Each year, the Tulane Business Model Competition awards over $40,000 in cash prizes to university-based startups and early-stage ventures that demonstrate high growth potential and a market-tested ability to adapt to customer needs.
The national competition selected semi-finalists from schools including Tulane University, Johns Hopkins University, and Brown University this year. The final pitch took place last week on the Tulane campus, with the winners announced at the Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Gala the evening of April 20.
Kaleyedos, a startup from Johns Hopkins University, was announced the first place winner of the Tulane Business Model Competition. The company provides a telemedicine solution to Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), a retinal disease that affects premature infants. If left untreated, it can cause visual impairment and blindness. Kaleyedos took home $25,000 and will also compete in the International Business Model Competiton later this year.
Second place was awarded to Instapath Bioptics from Tulane, which has developed an imaging technology for interventional radiologists that halves pathology evaluation time for biopsy procedures.
CMDX Biopsy, also from Tulane, came in third place. The startup has created a fully automated biopsy device for use in clinical settings.