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Six cutting-edge solutions score slice of $100k
October 20, 2022
Consent, mental health, and water quality were just a few of the real-world concerns tackled by innovators and entrepreneurs as part of the 2022 Velocity $100k Challenge.
The brains behind a revolutionary solution to help improve precision and safety during neurosurgery were awarded first place in the 2022 Velocity $100k Challenge awards ceremony at the University of Auckland this week.
The winning venture, Neuroφanos, spearheaded by University of Auckland bioengineering institute research fellows Dr Hamid Abbasi and Dr Soroush Safaei, with Dr Jason Correia, deputy director at Neurosurgery Auckland Hospital and Dr Samantha Holdsworth, director at Matai Medical Institute, was awarded $25,000 seed capital.
Finalists announced for the 2022 Velocity $100k Challenge
August 19, 2022
The 15 finalist teams for the University of Auckland’s Velocity $100k Challenge have been announced. Venture ideas have been developed by students and staff that address a range of economic, social and environmental problems. The concepts represent the diversity of entrepreneurial thinking at the University with the ideas including solutions for water issues, sexual consent, mental health, dementia, chronic pain, sustainable packaging and satellites.
Sugar Wallet app makes investing simple for everyday Kiwis
June 29, 2022
Sugar Wallet, an app co-founded by alumni Devrath Soni and Sophia Ritchie, is on a mission to make investing easy for the everyday Kiwi. Eighteen months after its inception, it has topped charts in the App Store.
Alumni venture FormusLabs raises $5m towards AI powered orthopaedic surgery software
June 29, 2022
FormusLabs, a venture co-founded by University of Auckland Professor Thor Besier and alumnus Dr Ju Zhang, has raised $5m towards their software assisting orthopaedic surgeons with delivering joint replacement surgeries.
2022 Velocity Innovation Challenge winners revealed
May 27, 2022
The Velocity Innovation Challenge winners were revealed at a prize giving event, with each receiving part of a $20,000 prize pool. Though the ideas entered varied wildly, ranging from brain surgery innovations to vegan manuka honey, to how parents can gamify toothbrushing, all showcased a University of Auckland community striving to somehow make the world a better place and the diversity of entrepreneurial thinking occurring in all parts of the University.
Meet the 2022 CEO of Velocity
Feb 10, 2022
Velocity is the University of Auckland’s flagship student-led entrepreneurial development programme delivered through the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Leading Velocity this year as CEO is Nandini Singh, a third-year Bachelor of Commerce student majoring in Finance and Economics. Nandini is in her second year of Velocity having previously held the role of Events Co-lead.
Wayve raises $200m in investment towards next-generation autonomous vehicles
Feb 1, 2022
Wayve are an autonomous mobility start-up who have pioneered a new machine learning approach to AV. Their innovative approach has won the confidence of investors such as Microsoft and Virgin, with their latest Series B round generating over $200 million in investment.
Segna’s lightning speed data wrangling platform gets Silicon Valley investment
Nov 26, 2021
Data wrangling start-up Segna have raised substantial investment to advance the development of their innovative machine learning software platform. Segna uses machine learning to aggregate and clean data from multiple sources in under a minute. Its software platform helps businesses of all sizes unlock value from their data faster and more easily by automating the time-consuming, administrative tasks of curating and organising it.
2021 Innovation Blues award winners named
Nov 1, 2021
The founders of A.I. hospital rostering and recruitment solution ventures, New Zealand Universities National League Case Competition winners and the Global EY Corporate Finance Woman of the Year have all been recognised as outstanding student innovators in the 2021 University of Auckland Blues Awards.
University of Auckland reveals 2021 Velocity $100k Challenge winners
Oct 21, 2021
A new generation of start-up founders has been released into the world with the completion of the University of Auckland’s 2021 Velocity entrepreneurship development programme. Winners of its business planning competition, the Velocity $100k Challenge, were announced via an online Grand Final event. The guest speaker for the evening was Sir Ian Taylor (Ngāti Kahungunu), founder of leading Computer Graphics production house Animation Research Ltd, 2019 New Zealand Innovator of the Year, and 2020 Deloitte 200 Visionary Leader of the Year.
$100k Challenge Qualifiers 2021
August 19, 2021
The Velocity student-led entrepreneurship programme has announced its 2021 $100k Challenge competition qualifiers. Fifteen teams were selected by a panel of expert judges out of 90 submissions across all faculties, the second highest number of entries received since Velocity was founded in 2003.
Alumni Spotlight – Isaac Cleland
July 30, 2021
Meet Isaac, founder of RosterLab and the overall winner of Velocity’s $100K Challenge in 2020. His journey to being a successful startup founder started with his PhD research that investigated scheduling algorithms in the healthcare industry. This research is what gave him an idea for how the healthcare industry could use algorithms and AI to optimise rosters for healthcare workers, which was then developed into a business through the $100K Challenge. Want to read more about Isaac and his path to winning the challenge?
Alumni Spotlight – Fia Jones
July 30, 2021
Fia Jones has always been a space fanatic. During her time pursuing a Physics degree at university, Fia began working on her innovation at just age 19. Since winning a category prize for Velocity’s $100K Challenge in 2019, Fia is now the CEO and founder of Astrix Astronautics, a startup that plans to revolutionise satellites by creating a more productive alternate power generation system. It has received support from large investors and key entities of the space industry, such as Rocket Lab. Curious to know how Fia has developed Astrix after winning the $100K Challenge?
Alumni Spotlight – Te Miringa Parkes
July 22, 2021
Te Miringa Parkes is a business student at the University of Auckland, and is also the founder of Ūkaipō, runner up in Velocity’s 2020 $100K Challenge. Inspired by her mother, Te Miringa brought an innovative idea to life and founded Ūkaipō, a company that aims to help families celebrate the birth of a new child by providing families with leak-proof, biodegradable Rau Whenua placenta planting packages. Find out how the $100K Challenge has helped Te Miringa develop this inspiring venture.
Velocity Innovation Challenge inspires new generation of entrepreneurs
May 21, 2021
Innovation Challenge is a key event for the University of Auckland’s entrepreneurship development programme Velocity. Students and staff are invited to share a venture idea that will solve a problem, big or small. Each 1,000 word entry is assessed and considered for a $1,000 prize with 12 prizes up for grabs. Entrants can submit ideas for a commercial or social venture, and this year additional prizes were added for ideas that tackled an aspect of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Making science serious fun: The venture empowering young Kiwi innovators and critical thinkers
May 19, 2021
Educational start-up Kiwrious is empowering the next generation of innovators and critical thinkers through the Kiwrious Science Experience. Founded by Suranga Nanayakkara, an Associate Professor at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI), they aim to spark inquiring minds by giving Kiwi students the tools they need to take scientific measurements of the world around them.
Students gifted inspirational entrepreneurs retreat
May 13, 2021
A diverse group of student and graduate entrepreneurs from the University of Auckland Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) have been gifted a place in an intensive entrepreneurs retreat where they were challenged and inspired to fulfil their potential.
Multitudes: The culture start-up built by the pandemic
Apr 20, 2021
In a post-pandemic world, with companies encouraging employees to continue to work from home, how will a healthy team dynamic be maintained? SaaS company Multitudes is helping teams improve culture and performance by providing data-led insights on day to day team behaviours and easy-to-access coaching for managers to unlock more inclusive, higher performing teams.
Guts and glory – the rise of gastric biotech start-up Alimetry
Apr 20, 2021
Alimetry, a digital healthcare and diagnostic devices start-up is grounded in world-leading science in gastrointestinal diseases. In the short two years since its inception it has established itself as a pioneer in health solutions, recently being named a finalist in the NZ Hi-tech Awards.
The start-up using tractor-driven AI to enable the wine industry’s full potential
Apr 12, 2021
Cropsy Technologies are developing a combination of patent-pending hardware and AI to help growers make data-driven decisions. While their innovations have a number of applications, they are currently focused on viticulture, an industry that the team have identified as ripe for picking.
CreateBase – the venture enabling kids to access enjoyable tech education
Mar 24, 2021
CreateBase is on a mission to give the next generation the skills, tools and confidence necessary to unleash their inner technology creators, and realise their future potential. They are currently building a digital platform that teachers and parents can provide to children to teach tangible technical skills through play.
Answering Pacific health care professionals’ calls for support
Mar 16, 2021
“The nurses had no way of knowing if my nephew was improving or worsening.” Statements such as these have inspired the creation of Pacific Med Tech, a social venture that aims to support capacity building in biomedical engineering departments of hospitals in the Pacific.
Meet the 2021 CEO of Velocity
Mar 12, 2021
Velocity is the University of Auckland’s flagship student-led entrepreneurial development programme delivered through the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. In the 18 years since its launch in 2003, Velocity has helped build over 130 ventures, created 800 jobs, and raised over $280m in capital.
New Zealand Government adds power to New Zealand’s leading student entrepreneurship development programme
Feb 26, 2021
The New Zealand Government’s venture investment vehicle New Zealand Growth Capital Partners have signed on to support Velocity, New Zealand’s leading student entrepreneurship development programme, through sponsorship and network support. Together they will provide substantial opportunities to increase the potential and capability of New Zealand’s next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.
Breakthrough technology developed to advance eye care for children
Feb 17, 2021
Objective Acuity is creating an accessible and accurate way of detecting vision problems early in life by developing the first objective vision screening test based on visual acuity for children under the age of five. The venture was founded by Dr Ben Thompson, a Professor of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of Auckland, Dr Jason Turuwhenua and Dr Mehrdad Sangi at the University of Auckland’s Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI).
The venture helping neurodiverse people into work
Feb 12, 2021
Socius XR is an immersive extended reality platform for neurodiverse people, such as those on the autism spectrum, to prepare and practice different skills and interactions for various situations, with a focus on employment. Its three founders first collaborated on the venture as students participating in Summer Lab, an intensive entrepreneurship programme run by the University of Auckland Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Student Maina Fuimaono advocates for Pacific innovation
Jan 27, 2021
Wellington native Maina Fuimaono arrived at the University of Auckland never having heard of innovation and entrepreneurship. Now, the final year Bachelor of Commerce student advocates for it to be a part of every student’s university experience.