U of A Student Startup Teams Nearly Sweep Division at International Competition

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U of A student startup teams captured nearly one-third of the $60,000 prize pool at the 2023 Stu Clark New Venture Championships in Manitoba, Canada.

WINNIPEG, Canada – University of Arkansas student entrepreneurship teams nearly swept the graduate division of the 2023 Stu Clark New Venture Championships, winning three of four spots and taking home more than $19,000 in cash to put toward their ventures.  

Pediatrica Therapeutics, which is addressing a growing problem of infants born physically dependent on opioids, finished second in the graduate business plan competition, securing $10,000.   

UNCL Co., the creators of an app-enabled security device that easily attaches to existing bike racks, placed third, winning $5,000. Vitruvian Matrix, which is developing a novel surface coating that helps produce therapeutic cells, placed fourth, winning $2,500. 

Pediatrica and UNCL finished second and third in the graduate elevator pitch competition, taking home $1,000 and $750, respectively.  

The Stu Clark New Venture Championships are hosted by the University of Manitoba and allow competitors to receive feedback from more than 50 of Winnipeg's industry experts and judges, according to its website. The three-day competition was held March 9-11 and offered a cash prize pool of $60,000. 

Megan Reed, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and team lead for Pediatrica, said she was stunned at the company's positive reception at the competition. 

"After we were accepted to compete in Stu Clark, we discovered the magnitude of this problem in Canada is 10 times what we are dealing with in the U.S.," Reed said.  

"As such, the judges and other Canadian competitors we spoke with all agreed that the problem we are addressing is an urgent and crucial one."  

Pediatrica is developing a drug that may alleviate opioid withdrawals in babies. The company is addressing both sides of this issue by providing a treatment to the mother which will eliminate the worry of the health of her baby and provide stability in both of their lives going forward, according to team member Julia Tobacyk, a postdoctoral research fellow at UAMS. 

"In the media, we mostly hear ... about the sheer amount of opioid-related overdose deaths," Tobacyk said. "Less often, we hear about babies being born physically withdrawing from opioids." 

Pediatrica Therapeutics emerged from the Health Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HSIE) Training Program at UAMS, which aims to help the next generation of health scientists transform their discoveries into benefits for healthcare. The program is a partnership between UAMS' Translational Research Institute and U of A's Sam M. Walton College of Business. 

The teams are part of the graduate New Venture Development program led by U of A faculty Sarah Goforth. David Hinton serves as co-instructor for the sequences of courses, which constitute the entrepreneurship track of the MBA program and the Graduate Certificate of Entrepreneurship for non-business students.  

Goforth is the executive director at the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Hinton is associate director of Technology Ventures.  

Winning Teams 

• Pediatrica Therapeutics — Second place: $10,000  

  • Megan Reed, Ph.D., UAMS HSIE Postdoctoral Fellow; Veronica Garcia, Master of Business Administration, Walton College; Julia Tobacyk, Ph.D., UAMS HSIE Postdoctoral Fellow; Hayot Tuychiev, instructor and Ph.D. candidate, School of Journalism  

    • Pediatrica Therapeutics is addressing a growing problem of infants born physically dependent on opioids due to maternal opioid use disorder. The company is harnessing a novel drug based on a proprietary technology that has shown promise to protect fetal development against prenatal opioid exposure.   

• UNCL Co. — Third place: $5,000  

  • Michael Burton, Master of Business Administration, Walton College; Payton Lenz, Master of Business Administration, Walton College; Chris Roderick, Master of Business Administration, Walton College; Clayton Woodruff, Master of Business Administration, Walton College     

    • UNCL Co., short for Universal Network Controlled Lock, is an app-enabled security device that easily attaches to existing bike racks, allowing riders to secure and monitor their device without the need to carry a personal lock. UNCL Co. emerged from the New Venture Development course in the Sam M. Walton College of Business and was co-founded by Master of Business Administration students.   

• Vitruvian Matrix — Fourth place: $2,500

  • ​Mahsa Haseli, Ph.D. and Graduate Entrepreneurial Fellow, Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering; M. Hossein Kashefizadeh, Ph.D. and Graduate Entrepreneurial Fellow, College of Engineering; Britt Lybarger, Master of Business Administration, Walton College; Karmon Johnson, Master of Business Administration, Walton College  

    • Vitruvian Matrix is commercializing a technology developed by Haseli and her Ph.D. adviser, Dr. Jorge Almodovar. The company's first product, Eden, has married both cell quantity and quality while operating within FDA guidelines, making it a novel product that meets all the "must haves" of cell manufactures, allowing for more cells, more therapies and more life-saving breakthroughs.   

About the U of A Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation creates and curates innovation and entrepreneurship experiences for students across all disciplines. Through the Brewer Family Entrepreneurship Hub, McMillon Innovation Studio, Startup Village, and Greenhouse at the Bentonville Collaborative, OEI provides free workshops and programs — including social and corporate innovation design teams, venture internships, competitions and startup coaching. A unit of the Sam M. Walton College of Business and Division of Economic Development, OEI also offers on-demand support for students who will be innovators within existing organizations and entrepreneurs who start something new.