U of A Startup Altaris Wins Business Model Competition at Ole Miss

Altaris MedTech, a University of Arkansas student startup developing an innovative pain-free strep test, won first place and $10,000 at the 2025 Servin' the South Business Model Competition. 

Altaris is working on 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.  

Servin' the South is a national competition hosted by the University of Mississippi's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The event, which invited 60 higher-education institutions from across the mid-south to compete, allows for student teams to present their business model in front of a panel of diverse judges. Altaris competed against 45 teams to take the top prize. 

The pitch for Altaris was made by was made by Joey 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.  

The victory at Ole Miss came exactly two weeks after Altaris won first place — and $10,000 — at the SEC Student Pitch Competition at Vanderbilt University. 

The team's goal is to make strep testing faster, more accurate and more comfortable for patients of all ages. Lockwood said that message resonates when he and Hobbs make their pitch. 

"Everywhere we go, when people hear what we're working on, they tell us on a personal level how strep has affected their life," Lockwood said.  

"We're able to weave a vision of a future that people want to be a part of. To that end, I think people are looking for something tangible that makes the world better." 

The company plans to use some of their winnings for validation studies and move closer to clinical trials, which would focus on optimizing the final product. 

Altaris formed a few 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.

Altaris' success is emblematic of the journey of an idea through U of A's entrepreneurial programming, said Phil Shellhammer, executive director at OEI.

"This is how it's supposed to work," Shellhammer said.

"Joey started with a great idea in one of our OEI programs, kept pushing it through grad school and then brought it into New Venture Development to turn it into a business. Seeing a scientist team up with others to launch a company with this kind of potential is exactly why these programs exist." 

About the Sam M. Walton College of Business: Founded in 1926, the Sam M. Walton College of Business stands as one of the largest colleges at the University of Arkansas, serving over 10,300 students across undergraduate, master's and doctoral programs. The college holds AACSB accreditation and consistently ranks among the top business schools in the United States. Walton College ranks 25th for its undergraduate business program among public colleges in the U.S. News & World Report's 2025 national rankings. Its undergraduate supply chain management program is recognized as the top program in North America by Gartner. In 2024, The Princeton Review included Walton's M.B.A. program in its Best Business Schools list for On-Campus M.B.A. Programs.

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.