Hen Hatch winners earn startup cash and prizes totaling $100,000 at UD

Participants in the 2016 University of Delaware Hen Hatch competition won startup cash and prizes totalling $100,000 last month.

The competition drew 70 submissions – 40 in the student track and 30 in the alumni, faculty and staff track.

Sponsored by the Horn Program in Entrepreneurship, the competition’s final event featured seven-minute pitches before a live audience.

Winners included:

Student Track

$16,800: JADE Biotech

This team of students from the College of Engineering created a medical diagnostic device named Chroma, which disposes of liquid narcotics in hospitals. The students are Elizabeth Soulas, Daniel Charytonowicz, John Lowman and Allison Lisberg, all from the College of Engineering.

$13,200: Curing Cube

Farhad Baqi from the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, and Seyar Baqi and Edward Bayley from the College of Arts and Sciences created a dental equipment venture that features an LED light for dentists that cures from all angles quickly, efficiently and without added heat.

Daniel Horsky shows his custom Disney dolls, Barbie dolls that are professionally and intricately designed to capture each detail as portrayed in the Classic Disney films.

Adam Breese and Dordon Lippincott, graduates of UD, pitched a product called Audonate, a platform that makes it easier for users to donate money to their favorite charities and nonprofits.

$7,000: Joost Wafel Co.

Joost Elling of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources formed a food manufacturing and sales business specializing in award-winning Stroopwafels, a Dutch cookie made from caramel sandwiched between two thin, crisp waffle layers. Joost Wafel Co. was also the winner of the Audience Choice award.

Alumni, Faculty, Staff Track

$21,500: Strataca Systems LLC 

John Erbey, founder and CEO of Strataca, is a University of Delaware 1993 alumnus from the College of Health Sciences. He created JuxtaFlow, a treatment for acute kidney injury.

$9,000: NERDit NOW

University of Delaware alumnus Jonathan Hoxter, a 2012 graduate of Lerner College of Business and Economics, had his wheels turning with a mobile repair shop for cell phones, tablets and laptops.

$5,500: FlipIt

Chris Lin, a 2015 graduate of the College of Engineering, pitched a wallet he designed. It is thin, but can hold many cards.

Joost Elling’s idea featured the Stroopwafels, a Dutch cookie made from waffle layers and caramel. Elling won $7,000.

Strataca Systems was the big winner for the faculty, alumni and staff track. Founder John Erbey, pictured with Ben duPont, is a 1993 graduate of UD.

Jonathan Hoxter, a 2012 graduate of Lerner College of Business and Economics, won $9,000 for his concept, NERDit NOW.

FlipIt, a thin wallet that holds many cards, was pitched by alumnus Chris Lin. The concept won Lin $5,000 in the competition.