A startup with a preventative approach for treating heart arrhythmias took first place at this year’s alumni-only H. Albert Napier Rice Launch Challenge (NRLC).
The venture, Rhythio Medical, garnered $30,000 in equity-free funding as well as an additional $1,500 for winning the Audience Choice Award at the June 29 virtual event.
Hosted by Rice’s Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie), the event featured six finalist teams pitching their businesses for a share of $65,000 in equity-free funding. The top three were determined by a panel of judges made up of Rice alumni. Danielle Conkling, director at Silicon Valley Bank, Paul Manwell, senior director at Google, and Joanna Nathan, manager of new ventures at Johnson & Johnson, heard each team’s five-minute pitch and followed up with seven minutes of questions.
The judges crowned Rhythio Medical, led by Kunal Shah, master’s Class of 2022, for its injectable wire that makes an irregular heart work like a healthy one. It is inserted surgically at the same time as a traditional implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) but works to prevent arrhythmias, while ICDs treat arrhythmias with a painful shock to the patient’s heart.
Synopic, which facilitates faster and more accurate surgical procedures through improved endoscopic vision technology, took second place and $20,000 in equity-free funding. Green Room, a platform that streamlines taxes and payments for touring artists, earned third place and $15,000.
This year’s NRLC received such a huge volume of interested teams that the alumni competition was split from the student event held in April. Each year the competition welcomes students and alumni from every major and degree program at Rice.
Lilie helps teams refine their ventures and prepare for the competition through coaching, mentorship from seasoned entrepreneurs and collaborative working sessions. Throughout the year, Lilie serves Rice undergraduates and graduate students, faculty and alumni from every corner of campus through courses and co-curricular programs that develop an entrepreneurial skill set and mindset that can be applied to any industry. Lilie’s vast network, educational services and resources have earned it the title of the country’s No. 1-ranked entrepreneurship program three years running.
Named after Rice professor emeritus and entrepreneurship program founder H. Albert Napier, the NRLC was sponsored this year by Mercury Fund, T-Minus Solutions and Chevron Technology Ventures, with continuing support from the Napier family, the Liu Family Foundation, the Sen family, Julia Varvashansky and Brad Husick.
To learn more about the NRLC, visit https://lilie.link/nrlc. Visit Lilie’s website at entrepreneurship.rice.edu.