It was a night of excitement and celebration at the WashU Innovation & Entrepreneurship Awards! Members of the WashU and St. Louis entrepreneurial community gathered in Crowder Courtyard to support our student and alumni startups as the Skandalaris Center awarded $250,000 in non-dilutive funding.

II Luscri, Managing Director of the Skandalaris Center and Assistant Vice Provost for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, welcomed guests and kicked off the evening by recognizing the 41 graduating students who have earned Honors in Innovation and Entrepreneurship by showing exemplary involvement through a combination of curricular and co-curricular activities.

Luscri began the awards portion of the evening by applauding the accomplishments of the 16 Skandalaris Venture Competition (SVC) Finalists. This year’s competition saw a particularly strong pool of applicants; 106 teams applied for the competition in January, and 35 advanced on to the semifinals. Our finalist teams have spent countless hours throughout the semester performing customer discovery, refining their pitches, connecting with mentors, all while completing their academic and personal commitments.

Earlier in the day, the SVC finalists delivered their final pitches to a panel of judges, who assessed the teams based on their identified problem and solution, value proposition, financial models, traction, and other key factors. The funding structure for SVC allows us to support as many teams as possible, and we are incredibly proud to award funding to ventures at various stages in their development.

Venture Development Manager Cyril Loum congratulated all 16 finalists on their amazing accomplishments before announcing the Skandalaris Venture Competition winners:

• Innovator Funding (up to $2,000): This fund supports startups that the Skandalaris Center believes are showing promise and potential, providing initial funding to explore their concepts further. Two teams were awarded funding at this level: Aurora and Quture
• Disruptor Funding (up to $5,000): This fund supports startups that are refining their product and enabling them to advance towards market readiness. One team received this funding: SPARC Sports
• Catalyst Funding (up to $10,000): This fund supports the launch of startups poised for growth and provides resources for the critical next steps in their development. Three teams received Catalyst-level funding: CERV, Menalated, and Eagleland

Anticipation continued to build as Luscri turned the crowd’s attention to the Global Impact Award (GIA), which has provided over half a million dollars in non-dilutive investments to WashU startups over the past 10 years. Six GIA finalists have been collaborating with Cyril Loum and mentors from the entrepreneurial community for months to refine and enhance their pitches in preparation for a closed judging session earlier today. The winners of the Global Impact Award were selected based on the mission set forth by the generous donors of the award, Suren G. Dutia (BS ’53, AB ’67, MS ’67) and Jas K. Grewal, which prioritized ventures that are scalable, sustainable, for-profit, and quick to market, with a proof of concept for broad impact.

Two winners were chosen this year, each receiving $37,500 in funding. Allumin8, founded by Alyssa Huffman (MBA ’21) offers a 3D printed, porous pedicle screw with cannulated shaft to utilize stem cells or therapeutics to reduce global revision rates for spinal fusion surgery. Lux & Nyx, founded by Lisa Hu (MBA ’17), empowers women in the workforce with thoughtfully designed, stylish bags that support them at every stage of their careers, equipping them to feel confident, capable, and prepared for any challenge.

Following the GIA awards, Lisa Weingarth, Senior Advisor to the Chancellor & Executive Director for the In St. Louis, For St. Louis Initiative, joined Luscri at the podium to announce the first-ever awardees of the WashU Venture Network Follow-on Investment. The joint effort between Skandalaris and In St. Louis, For St. Louis will award up to $150,000 each year to companies with WashU ties that previously have been awarded funding through Arch Grants. The goal of the program is to support startups with a high probability of remaining in St. Louis after the grant period is complete.

“We often talk about WashU as an anchor institution – an engine of research, innovation and talent,” remarked Weingarth. “But being in St. Louis isn’t enough. We have an opportunity to invest in the people and ideas that make our region stronger, and that’s exactly that this program does.”

Eligible startups were invited to submit investment materials, which were reviewed by the WashU Venture Network Student Analysts and the Skandalaris Center staff to assess their viability, scalability, and potential regional impact. The team held in-person pitches and Q&A sessions with each startup before making funding decisions. This year, $50,000 investments are being made in the following three ventures:

• AirSeal – This medical technology company is developing a novel blood test for peripheral arterial disease, with intellectual property licensing obtained in partnership with WashU.
• uFab – The rapid-turn circuit board startup, focused on domestic manufacturing, is committed to hiring from WashU and Ranken Technical College.
• WingXpand – A modular drone company with applications in defense, emergency services and agriculture, WingXpand also has strong ties to St. Louis’ geospatial and aerospace sectors.

“At the Skandalaris Center, we believe in backing bold ideas and the founders behind them,” said Luscri. “Through the Follow-On Investment program and our partnership with In St. Louis for St. Louis, we’re helping high-potential companies accelerate their growth and deepen their roots in the St. Louis innovation ecosystem.”

We are extremely proud of the work our students and alumni have put into this cycle of the Skandalaris Venture Competition and Global Impact Award and cannot wait to see what is next for all the teams represented today.

“The superpower of this community is that we are greater than the sum of our parts,” said Skandalaris Center Associate Director Adam Wilson. “You can see it in our ability to work with other anchor institutions across St. Louis like Arch Grants; you can see it how The Skandalaris Center draws students from all seven schools here at WashU; finally, you can see it in the way students, faculty, and staff, collaborate with each other to activate WashU’s mission. It’s inspiring to be around that energy.”