Showtime at the UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator Showcase

Showtime at the UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator Showcase


“Curated expertise” is the key to supporting successful company launches

Anderson Venture Accelerator director Trish Halamandaris introduces the 2018 teams


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Before an enthusiastic, standing-room-only crowd of mentors, potential investors and students, faculty and staff, 10 teams presented their startup ideas at UCLA Anderson’s winter UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator Showcase.

For the teams making presentations, it was an opportunity to meet and cultivate relationships with some 35 venture capital firms with investing interests, including the Pritzker Group, Silicon Valley Bank and Techstars.

For those watching and cheering from the audience, it was a chance to learn about the specific plans and visions behind these startups, as well as to understand how comprehensively the accelerator staff supports its student and alumni entrepreneurs.

The teams that presented reflect UCLA Anderson’s commitment to diversity:

  • Six of the 10 startups were founded by women
  • All comprised current students or alumni from Anderson’s full-time, fully employed and executive MBA programs
  • Student team members originated from various parts of the globe: Argentina, China, Chile, India, Israel and Russia
  • One team was founded by a military veteran

Several teams have already received financial pledges from investors, thanks in part to the resources offered in the Anderson Venture Accelerator’s mentoring programs.

“We curate expertise that is specific to each company, based on the industry and their stage of development,” says accelerator director Trish Halamandaris (’92). “The concentrated consulting and mentoring support we provide gets them to the funding line much faster than traditional early-stage startup programs.”

Left: Alumna Ksenia Yudina’s U-Nest app helps parents manage 529 college savings plans
Right: Aqua founders present their competitive solution for manufacturing electronic pipettes

Keep your eyes on the Anderson Venture Accelerator’s winter Showcase teams:

Aqua ― Aadhar Jain (’19) and Nikita Sewak (’19), Co-Founders
Evolving the manufacturing of electronic pipettes for use in medical labs. Aqua is competitive through lower costs, ease of use, channel distribution and higher performance.

BruxA ― Pablo Osorio (’19), CEO, and Joseph Upchurch (’19), CTO
A smart night guard that protects teeth while gathering data on behaviors connected to sleep bruxism. Users are able to track the effectiveness of treatments recommended to reduce sleep bruxism, with the goal of improving sleep quality.

EvalueMe ― Shirin Nikaein (EMBA ’19), Founder
An enterprise SaaS plug-in for existing human capital management suites. EvalueMe’s software uses Artificial Intelligence to coach employees on writing unbiased performance reviews.

iGPS Watch ― Mark Weinstock (EMBA ’19), Legal/Strategy
Balances a child’s independence with providing parents peace of mind. iGPS Watch manufactures and distributes GPS enabled, feature-rich smart watches for children that allow parents to communicate, locate and monitor their kids to ensure 24/7 safety.

MiVUE ― Jane Zhang (FEMBA ’20), President, and Hadley Washburne (FEMBA ’20), Business Development
A digital ear monitor designed specifically for parents to use at home. The MiVUE app enables telemedicine and symptom tracking and provides educational content for parents. The solution empowers parents to communicate better with their child’s pediatrician and monitor ear, nose and throat symptoms safely in the home.

Panoramic Aerospace ― Jeffery Sandrock (FEMBA ’19), CEO, and Athena Liao (FEMBA ’19), CMO
A drone that provides aerial surveillance solutions for businesses and public agencies. These drones specialize in vertical takeoff and landing, meeting a need in emergency fire-fighting applications.

PredictEV ― Andrew Sharp (’18), Co-Founder
Helps fans engage with sports betting in a risk-free and approachable way. PredictEV’s blockchain technology supports live, in-game predictions with conversational chat, as well as in-depth pre-game analysis.

Riders Share ― Guillermo Cornejo (’19), Founder
The “Airbnb of motorcycles.” It connects unused bikes with vetted riders who want to rent them. More than 2,000 motorcycles have been listed on the platform since the launch in February 2018.

Split Decision ― Connor Doyle (’19) and Jenny Du, Co-Founders
Combines coffee cold brewed from premium beans roasted in-house with a variety of unexpected and delicious ingredients, such as tea, hops and peanut butter.

U-Nest ― Ksenia Yudina (’14), Founder
An intuitive and easy-to-use mobile app that helps parents create and manage tax-advantaged 529 college savings plans for their kids.


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