Sixteen innovative businesses created by University of Wyoming graduate and undergraduate students will compete for $125,000 in seed funding to grow their companies. Ideas range from a company that works like the Indeed job site for graduate students to find opportunities at universities to a business that looks to insure outdoor sports equipment.
Team members will make their presentations during the Fisher Innovation Launchpad in late October. The Fisher finalists will work on their business concepts throughout the summer and early fall.
The Fisher Innovation Launchpad, which began in 2016 as the Fisher Innovation Challenge, is for new, independent businesses – in the seed, startup or early-growth stages – focused on technology or innovation. The seed fund was made possible through the financial gift of Donne Fisher, the Launchpad’s namesake, and was matched by the UW Office of Research and Economic Development.
The Wyoming Technology Business Center (WTBC), a business development program of UW that has business incubators in Laramie, Casper and Sheridan, is administered by the UW Office of Research and Economic Development. The WTBC is a not-for-profit business incubator that provides entrepreneurs with the expertise, networks and tools necessary for success.
The Cheyenne student projects competing are:
Amped Up Hearing Helmets, founded by Jennica Fournier, a Cheyenne MBA student; Kelli Pederson, a Basin/Cheyenne master’s degree student in natural sciences; and Odea Nelson from Sheridan, who received an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from UW. Both active children and adults who have had cochlear implants retain a hardware vulnerability in their external cochlear devices if not protected. Hearing Helmets are designed with an inner helmet liner that can accommodate the external hardware without degrading helmet performance.
HempChain, founded by computer science students Carlton Wilcox and William Kirkpatrick, both of Laramie, and James Schuchardt of Cheyenne. HempChain is targeting secure tracking of hemp seed and products in the recently legalized hemp markets in Wyoming. Legally, accurate tracking is important, and the team will look outside the state for secondary markets after launching.
Funded teams will receive business counseling, one year of free rental space in the WTBC incubator and the opportunity to approach the Fisher Innovation Fund for startup capital. Remaining teams not funded through the program will still receive space, rent-free, in the incubator for a year, and business counseling. Other opportunities in the state, such as Kickstart Wyoming, have had an increasing impact on the unfunded teams continuing, Schmechel says.
Let the news come to you
Get any of our free email newsletters — news headlines, sports, arts & entertainment, state legislature, CFD news, and more.
