The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has announced the winners of the second annual Grainger Engineering Tech Startup Challenge. Graphonos Materials of the University of Pittsburgh took the $100,000 grand prize for producing battery-grade graphite from natural gas with reduction in production cost and emissions. 

Seven finalist teams from five universities in the U.S. and Canada competed for a share of $200,000 in funding and prizes on Tuesday, Oct. 20. The finals were part of the Chicago Venture Summit: Future of Health 2026, a flagship gathering for the city’s startup and investor community organized by World Business Chicago. The finalists’ technologies spanned sustainable materials, space systems, robotics, surgical imaging, construction materials and AI.

The challenge was hosted by Grainger Engineering’s Landuyt Center for Entrepreneurship, which has expanded to Chicago with a permanent presence at the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), the anchor of the Urbana-to-Chicago innovation corridor.

“The annual Grainger Engineering Tech Startup Challenge is one way our college is continuing to bring the best from around the country to the state of Illinois, and we're proud to bring this event to the Chicago Venture Summit in partnership with World Business Chicago,” said Rashid Bashir, dean of Grainger Engineering and vice chancellor of Chicago Strategic Partnerships. “For some of these founders, one conversation with the right investor or industry leader could change the trajectory of their company.”

Grand Prize Winner: Graphonos Materials, University of Pittsburgh

Graphonos Materials won the grand prize for a lower-temperature process innovation that turns domestic ethane into battery-grade graphite and hydrogen. Graphite is a key material in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, electronics, and energy storage, and about 95% of battery graphite comes from China, according to the startup. 

Most battery graphite today is made by baking a petroleum byproduct at about 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit, a process that can take up to three weeks. Graphonos Materials instead bubbles ethane, a component of natural gas, through liquid metal at a fraction of that heat, and the graphite floats to the top. The process also produces hydrogen, a clean-burning fuel. Graphonos Materials has filed a provisional patent application. In addition to the grand prize funding, the team also won $10,000 worth in-kind services from law firm, Cooley. 

Aime Laurent Twizerimana, co-founder of Graphonos Materials said, "The Grainger Engineering Tech Startup Challenge was an incredible experience. We made meaningful connections with fellow startups, discovering exciting opportunities for collaboration, as well as with organizations across Chicago’s innovation ecosystem. Winning this funding comes at a perfect time for Graphonos, as we are launching our pre-seed fundraising round to establish an independent R&D lab outside the university. This funding brings us closer to our fundraising goal and allows us to accelerate our technology development."

Second Place: Rapid Analytix Division, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Rapid Analytix Division (RAD) earned second place and $50,000 in funding for tackling a quality control problem that has plagued the construction industry for decades. RAD is transforming construction material testing with five-minute real-time analytics that help producers reduce downtime, overdesign and material waste. 

Civil engineering graduate student Bayezid Baten leads the team developing what they call the “glucose meter for construction materials” — a portable, on-site testing solution for cementitious materials. Current methods take up to 28 days. RAD's technology is 8,000 times faster and generates AI-ready data for the next generation of sustainable construction. RAD also won $5,000 in in-kind prize from Cooley.

Third Place: Aura Life Science, University of Chicago

Aura Life Science took third place and $25,000 in funding for engineering cyanobacteria, microbes that use photosynthesis like plants, to make proteins from light and carbon dioxide. Traditional fermentation, the standard way to make many proteins, depends on crops such as corn, soy and sugar. 

Aura Life Science’s process needs only light and carbon dioxide, consumes more carbon than it releases and is projected to cost up to 75% less. Its microbes produce up to 50 times more protein than other photosynthetic methods, and the team has made a precursor to human insulin in proof-of-concept tests. The startup also won $5,000 in in-kind prize from Cooley. 

Other Finalists

The remaining finalists — Kalman Space, Kestrel Robotics, NerView Surgical and TopCited AI — each received $1,000 in funding. 

• Kalman Space, Purdue University: Lowers the cost of the star-tracking cameras satellites use to orient themselves by shifting the hard work from hardware to software.

• Kestrel Robotics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: Builds a new generation of autonomous aerial robots designed to interact with the physical world. 

• NerView Surgical, McMaster University: Develops NerveSense, a real-time, dye-free, contact-free imaging system designed to let surgeons see peripheral nerves. 

• TopCited AI, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: Helps brands improve how AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Gemini describe and recommend them.

The challenge drew more than 100 applications from 35 universities nationwide and internationally. A panel of judges, including venture partners, angel investors, accelerator leaders, founders, operators and a corporate attorney, evaluated the pitches.

Chicago Momentum

Jed Taylor, assistant dean for innovation and entrepreneurship and executive director of the Landuyt Center, said, “This challenge shows our expanding role as a vital partner in Chicago’s tech ecosystem, supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs and giving student-led startups a platform to accelerate their growth and impact. Our permanent base at DPI in Chicago will expand those opportunities even further.”

This year’s challenge is sponsored by Cooley, a global law firm that represents high-growth companies and the investors who back them; Caruso Ventures, the investment firm founded by Grainger Engineering alumnus Dan Caruso; EnterpriseWorks, the U. of I. Research Park's startup incubator; and TechNexus Venture Collaborative. 

“The energy and enthusiasm at this year’s challenge were extraordinary! The quality of the teams and the depth of experience our judges brought to the competition exceeded expectations. Congratulations to Graphonos Materials and all our winners and finalists. This event was a tremendous showcase for Grainger Engineering and reinforced Chicago’s growing reputation as a destination for world-class entrepreneurial talent and innovation. Our partnership with World Business Chicago was instrumental in making it such a success, and we’re excited to build on that momentum,” said John Thode, director of entrepreneurship at DPI.

Gene Robinson, executive director and CEO of DPI, closed the program by congratulating the seven finalists. “These teams aren’t simply developing advanced technologies,” he said. “They’re identifying real-world challenges and finding ways to solve them.”

Robinson added that the Landuyt Center’s presence at DPI will strengthen the connection between campus research and Chicago's startup community: “The opportunity is to make that connection seamless, so an idea developed in a research lab in Champaign, or any of the universities represented here today, can find the relationships, resources and opportunities it needs to grow in Illinois.”

The day after the finals, all 24 semifinalists showcased their startups at Reinventing Industry: Future of Health, a companion event to the summit hosted by TechNexus Venture Collaborative with Grainger Engineering and the Landuyt Center at TeamWorking by TechNexus. The event brought together founders, investors, researchers, health system leaders and corporate innovators, connecting them with the participating startup teams.