for the 2026 Brown Venture Prize go live March 2! All attendees must have a ticket this year and tickets will be checked at entry, so be sure to reserve yours early.

Get Tickets on March 2

Top 8 Finalists

Che Innovations

Che Innovations is building NeoNest: the first low-cost transport infant warmer made from a water jug. Our device prevents neonatal hypothermia during ambulance transport between rural Ugandan villages to national referral hospitals. NeoNest is 60x cheaper than U.S. standards, maintains temperature for >8 hours, and is manufactured in Uganda, making it ideal for Ugandan hospital procurement officers with scarce thermal care options and limited equipment budgets.

Dawn Industries

We're building VIM (Virtual Intelligence Mentor), an AR glasses-based frontline manufacturing OS that continuously records and analyzes human work, then delivers actionable guidance in real-time.

EndoSwim Solutions

We develop untethered wireless hardware platforms for smart ingestible and implantable devices operating in viscous environments.

HelpingHand Rx

HelpingHand RX is putting the power of a Patient Finance Advocate and Patient Navigator in every American's pocket, solving the gap between the abundance of savings resources and the 96M people who struggle annually to afford their prescriptions; to give every patient a HelpingHand.

Liiv

Liiv turns documents into automated workflows. Our current focus is on the public sector, working with government agencies to convert regulatory forms, compliance filings, and internal paperwork into structured digital systems. This reduces administrative burden, improves accuracy, and ensures real-time compliance across public operations.

Nematex

Nematex is the first biological solution to sterilise Root Knot Nematodes in a safe and hyper targeted manner at scale.

Subsix Nutrition

Subsix Nutrition is a sports performance company creating endurance supplements made exclusively with real-ingredient carbohydrates and premium electrolytes. We bridge the gap between whole foods and traditional sports nutrition, delivering clean, effective fueling without the highly processed additives common in the industry.

UAPPLY

UAPPLY is Africa's first centralized university application platform, built to simplify admissions for students and help universities streamline recruitment, review, and enrollment.

Our Judges

  • Kevin Bennett headshot

    Kevin Bennett '03

    Co-Founder and CEO at Further
    LinkedIn
     

    Kevin is the co-founder and CEO of Further, an AI insights platform for aspiring homebuyers, real estate agents and lenders. Kevin was previously the founding CEO of Caribou, an auto fintech that grew from pre-seed to unicorn in five years, refinancing over $2B in auto loans and saving consumers more than $130M. A three-time founding CEO, Kevin’s 20+ year career spans the public and private sectors. Kevin graduated from Brown in 2003. Kevin lives in Washington, DC with his wife (Kristen), daughter (Busy), and rescue boxer-pit (Judy Garland). 

  • Leah Fried Sedwick headshot

    Leah Fried Sedwick '90

    Entrepreneur
    LinkedIn

    Leah Fried Sedwick is an entrepreneur based in Northern Virginia who founded Olde Towne Pet Resort in 2001 and recently sold the full service pet resort company to private equity. She also works with Fried Companies, her family’s commercial real estate development firm serving Northern and Central Virginia for more than 50 years. A Brown University graduate with a master’s from Columbia University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Leah serves on several boards and volunteers as a literacy tutor.

  • Karla Gallardo headshot

    Karla Gallardo '05

    Co-Founder and CEO at Cuyana
    LinkedIn

    Karla Gallardo is an entrepreneur, operator, and brand builder with deep experience at the intersection of design, commerce, and leadership. She holds degrees from Brown University and Stanford University and began her career at Goldman Sachs and Apple, where she built a strong foundation in strategy, finance, and product-led thinking.

    Karla is best known as the co-founder and longtime CEO of Cuyana, the premium women’s brand she grew over 14 years into a globally recognized company known for its “fewer, better” philosophy, disciplined growth, and values-driven leadership. Under her guidance, Cuyana became a category-defining brand in modern luxury. Today, Karla is developing her next venture. 

  • Jesse Haines headshot

    Jesse Haines '97

    Partner at SHAKTI VC
    LinkedIn
    Jesse Haines is a Partner at Shakti, an early-stage VC fund, where she leverages her deep marketing and strategic expertise to advise and invest in tech companies at inception. During her 17-year tenure at Google, she notably founded and led Grow with Google, a $1 billion initiative that has provided digital skills to over 10 million Americans. With a background spanning leadership roles at Tommy Hilfiger and Bain & Company, Jesse is seasoned expert in scaling global brands and building innovative tech businesses. She holds an MBA from Kellogg and a BA from Brown University, where she co-founded the Artemis computer science program. A resident of New York City, she also serves on the Board of Directors of The Moth.
  • Richard Katzman '78, P’14

    Richard Katzman '78, P’14

    Investor
    LinkedIn

    Richard Katzman is a private investor in early stage companies, advising and investing in over two dozen startups. He is also a board member of The Noodle Companies, a group of ventures seeking to increase transparency and efficiency in education. Richard was President, Chairman, and CEO of Kaz, Incorporated, a multinational consumer appliance company, from 1984 until its sale in 2011. Under his leadership, Kaz grew from $5 M to $500 Million in annual sales of humidifiers, digital thermometers, air cleaners, and other products under the Vicks, Honeywell, and Braun brands. He also co-founded Terra Firma Software, a provider of enterprise solutions and an early developer of Macintosh applications.

  • Jay Kim headshot

    Jay Kim ‘16, MSc ’17

    Pre-seed/Seed Investor at Black Jays Ventures
    LinkedIn
    Jay Kim is an investor at Black Jays VC, an early-stage venture backing founders finding novel ways to combine new technologies to craft solutions that help consumers live more fruitful and healthier lives. The fund invests $500K-$1M in pre-seed/seed stage companies and was an early investor in Coterie ($1B exit). He started his career on the buy-side before joining a hyperscale consumer startup Dig Inn, where he spent half a decade as an operator supporting various technology and growth initiatives. In parallel, he’s an active angel investor and has backed over a dozen founders. Jay holds a BA in Economics from Brown University.
  • Jack roswell headshot

    Jack Roswell '20

    Co-Founder and CEO at Perennial
    LinkedIn
    Jack Roswell is CEO and co-founder of Perennial, a full-service MMRV company delivering registry-aligned, outcome-based measurements for any crop and any land use, anywhere on Earth. Previously, he worked with researchers at the University of Virginia and the Peruvian Ministry of Culture on sub-soil imaging at UNESCO sites. A former Brown University researcher, Jack has expertise in remote sensing and regenerative agriculture. He was featured in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for social impact, and Perennial was among Time’s Top 200 Inventions of 2022.
The Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship would like to thank Richard Katzman '78, P'14, and Jane Dray Katzman '81, P'14, for sponsoring the 2026 Brown Venture Prize.