The Landuyt Center for Entrepreneurship at The Grainger College of Engineering wrapped its Spring 2026 semester of TE 598 | Accelerating Deep Tech Enterprises with a competitive pitch event, where eight student ventures pitched for $50,000 in funding.
The Spring 2026 cohort brought together startup teams developing breakthrough technologies across healthcare, advanced manufacturing, environmental technology and food safety.
The top three winning teams were:
1st Place | $25,000 | Rapid Analytix Division (RAD): Led by civil engineering graduate student Bayezid Baten, RAD is developing what it calls the "glucose meter for construction materials" — a five-minute, on-site testing solution for cementitious materials that is 8,000× faster than current methods. The technology reduces production downtime, prevents mix over-design and enables real-time, AI-ready quality control for the next generation of sustainable construction.
2nd Place | $15,000 | Second Chance Innovations: Led by undergraduate psychology student Xavier Chick, the startup is developing adaptive rehabilitation solutions for stroke survivors experiencing upper-limb weakness. The team is building a wearable assistive device that supports intensive rehabilitation, helping patients increase therapy repetitions and improve movement quality — while reducing the long-term cost burden on patients and providers.
3rd Place | $5,000 | ToolBit: Led by mechanical engineering graduate student Shivam Garg, ToolBit is an open software platform that gives manufacturers the flexibility to add AI and intelligent capabilities to their existing CNC machines — without replacing hardware or locking into proprietary systems.
The remaining five finalists — C Safe, Cascade Dynamics, Cor, Lanward and MenoPatch — each received a $1,000 runner-up funding.
- C Safe is developing light-based sanitizers for liquid foods and minimally processed beverages that eliminates final-stage contamination in beverage filling, preventing microbial recalls, using a UV-enabled nozzle.
- Cascade Dynamics is developing a dusty-plasma-based ion source technology that turns solid fuels into controllable ion beams for advanced electric propulsion and aneutronic fusion applications.
- Cor is a free digital Medicaid enrollment platform that simplifies a 23-page manual Medicaid renewal process into a few clicks, using high-trust user base to generate and sell high-intent, Pell-eligible student leads to vocational schools.
- Lanward is a power cost intelligence platform for NeoCloud and mid-sized data center developers that replaces a 6-month, $150,000 consultant process with a real-time site screening tool for $74,000 per year.
- MenoPatch is a transdermal patch that personalizes hormone therapy for menopausal women through customizable dosing.
Throughout the semester, all teams had access to mentorship from entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, industry experts and academics, with a structured curriculum focused on turning deep tech research into viable businesses.
Applications for the Spring 2027 cohort will open in fall 2026. Learn more.