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2018 Brown Venture Prize Finalists

Welcome to the first annual Brown Venture Prize, a friendly competition showcasing Brown’s most advanced ventures. The 2018 top 8 finalists were carefully selected by an esteemed group of experienced Brown Alumni entrepreneurs. Learn more about the top 3 winners, the other finalists, and the judges below. You can also watch the pitches from that night.

PENTA – 1st Place Winner ($25,000)

Penta provides low cost, high-quality prosthetic care for low-income amputees in Vietnam
and other developing countries through innovative and sustainable solutions.

Trang Duong

Trang Duong

trang_duong@brown.edu

Victor Wang

Victor Wang

CLOUD AGRONOMICS – 2nd Place Winner ($15,000)

Cloud Agronomics is automating disease identification in orchards and providing farmers precise, actionable data
about the location of the infection and probable spread vector.

Jack Roswell

Jack Roswell

jack_roswell@brown.edu

Julian Vallyeason

Julian Vallyeason

julian_vallyeason@brown.edu

Alex Zhuk

Alex Zhuk

oleksiy_zhuk@brown.edu

TEXTUP – 3rd Place Winner ($10,000)

TextUp is a software tool for social workers that creates cost savings, as well as builds capacity, saves time
and improves professional quality of life.

Michelle Petersen

Michelle Petersen

michelle_petersen@brown.edu

Eric Bai

Eric Bai

eric_bai@brown.edu

Hanna Oh

Hanna Oh

SUBLY

Subly is a subletting marketplace for landlords, tenants, and subletters to find sublets and negotiate terms, simply and legally.

Samanee Mahbub

Samanee Mahbub

samanee_mahbub@brown.edu

Sahil Prasad

Sahil Prasad

sahil_prasad@brown.edu

Connor Lightsey

Connor Lightsey

connor_lightsey@brown.edu

Trushitha Narla

Trushitha Narla

trushitha_narla@brown.edu

Benjamin Perez

Benjamin Perez

benjamin_perez@brown.edu

Andrei Voicu

Andrei Voicu

andrei_radu_voicu_moldoveanu@brown.edu

IVIDERE

iVidere is an intelligent visual prosthesis for people with visual impairment.
We hope iVidere will empower users to increase their independence.

Morgan Talbot

Morgan Talbot

morgan_talbot@brown.edu

Raghu Nimmagadda

Raghu Nimmagadda

kaushik_nimmagadda@brown.edu

Peter Hahn

Peter Hahn

peter_hahn@brown.edu

HELIOTROPE

Heliotrope Energy is using artificial intelligence to optimize and lower the cost of renewable energy production.

Edward C. Williams

Edward C. Williams

edward_c_williams@brown.edu

Stephen Brawner

Stephen Brawner

stephen_brawner@brown.edu

RELIABRA

ReliaBra features backless and strapless “sticky bras” with removable and replaceable adhesives
—bras that women can truly stick with!

Roja Garimella

Roja Garimella

roja_garimella@brown.edu

Rose Mangiarotti

Rose Mangiarotti

rose_mangiarotti@brown.edu

ACTION AUCTIONS

Action Auctions is a web app that uses game theory to make philanthropy fun!

Anand Lalwani

Anand Lalwani

anand_lalwani@brown.edu

Xuefei Yang

Xuefei Yang

xuefei_yang@brown.edu

Aaron Mayer

Aaron Mayer

aaron_mayer@brown.edu

Oscar Newman

Oscar Newman

oscar_newman@brown.edu

2018 JUDGES

A huge thank-you to our judges for their time, energy, and support of the 2018 Brown Venture Prize!

Luke Sherwin '12

Luke Sherwin '12

Co-Founder of Casper

Neil Parikh '11

Neil Parikh '11

Co-Founder of Casper

Jessica Kim '00

Jessica Kim '00

Venture Partner at Praxis / Founder

Steph Korey '09

Steph Korey '09

Co-Founder of Away

Heidi Messer '92

Heidi Messer '92

Co-Founder of Collective-I

Scott Norton '08

Scott Norton '08

Co-Founder of Sir Kensington’s

Brad Weinberg '03, MD '11

Brad Weinberg '03, MD '11

Co-Founder of Blueprint Health