Get ready, get set… go! In another record-breaking year, Pitch Dingman Competition received over 107 venture applications, all vying for their share of $170,000 in prizes. Our panel of judges was able to narrow down the wide range of applicants to reveal the top teams that will be advancing in the 2024 competition. We’re excited to see the top ventures pitch on the big stage at our finals event on April 25 at Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center for a shot at the grand prizes!
Read on to learn more about the tracks and the ventures that will be advancing in the competition:
All Stars Track
The finalist ventures in this Maryland-wide track for alumni and students at University System of Maryland (USM) Institutions will have access to support in an entrepreneurship bootcamp and coaching in the coming weeks to take their ventures to the next step. On April 25, the finalist teams will pitch their businesses to an expert panel of judges on the Finals stage, and the semifinalist teams will showcase at Terp Town for a chance to win additional audience choice prizes.
All Stars Track Finalists – pitching
Fem Equity – Adeola Ajani ’20 (Towson University); Malir Burks – Fem Equity is an AI Powered Future of Work platform that creates solutions for women and underrepresented professionals going through pay or professional gaps in real-time. It is a double-sided platform that provides these solutions for women and minority professionals and gives organizations access to a highly qualified diverse pool of young women and minority professionals.
NextStep Robotics – Bradley Hennessie ’09 (Towson University) – NextStep Robotics is building the next generation of rehabilitation robotic solutions for neurorecovery. Focusing initially on stroke and neuroplasticity training this devices aims to be efficacious first, fit clinic work flow second, and accessible through cost management.
All Stars Track Semifinalists – Terp Town
Biochemical Analyzer – Chad Sundberg ’25 (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) – Enables automated, real-time measurement of analytes within biomanufacturing processes
THE SHELLER – Shelby Blondell ’18 (University of Baltimore) – THE SHELLER is a patented, stainless steel, seafood multitool – mallet, picker, and bottle opener – made in Maryland.
Xeddy – Basil Udo ’22 (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) – Xeddy is a multi-business platform for restaurant rewards.
All Stars Track Quarterfinalists – Honorable Mention
AidSmart – Jaivien Kendrick ’24 (Bowie State University) – AidSmart is the first mobile app that turns financial aid learning into a fun board game, helping HBCU students master financial aid literacy.
Jay’s Watermelonade – Joyson Balisamore ’26 (University of Baltimore) – Jay’s Watermelonade is a natural juice brand based in Baltimore on a mission to lower cardiovascular mortality by promoting healthier hydration and offering delicious, natural alternatives to sugar-sweetened beverages.
Lytos Vodka – Alex Zephir ’14 (Towson University); Billy Fanshawe ’14 (Towson University) – Lytos Vodka is a patent-pending, high alkaline, gluten-free, premium vodka with added electrolytes which include salt, potassium, and phosphorus. Lytos Vodka was born in Baltimore, MD, distilled in Columbia, MD, and enjoyed everywhere.
Taqueros Del Mar – Thomas Zinzi Jr ’25 (Salisbury University) – Late Night Taco shop founded to reduce drunk driving/alcohol poisoning by bringing Mexican Street cuisine and culture to the college scene.
The Collegiate Care Experience, LLC – Kendal Howell ’26 (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) – The Collegiate Care Experience is a faith-based on-campus self-care supply store bridging the gap between college students and hygiene products. Currently, it is based at the University of Maryland Baltimore County serving students through online order & pickup and frequent pop-up shops for an in-person experience.
Tomorrow’s Bio – David White ’26 (University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science) – Created a single camera ingestible tablet for large animal endoscopies. The tablet works by capturing images and sending them to an application to be used to assist with diagnoses, making it safer for vets to use while also reducing costs on farmers.
Alumni Pilot Track
The finalist ventures in this pilot track for alumni from UMD-CP will have access to support in an entrepreneurship bootcamp and coaching in the coming weeks to take their ventures to the next step. On April 25, the finalist teams will pitch their businesses to an expert panel of judges on the Finals stage, and the semifinalist teams will showcase at Terp Town for a chance to win additional audience choice prizes.
Alumni Pilot Track Finalists – pitching
BrightWave Partners LLC – Paula Henry ’84; Tim Shaw; Ken Peretti – BrightWave’s technology enables customers across a dozen industries to produce renewable feedstocks on a minimal footprint. Their photobioreactors, used to cultivate algae and seaweed, can be co-located with primary manufacturing or refining activities.
JUUCE – Jake Taub ’20; Pouya Susanabadifarahani ’19; David Greenfield ’20 – JUUCE offers secure and convenient on-the-go charging solutions through portable charger rental kiosks and digital signage for venues and events.
Alumni Pilot Track Semifinalists – Terp Town
NotUrAverage Candles – Courtney Johnson ’23 – NotUrAverage Candles is a coconut wax candle company that illuminates the world of science through fragrance.
Travana – Rohan Tangadpelli ’23 – Travana is your AI-powered travel companion, streamlining the journey from inspiration to destination, making travel planning seamless, personalized, and fun.
Alumni Pilot Track Quarterfinalists – Honorable Mention
CSL Therapy – Tai Brown ’13 – A regulatory organization working to bridge the gaps of surgical care for American healthcare stakeholders.
Cursive Technology, Inc. – Joe Thibault ’07, MBA ’23 – Cursive Technology is focused on the writing process, using Machine Learning and AI to support accelerating writing skills development, provide feedback, provide shareable verification, and promote academic integrity.
E-Livestock Global Inc. – Chris Light ’93 – An award-winning healthy livestock traceability platform powered by Blockchain.
Korion Health – Akshaya Anand ’23 – The mission of Korion Health is to expand access to healthcare screenings in an ultra patient-centered and culturally competent way, enabling not just technical screenings but also breaking down barriers to knowledge, allowing people to own their data, and ultimately engaging more people in their own healthcare. Their first product is an electronic stethoscope and guided user interface that allows anyone to record heart and lung sounds from the comfort and convenience of their home.
Lumikha Cosplay Resale – Myleah Lofland ’18 – Buying and selling cosplay on social media has long been a pain for cosplayers. Lumikha Cosplay Resale is a community marketplace where users can buy and sell costume items specifically for the cosplay community.
Redhelm Labs – Neil Sorkin ’23 – Redhelm Labs empowers limitless drone flight through laser power beaming.
Main Street and Quattrone Tech Tracks
The semifinalist ventures in these two advanced UMD-CP student tracks will each receive a $500 prize, participate in an entrepreneurship bootcamp, and meet with advisors in the coming weeks to help them further accelerate their businesses and make them more competitive for the next round. On Friday, March 31, the semifinalist teams pitched their businesses to an expert panel of judges in Van Munching Hall, and the top 3 of each track will be moving on to pitch on the Finals stage.
Main Street Track Finalists – pitching
Cookies By Drew – Drew Haas ’24 – Cookies By Drew is a business that sells stuffed cookies and cookie cakes all over the DMV area and nationwide. They cater events, sell locally, and distribute their cookies in 9 different Foxtrot locations along with other stores and bakeries.
Dawson’s Detailing – James Dawson ’24 – Dawson’s Detailing provides the best detailing in the DMV, creating an experience that goes beyond the physical cleaning of the car.
StreetLoveDMV – Jeffrey Kyei-Asare ’25 – StreetLoveDMV is the #1 place for Streetwear You Love. It is a student-run vintage and streetwear clothing store dedicated to promoting positivity and building community through fashionable clothing. With over 2000+ total happy customers, it’s a hub for street fashion enthusiasts.
Main Street Track Semifinalists – Terp Town
AfroLuxe Glam Shop – Chelsea Amadi, ’24 – AfroLuxe Glam Shop is an online cosmetic store that currently sells a variety of AfroLuxe brand cosmetic products. Products offered by this brand are curated to African American women and were made to address problems faced by black women in the beauty industry. AfroLuxe Glam Shop celebrates the luxury in African American beauty at a very affordable price.
Exercise Network – Candace Austin ’24 – Exercise Network designs customizable fitness and aquatic programs, aiming to motivate kids, especially those who struggle in larger group activities, to stick with sports and physical activity. They offer private lessons and small group class options, differentiating themselves from competitors by providing multidiscipline programs in a non-competitive, stress-free environment with a low instructor to student ratio.
Retro Boomin – Ethan Pham ’24 – Retro Boomin is an e-commerce and flash retail business, specializing in premium second-hand clothing to offer a sustainable alternative to fast fashion.
Quattrone Tech Track Finalists – pitching
Engauge – Rodrigo Sandon ’24; Marie Brodsky ’24 – Students in large lecture math courses often get confused mid-lecture and are not willing to raise their hand to express that they are no longer following.
Iffirm, LLC DBA Journiy – Mildred Diggs ’24 – Journiy is a digital care management company that uses a culturally tailored and individualized approach to make it easy for patients to follow their treatment plans. With Journiy, patients can effectively manage their chronic diseases and improve their overall health.
Vyne – Shaurya Saran ’25; Vaughn Hatfield ’25 – Vyne is an innovative application designed to revolutionize the thrifting experience for buying and selling clothes within local communities (specific focus on college campuses). Their mission is to help make student fashion more sustainable on campuses everywhere.
Quattrone Tech Track Semifinalists – Terp Town
Dondon Animation Tech – Shu Chen ’24 – Dondon Animation Tech provides state-of-the-art software to assist artists and producers making traditional 2D animation.
Sociable AI – Thomas Noh ’24 – Sociable AI is an AI social media manager platform designed to automate social media interactions for creators, brands, and businesses. Their no-code web app allows users to train data and clone their brand voice as an AI to automate interactions such as DMs and comments on social media platforms like Instagram. The platform aims to make it easier for users to engage with their audience and grow their brand presence online.
Temporal – Sourabh Mane ’25; Niklas Elmqvist – Bringing new dimension to entertainment experience. Explore, analyze & share your sports telemetry inside your browser.
Main Street & Quattrone Tech Tracks Quarterfinalists – Honorable Mention
BetterU – Saurabh Chapagain ’25 – BetterU is a gamified social habit builder that helps people become the best versions of themselves in a fun & social way!
Chatty – Tarun Thatavarthi ’24; Advait Kushe – Chatty is an AI interviewing agent who is able to give useful feedback to software engineers and guide them towards smarter problem-solving during interviews. Chatty is also capable of collecting user data through these conversations and producing detailed performance analysis.
E. Ozie Studios – Ijeoma Asonye ’24 – E. Ozie Studios is a multimedia creative house that blends nature, tech, and art in storytelling for the adult and YA-crossover market.
Heart2Starr – Illy Lozano ’24 – Heart2Starr began in 2013 as a safe space for poet Ileana ‘Illy’ Lozano. It follows Lozano through her artistic journey and quest to spread appreciation for the arts.
Hermes – Rohan Bajpai ’24 – Hermes empowers developer teams to focus on innovation and maximize productivity with their unified, searchable development platform.
Planda – Hevander Da Costa ’25 – Planda is the go-to travel planning social media that allows you to effortlessly organize trips to your dream destinations on the go, share your exciting adventures, and explore all the places your friends have been.
Sellwase – Bhagavan Bollina Bolli ’25 – Sellwase offers a secure, university-exclusive platform where students can trade daily essentials such as textbooks, tables, and tech gadgets.
Slut for Yarn – Anna Boyd, ’24 – Slut for Yarn sells ethically handmade crochet items for all body types at an affordable price point.
StudentHousingEU – Justin Wagner ’24 – StudentHousingEU is an organization developed by past study abroad students. They offer an online database of safe and verified apartments for students to rent through the platform. Additionally, StudentHousingEU provides insight into the culture and infrastructure of where students plan to study abroad. Utilizing the services offered by StudentHousingEU, students can feel confident in their decision to study abroad.
Savor – Saurav Vidyadhara ’25 – Savor enables restaurants to create and market fire sales on items about to expire, allowing them to increase their profit margins and reduce food waste.
Taty’s Desserts – Randi Whitehurst – Taty’s Desserts is a Latina-based and owned dessert company.
Ticker – Max Harris ’25; Max Kaufmann – Ticker Markets is a network for venture capital limited partner secondaries. They allow VC funds to offer selling opportunities to their investors throughout the lifetime of the fund. And have built a network and system to streamline the transaction process.
Vizuri – Crystal Ndungu ’25 – Vizuri is an aggregator site to consolidate all the people, primarily students, in our area that can do hair, nails, haircuts, hair braiding, etc.
Joan and Chester Luby Idea Track
The finalist ventures in this early stage UMD-CP student track will participate in an entrepreneurship bootcamp and marketplace in the coming weeks to help them further hone these venture ideas. On April 25, the top teams will show off their ideas to an expert panel of judges at Terp Town in the Finals Event.
Joan and Chester Luby Idea Track Finalists – Terp Town
Bon Voyage – Nethmi Weerasinghe ’24; Bosith Weerasinghe ’23; Ravindu Adikarige; Sameera Herath; Markell Shepherd – Optimizing travel planning for single and multiple-day trips using the power of machine learning.
Chai Shai – Ismaeel Ibrahim ’25 – Chai Shai makes special Pakistan chai called dhood patti with a perfected recipe of cookies cultivating a warm mix of flavors to bring people together.
Cloudola – Yifan Zhang ’27 – Violinists often suffer from fatigue after long practice sessions because their shoulder rest, which props the instrument against the body, does not fit well. Cloudola makes custom shoulder rests tailored for each violinist’s body using 3D scan data.
Exchange Roots – Evie Scott ’26 – Exchange Roots is a digital farmer’s market, designed to promote local food systems and allow small farmers and home gardeners to sell or exchange produce in their local community.
Full – Kiran Muthusamy MBA ’25 – Next-generation food service.
Kulqi – Mary Sangurima Loayza ’24 – A fintech app for Hispanic Americans, using AI to offer personalized financial education, generate future cash flows, and guide strategic investing in the U.S.
Matching Students Abroad – Maryann Vazhapilly ’24; Miranda Song ’24 – Matching Students Abroad is an app that allows exchange and international students to meet each other by providing percentage matches based on responses from their profiles.
Memorial Music – Lauren Twombly ’24 – Memorial Music provides live harp music to funeral homes that are interested in offering live music as a default part of their deluxe packages.
M’Elyon Organics – Adeuwnmi Agagu ’25 – At M’Elyon Organics, we passionately craft organic, handmade haircare products, blending the purest plant-based herbs, lightweight oils, and essential oils.
MyUniventure – Brandon Fung ’24; Jake Blum ’24; Caleb McClatchey ’24; Megan Nee – MyUniventure is an online platform which enables prospective college students and their families to book one-on-one experiences with current college students of their choosing. These experiences are designed to give prospective students a personal, unscripted perspective of the universities they are interested in.
Nerve Systems – Cartor Hancock ’26 – Design improved non-invasive devices & methods for high spatial and temporal resolution brain scanning and targeted neuron stimulation.
Strapt – Emily Ciardiello ’24 – Strapt LLC offers luxury phone accessories that allow individuals to live worry free. Designed specifically for the socially active, Strapt devices prevent the loss of your phone while out in public, crowded spaces. These accessories are life essentials that also make for great gifts.
SunDance – Eric Detjen ’24 – A CPG developed and marketed to help people embrace their social side by enhancing their energy, happiness, and confidence.
Unifyr: Meeting Mismatch Mayhem Solved – Rohith Pulaputturi MBA ’25 – Spark romance, reconnect with friends, or network seamlessly! Find the perfect “midpoint” venue for any meet-up, blending individual preferences – cuisine, activities, even allergies. Say goodbye to generic cafes, hello to unique restaurants, museums, adventure spots, and more! Personalized connections start with the perfect meeting place.
Joan and Chester Luby Idea Track Semifinalists – Honorable Mention
AR Billboard – Tracy Chen ’24 – AR Billboard is a free AR content management platform for local business.
BoostMark.io – Armaan Jain ’26; Aadesh Kheria – BoostMark.io is an advanced bookmark management tool designed to streamline and enhance your web browsing experience.
Cutz – Oliver Fitch ’24; Ben Dietz – Cutz is designed as a center for appointment creation, 3D haircut scanning and modeling, as well as a social media hub to show and share haircuts with your friends.
Cordeaux A – Astrid Tagne ’26 – Cordeaux A is a Cameroonian-owned brand selling handmade bags straight from the motherland.
John – Utkarsh Agrawal ’24 – Improving car service industry using machine learning and augmented reality.
Munching Boxes – Bhavya Peddigari ’24; Satish Vennapu, ’24 – Munching Boxes revolutionizes the convenience food industry by offering high-quality, affordable, and nutritious ready-to-eat Indian recipes, uniquely packaged in eco-friendly, edible, and crisp boxes, catering to kitchen-challenged, time and budget-conscious consumers seeking quick, healthy, and delicious meal options.
PTBamboo – Brennen Le ’27 – Our platform enables individuals to get information straight from the source– going to the individuals who experience events firsthand without having experience filtered by mediary entities.
Sanda Technology – Srinickethan Ramamoorthy ’25 – The company utilizes advanced automation in medical coding to deliver rapid and precise solutions, catering to healthcare providers seeking precise code accuracy for billing, minimizing errors, and ensuring compliance with industry regulations.
VogueVeda – Yashveer Jain ’24; Dhruv Sharma ’24; Suryavardhan Reddy Chappidi ’24 – VogueVeda is at the forefront of a technological revolution in the fashion industry. Utilizing advanced AI algorithms, the system is designed to adapt and refine fashion recommendations by continuously learning from user interactions.
Our Incredible Judges
These early stages of Pitch Dingman Competition set the entire experience into motion and we are grateful for this exceptional group of judges that review, score and provide growth feedback for all 100+ applications. These judges are or were founders/investors/entrepreneurial support individuals themselves, and have played significant roles in our programs over the years. Thank you for all you do to support these founders in their journeys!
All Stars Track
Breonna Massey
Brin Xu
Chris Adams
Drew Bewick
Felipe de Padua
LaKisha Greenwade
Michael Berardi
Mike Ravenscroft
Nazea Khan
Polly Vail
Tom Davidson
Alumni Pilot Track
Ben Taylor
Cedric Nwafor
Dan Raithel
Evan Shubin
Francie Wasser
Henrik de Gyor
Janice Burg-Levi
Kirk Morris
Max Weiner
Rick Genzer
Main Street Track
Alan Spurgin
Audrey Awasom
Edwin Bright Djampa
Mathew Parsons
Neal Kursban
Shalanda Armstrong
Shane Kim
Zeluis Teixeira
Quattrone Tech Track
Athena Abbott
Ben Tchoubineh
Camilo Melnyk
Dan Fucich
Fredrica Antwi
Kendall Holbrook
Kevin Tu
Maurice Boissiere
Steve Freishtat
Joan and Chester Luby Idea Track
Barathi Aravindan
Benjamin Taragin
Blake Kuzemchak
Brandon Schwab
Connie Ford
Daniel Shapiro
Ellen McGeoch
Gabrielle McLaughlin
Goodness Ihekweme
Joelle Anselmo
Matthew Foulk
Nishelle Oglesby
Robert Choe
Sanketh Andhavarapu
[…] More information about the event and the upcoming finals is available here: https://dingmanblog.com/2024/03/20/advancing-2024-pdc/. […]