U of A Student Startup Wins SEC Pitch Competition

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Joe Hobbs and Lance Lockwood

Altaris MedTech, a University of Arkansas student startup developing an innovative pain-free strep test, won first place and $10,000 at the 2025 SEC Student Pitch Competition, held at Vanderbilt University.

The startup was co-founded by Joe Hobbs, a master's student in biomedical engineering with a healthcare entrepreneurship concentration, and Lance Lockwood, an M.B.A. candidate in the Sam M. Walton College of Business.

Altaris is developing a spray-based strep test that eliminates the need for traditional throat swabs. The spray is applied to the back of the throat and glows after a few minutes, providing a clear visual indicator under light to show whether strep bacteria are present. The team's goal is to make testing faster, more accurate and more comfortable for patients of all ages.

The SEC Student Pitch Competition, which began in 2015, allows SEC undergraduate and graduate students to showcase their ideas for groundbreaking products and services to a panel of judges who work primarily in the business sector.

"They were able to connect with the judges and audience and field questions with poise," said David Hinton, associate vice chancellor for research and innovation, who attended the competition. "I think they are going to be a team to contend with on the competition circuit this year."

Altaris plans to use the winnings to support validation studies and move closer to clinical trials focused on optimizing the final product.

Program Support

Hobbs and Lockwood formed the company two months ago as part of New Venture Development sequence of courses. The two-semester sequence is available to graduate students seeking certification in entrepreneurship. The courses are led by the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which is a division of the Walton College. New Venture Development helps students develop the knowledge and skills to bring new innovations to society. Some teams launch their businesses directly from the class, while others apply the tools learned to work for startups, take greater roles in established companies or found nonprofits.

Hobbs said New Venture Development "created the environment" for Altaris to form and provided vital networking opportunities. He also praised the McMillon Innovation Studio, the university's campus innovation hub overseen by OEI, which assisted Altaris in honing their pitch.

"McMillon was also a great asset to use for the pitch, because we did their 60-second pitch," Hobbs said. "That got us familiar with the idea of pitching, as well as their pitch practice session to learn how to effectively speak."

Phil Shellhammer, executive director of OEI, said competitions of this nature are vital to students' learning.

"Competitions aren't just about winning; they are invaluable for accelerating a student's learning," Shellhammer said. "The process forces clarity and iteration, and the potential seed funding provides the critical launchpad that their ideas need to move from concept to reality.”

Personal Connection to the Problem

Hobbs first learned about the problems around reliable strep tests as an undergraduate student during an internship that sought to identify and solve problems faced by healthcare workers.

"We created an initial idea for this, but it was really when I graduated and was accepted into the master's program of biomedical engineering with a healthcare entrepreneurship concentration that this idea took shape," Hobbs said. "I completed a regional I-Corps for this idea the summer before graduate school and found a vast need for this solution far greater than what I thought."

Lockwood said he was inspired to join the project because his son suffered frequently from strep throat when he was younger, resulting in frequent visits to doctors' offices or urgent care.

"Kids already don't feel well when they have strep, and when it's a struggle to get swabbed, it really makes a bad situation worse," Lockwood said. "When Joey mentioned that he was working on this in class, there was no way I couldn't be a part of it because it has the potential to benefit so many people around the world."

About the U of A Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, a division of the Sam M. Walton College of Business, 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, the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation provides free workshops and programs — including social and corporate innovation design teams, venture internships, competitions and startup coaching. OEI also offers on-demand support for students who will be innovators within existing organizations and entrepreneurs who start something new.