News

In its second year in a virtual setting, the New Venture Challenge (NVC), CU Boulder’s premier entrepreneurial startup program and competition, dazzled with high energy and even higher-flying ideas curated by CU Boulder students vying for their share of $150,000 in prize money.

HUG Solutions, a startup company developing cold chain transportation technology to help rural communities access mRNA vaccines, walked away from the University of Colorado’s New Venture Challenge as champions, banking $30,000 in cash prizes and a $25,000 investment offer.

A modest new house in Fraser, Colorado—considered the coldest town in the lower-48—is no ordinary home. With it, a team of Buffs will compete this week in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon for the first time since 2007.

CU Engineering students have invented PortaVax, a portable vaccine carrier that can keep up to 250 vaccine doses cold for several days using insulation and dry ice. Their device will help solve transporting vaccine doses to rural communities, which often lack reliable electricity or cannot afford ultra-low temperature coolers.

Six of CU Boulder's top startups (HUG Solutions, LGBT50, Orbital Biodesign, Sarus, Seedling Biosystems and ToobTek) will vie for their portion of $100,000 in funding at the 13th annual NVC Championships.

CU Boulder spinout ColdQuanta, the leader in Cold Atom Quantum Technology, has been awarded two development contracts from U.S. Government agencies worth $2.55M in total. Both projects are based on the company's Quantum Core™ technology that uses atoms cooled to a temperature of nearly absolute zero, and lasers to manipulate and control the atoms with extreme precision.

Inscripta, Inc., the digital genome engineering company, today announced the first commercial shipment of its Onyx™ platform and the closing of a $150 million Series E financing round led by Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.

Meet Casey Nunnelly and Sabina Rizzo, CU Boulder alumnae, cousins and co-founders of Byte Bars, the no-regrets vegan energy bar. Casey and Sabina both attended CU Boulder and studied Communication, where Casey was also a member of the CU Women’s Ice Hockey team.

When their business needed help during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, EsoTerra Cider founders Elizabeth Philbrick and Jared Scott put out a call for help on an online tool for small business owners called the Startup Colorado Network. The network was launched in 2020 by Startup Colorado, an outreach program within Silicon Flatirons at CU Boulder. It connects rural entrepreneurs with business resources, as well as fellow business owners, mentors and funders.

More than 60 out of 110 registered NVC teams chose to participate in one of the three competitions: Impact Prize, NVC Newcomer Prize and Female Founder Prize. With inspiring and energetic programming, the Specialty Prize Nights gave attendees a preview of the startups who will be competing in the official NVC competition. The winners represented all corners of campus, ranging from the Leeds School of Business to the College of Music, to freshmen, graduate students, PhDs and faculty.