U of A Startup Altaris MedTech Finishes Fourth at Prestigious Rice Business Plan Competition

Altaris MedTech, a U of A student startup developing an innovative pain-free strep test, won fourth place at the prestigious Rice Business Plan Competition, earning U of A's best since 2018.

Altaris earned $5,000 for its fourth-place finish among the top seven finalists. The team earned an additional $1,000 by capturing the elevator pitch competition.

Altaris was one of just 42 teams to qualify for the competition, which describes itself as the "world's largest and richest intercollegiate graduate student startup competition." Hosted by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship at Rice University in Houston, Texas, the competition offers more than $1 million in investment and cash prizes.

The startup was co-founded 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.

Lockwood said the victory at Rice means Altaris "held up against the best student-led ventures in the country."

"A team from the University of Arkansas … proved we belong," Lockwood said. "That matters to us."

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.

Hobbs and Lockwood formed Altaris as part of the 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 Sam M. Walton College of Business.

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.

Phil Shellhammer, OEI's executive director, said both units were proud of Altaris.

"We at (OEI) and the (Walton College) are proud of Lance Lockwood and Joseph Hobbs for their amazing work over these past few days and the months leading up to it," Shellhammer said.

The win at Rice further adds to Altaris' coffers and comes after the company won two major competitions in the fall. 

In October, Altaris won first place and $10,000 at the 2025 SEC Student Pitch Competition, held at Vanderbilt University.

A month later, Altaris won first place and $10,000 at the 2025 Servin' the South Business Model Competition. The event is hosted by the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi.

Lockwood said combining the win at Rice with those past victories "feels like the signal we needed."

"Any one competition could be a fluke. But when you place consistently across RBPC, the SEC Pitch Competition and Ole Miss in front of completely different panels of judges and investors, you start to trust that the market is telling you something real," Lockwood said.

Altaris is preparing for its pre-submission meeting with the U.S. Federal Drug Administration and finalizing the design of its clinical trials. The latter is a feasibility study that will be followed by a pivotal trial with Community Clinic, which is based in Northwest Arkansas. Altaris plans to raise $3.5 million in a seed round to fund that work.

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.