The Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI) is pleased to recognize the February cohort of the Accelerate UConn Propelus program for successfully completing the four-week initiative. As part of UConn’s National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps site, this program is designed to equip early-stage ventures with the skills and resources needed to assess the commercial potential of their ideas.
Throughout the program, participants engaged in an in-person kickoff session and three webinars, while also completing a minimum of 20 customer discovery interviews. Upon successful completion, each team received a $1,500 stipend from the NSF to support their continued validation efforts.
We commend these teams for their dedication and hard work and look forward to seeing their ventures progress. Congratulations to the following participants:
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Aquatic Robots
Liam Wilson (ENG), Hubert Sliwka (ENG), Mihai Duduta (Faculty, ENG)
Novel aquaculture robots to reduce labor and fuel cost while improving product quality.
Aleoop
Meghan Scanlon (Alumni, BUS)
Aleoop ingests sales feedback from external sources, ties it to CRM data, and structures business cases based on revenue impact, at-risk deals, issue frequency, and effort. Reports highlight blocked revenue, pipeline deals needing support, and blockers by team. Enriched with insights from tools like Notion, Slack, Gong, and JIRA, Aleoop uses AI to group recurring themes, acting as the connective tissue across systems and delivering a priority queue of high-value work.
AlphaEdge
Nicholas Savignano (BUS), Ritika Ghosh (BUS)
An AI-powered investment research platform that automates stock analysis, providing actionable insights, recommendations, and interactive tools to streamline the decision-making process for investors.
Blue Carbon Materials
Yidan Zhang (CAHNR), Mingyu Qiao (Faculty, CAHNR), Jonathan McGee
Our technology uses an environmentally friendly method to produce carbon-neutral biopolymers from seaweeds that can applied on the surface of paper packaging materials as food packaging. It relies on a green and low-carbon process to extract biopolymer from carbon-negative seaweeds sources from the New England region. This streamlined approach eliminates the need for water and toxic chemcials reducing environmental impact and production costs. The resulting paper coating is carbon neutral and completely compostable. By utilizing a well-established process, this scalable, eco-friendly approach can be readily integrated into current paper coating manufacturing systems, meeting the industry’s rising demand for sustainable packaging materials.
Stylistic
Lakshita Ganesh Kumar (CLAS)
A fashion-based social media app that leverages AI to provide personalized style recommendations, outfit matching, and tagging, helping users discover and express their unique fashion sense within a supportive community.
Emma
David Wallace (Staff), Sophan Iv (Staff)
A subscription service offered free of charge to medical practitioners when their patients become members of Nurse Emma. NurseEmma provides personalized clinical summaries including all member health care entities and includes pre and post visit calls and1 page print.
affirmHER
Adanma Akoma (ENG)
Hair care formulation.
404inc
Pragati Rout (CLAS), Gregory Sotzing (Faculty, CLAS)
The core technology driving this proposal centers on the groundbreaking development of functionalized cannabinoid derivatives, leading to advancements in fluorescent materials and innovative medical solutions. This patent-protected technology leverages sustainable cannabinoid-based materials to create fluorescent compounds with versatile applications, ranging from optical brighteners to bioimaging. The process utilizes a unique chemical design to deliver environmentally friendly, highly efficient fluorescent materials that can replace conventional, less sustainable optical brighteners.
Dentopa
Sobhan Kateifar (School of Dental Medicine), Kai Clarke (UConn Health)
A dental technology startup that addresses two major dental concerns: dentin hypersensitivity and enamel erosion. These issues affect a significant portion of the global population, causing discomfort and long-term oral health concerns. The company’s innovative solution combines DOPA, a natural adhesive inspired by mussel proteins, with bioactive glass particles and corn protein. This proprietary material effectively occludes dentinal tubules to reduce pain and discomfort while promoting enamel remineralization.
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Our team of knowledgeable program instructors this cohort included Claire Zick and Leland Holcomb.
In 2024, UConn joined The NSF Innovation Corps (I-CorpsTM) Northeast Hub. The hub is part of a nationwide NSF-funded network of universities formed to accelerate the economic impact of federally funded research – delivering benefits in health care, the environment, technology and other areas – while building skills and opportunities among researchers from all backgrounds, including those historically underrepresented in entrepreneurship.
Learn more about the hub at icorpsnortheasthub.org, or visit our program page at ccei.uconn.edu/accelerate-uconn to apply for a future cohort.
For specific inquiries about Accelerate UConn, email alycia.chrosniak@uconn.edu.