Sixteen ventures founded by WashU students and recent alumni have been selected as finalists in the fall 2025 Skandalaris Venture Competition (SVC). This semester saw a record-breaking 131 entries into the competition, with 32 teams moving on to the semifinal round. On October 22, the semifinalists pitched to a closed-door panel of expert judges, whose scores determined which teams advanced to the finals. On November 19, the 16 finalists will compete for funding from a $25,000 prize pool and the chance to lift the SVC cup!
“SVC is representative of what WashU does so well: activating student passion from a variety of disciplines,” said Associate Director Adam Wilson. “What differentiates WashU is that our entrepreneurs hail from every discipline, every school, every walk of life; our diversity of thought is our superpower.”
The fall 2025 Skandalaris Venture Competition finalists are:
Assertion AI – A generative AI engine designed for teams that need to deliver predictive models. It automates the full model development workflow through reasoning, cutting delivery time from 3-6 months to under an hour. Yao Xie (PhD ‘14, MBA ‘26), Yifan Zhao (MS ‘26), Mei Zhu (PhD ‘14)
Aurora – A tool that helps healthcare trainees develop and work through clinical reasoning and management of patients. Nicholas Speller (MD ‘27), Michael Qiu (MD ‘27), Mackenzie Simper (MD ‘27), Justin Chang (MD ‘27)
BABA (Be a Better Athlete) – AI-Powered data science app for Martial Arts athletes. Ohad Dan (MBA ‘26)
CaseGen – An AI-powered learning platform that simulates realistic patient encounters, helping medical students and trainees practice clinical reasoning, diagnosis, and decision-making in a safe, feedback-driven environment. Aditya Sehgal (EN ‘25), Anurag Challagundula (LA ‘27), Karan Joseph (MD ‘27), Akshay Mehta (MD ‘26)
Chronicle – A mobile platform aiming to centralize medical care, create a community network, and improve access to medical information for chronic pain patients who have traditionally been less supported by the current medical system. Pallavi Jonnalagadda (MD ‘27), Heath Rutledge-Jukes (MD ‘26), Juliana Rausch (LA ‘27)
Epi-Pal – Epi-Pal is a smart EPI-PEN case that alerts emergency services when an EPI-PEN is used during an anaphylaxis reaction. Lilly Ortiz (LA ‘27), Sonja Nguyen (BU ‘27), Lily Zarr (LA ‘27), William Li (LA ‘27)
Ignite Performance – Performance coaching and mental training tools for athletes through one-to-one coaching and an online platform. Reagan Swatosh (MBA ‘26), Abbey Mink (MBA ‘26), Gwynnie Lee (MBA ‘26), David Jackstadt (MBA ‘26), Cora Bassett (MBA ‘26), Spencer Payne (MBA ‘26)
Kayno Labs – Creates AI tools that turn messy, unstructured data into clear, fair, and useful insights. Jeffrey Clorissaint (MBA ‘26), Fortuna Kadima (EN ‘26)
Locus Suit – Enhances spatial awareness through a wearable vest and vision module, enabling safer, more confident, and independent navigation for the visually impaired and blind. Gaurish Agrawal (EN ‘28), Sonia Palamand (EN ‘27), Jacqueline Chuang (EN ‘27)
NeuroFore – Uses machine learning to detect Parkinson’s disease in its earliest, non-motor stage. Hamasa Ebadi (PhD ‘28), Joe Hess (BU/EN ‘27) , Evan Tan (GB ‘25)
PlasmaSort – A smart blood product management system utilizing mixed integer programming (MIP) and a streamlined design to optimize storage, inventory stewardship, and blood product selection within a blood bank. Emily Zeiberg (MS ‘25), Katie Stubbs (BU ‘25, ‘MS 25)
Plotify – Helps students visualize multivariable calculus concepts to deepen their understanding and build stronger mathematical intuition. John Li (LA ‘26), Mike Tan (LA ‘26), Sam Quentzel (BU, EN ’29)
Pretus – An AI-powered platform that helps students prepare for investment banking interviews with a question bank, mock interviews, and instant feedback. Cosmo Guion (BU ‘27), Lucas Vogel (EN ‘27)
Realize to Act – Web application to connect schools with the resources their students need, building on 8 years of nonprofit efforts providing backpacks, school supplies, and programs to engage students in education leadership. Tanya Keskar (LA ‘27), Kash Tanguturi (BU ’28)
ReLeaf Candles – Candles that have a second life. Joselyn Garcia (BU ‘29)
UteroStim – A low-cost women’s health device to treat postpartum hemorrhage. Adara Ezekwe (SI ‘25), Meryl McKenna (EN ‘25)
Following the closed judging, teams gathered in Crowder Courtyard for an open networking session where they had the opportunity to connect with judges, fellow startups, and the community. Attendees voted for their favorite venture to win one of two $500 People’s Choice Awards.
The SVC People’s Choice winners are: InjectaGel and Qaanoon.ai
“What an exciting night! Today, we witnessed an example of why WashU is a leading school for entrepreneurship,” remarked Venture Development Manager Cyril Loum. “Each of the 32 pitches today demonstrated what it means to be an action-oriented problem solver. This cycle of the competition also featured many new, innovative ideas, and we look forward to watching each of them grow in the future.”
The fall 2025 Skandalaris Venture Competition winners will be announced at the WashU Innovation & Entrepreneurship Awards on Wednesday, November 19. We hope you will join us for this exciting evening celebrating the WashU innovation community!
If you couldn’t attend the SVC Semifinals reception but would like to learn more about this semester’s semifinalist teams, check out our virtual event program.