After reaching the final round as a wildcard team, a student startup from the University
of Minnesota captured first place in the 2024 Heartland Challenge, earning $50,000
for their venture to revolutionize assistive walking devices. Telo, which is developing walking devices with integrated technology to better facilitate
physical therapy, is tackling three core areas of innovation: safety, stigma and strengthening.
PRIZES & RESULTS:
Main Competition
Elevator Pitch Competition
1st Place - $50,000
Telo, University of Minnesota
2nd Place - $25,000
RHM Innovations, University of Rochester
3rd Place - $10,000
Thryft Ship, University of Georgia
4th Place - $5,000
ProPika, University of Arkansas
5th Place - $1,000
CurveAssure, Johns Hopkins University
1st Place - $3,000
ProPika, University of Arkansas
2nd Place - $2,000
CurveAssure, Johns Hopkins University
Startup Expo
Investor Roundtable
Special Awards
1st Place - $5,000
ProPika, University of Arkansas
Cadron Capital - $3,000
YieldEASE, Johns Hopkins University
SymBiosis - $3,000
RHM Innovations, University of Rochester
UA Master's in Finance - $3,000
Hipond, Tufts University
Delta Solar Innovation Award - $3,000
CurveAssure, Johns Hopkins University
Visit our Media Gallery to view photos, presentations, and speaker videos from the
competition: Media Gallery
2023 Competition
The 2023 Heartland Challenge Startup Competition was hosted April 11-13 at the Ledger,
the world's first bikeable building in downtown Bentonville. AtomICS, a Brown University startup revolutionizing the storage and process of digital data
by harnessing small molecules captured first place and more than $50,000 in prize money.
PRIZES & RESULTS:
Main Competition
Elevator Pitch Competition
1st Place - $50,000
AtomICS, Brown University
2nd Place - $25,000
Endoshunt Medical, Vanderbilt University & Harvard University
3rd Place - $10,000
MiraHeart, Johns Hopkins University
4th Place - $5,000
CatheSure, Clemson University
1st Place - $3,000
SomnOSA, Johns Hopkins University
2nd Place - $2,000
UNCL Co., University of Arkansas
Startup Expo
Investor Roundtable
Special Awards
1st Place - $5,000
UNCL Co., University of Arkansas
Cadron Capital - $3,000
Endoshunt Medical, Vanderbilt University & Harvard University
SymBiosis - $3,000
AtomICS, Brown University
46VC - $3,000
SomnOSA, Johns Hopkins University
Delta Solar Innovation Award - $3,000
AtomICS, Brown University
HealthTech Arkansas Medical Innovation Award - $3,000
Endoshunt Medical, Vanderbilt University & Harvard University
Visit our Media Gallery to view photos, presentations, and speaker videos from the
competition: Media Gallery
2022 Competition
The 2022 Heartland Challenge was held in-person for the first time in its three-year
history, with the bulk of the competition taking place at 21c Museum Hotel in Bentonville.
The first-place award of $50,000 grew to $100,000 when keynote speaker Jim Goetz,
a partner at Sequoia Capital, surprised competitors by announcing he would match the
top prize.
Congratulations to our first place winner: KLAW Industries!
KLAW Industries processes glass from landfills into a powdered cement replacement,
Pantheon™, which the company then sells to ready-mix concrete plants. In November 2022, they received $500,000 from the EPA to expand their operations in Binghamton (NY) and
further develop the technology.
COMPETITION PRIZES & RESULTS:
*Thanks to a sponsorship from Cadron Capital Partners, we offered an optional Investor Roundtable supplement to the main competition for teams that would like
to simulate an informal conversation with investors.
Overall
Elevator Pitch Competition
(audience vote)
Startup Expo Award
Cadron Capital Investor Roundtable
Awards*
1st Place / KLAW Industries, SUNY-Binghamton / $100,000
2nd Place / EpiSLS, University of Michigan / $25,000
3rd Place / Beam Commerce, University of Waterloo / $10,000
4th Place / CipherX Biotechnologies, University of Arkansas / $5,000
1st Place / Horizon Health Solutions, University of Arkansas / $3,000
2nd Place / KLAW Industries, SUNY-Binghamton & CipherX Biotechnologies, U of A / $2,000
$5,000 / Easy Flo, University of New Mexico
Three $3,000 awards / Beam Commerce, University of Waterloo & GammaVet, U of A & EpiSLS, University of Michigan
SPECIAL AWARDS:
Natural Capital Economic Impact Award
Atento Capital Grit Award
Arkansas Community Foundation Health Impact in Arkansas Award
Woman-Run by Wright Lindsey Jennings
Delta Solar Innovation Award
$1,000 / Pareto, Stanford University
$3,000 / KLAW Industries, SUNY- Binghamton
$1,000 / Horizon Health Solutions, University of Arkansas
$1,500 / GammaVet, University of Arkansas
$2,000 / KLAW Industries, SUNY- Binghamton
Visit our Media Gallery to view photos, presentations, and speaker videos from the
competition: Media Gallery
2021 Competition
“Through the University of Arkansas’ generous support, NurLabs has accomplished our
first phase feasibility study in lung cancer patients with incredibly promising results!
The Heartland Challenge sent us on this incredible trajectory to make our theoretical
study a reality. Because of this experience, we now have a network of mentors and
potential future investors who believe in us to bring this technology to market for
real-world patient benefit.”
Sumita T. Jonak
Founder + CEO, NurLabs
2021 Heartland Challenge 1st Place Winner
The 2021 competition was held virtually on April 15-16, 2021.
Congratulations to our winners!
1st Place - NurLabs from University of California Los Angeles
2nd Place - Backup from the University of Arkansas
3rd Place - Urogix from Washington University in St. Louis
4th Place - BioSealXE from Oklahoma State University
Elevator Pitch Competition Winners
1st Place - Cerobex Drug Delivery from Tufts Universtiy
2nd Place - Backup from the University of Arkansas
Delta Solar Innovation Award - $1K to Urogix from Washington University in St. Louis
WATCH THE 2021 FINAL AWARD PRESENTATION
2020 Competition
Listen to Matt Waller, Dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business, talk with the
2020 Heartland Challenge winner, Robert Hatcher of Aurign, on the Be EPIC podcast.
Aurign, a music publishing startup from Georgia State University, won $50,000 in last
year’s competition for their idea of using blockchain technology to securely file
music-publishing documents.
“Winning the Heartland Challenge opened a lot of doors for the company and put us
in incredible position to receive further funding,” said Robert Hatcher, Aurign’s CEO.
Hatcher added that his company is currently in beta testing and working through legal
aspects of implementing their platform.
The first Heartland Challenge Startup competition was held virutally on May 28-29,
2020.
The invited graduate student entrepreneurial teams competed for a cash prize pool
of $95,000, with $50,000 going to the first place team, Aurign, a startup at Georgia State University using blockchain technology to securely
file music-publishing documents.
AlgenAir from the University of Maryland, a consumer product company focused on improving
air quality, took second place and received $25,000.
CelluDot, a University of Arkansas student startup team focusing on eliminating herbicide
drift, took third place overall and won the elevator pitch competition, walking away
with $13,000 in prize money.
Finishing fourth and winning $5,000 was OxyGen from Johns Hopkins University. OxyGen
provides a portable oxygen concentrator to treat patients with chronic lung disease
needing greater than 3 liters per minute of oxygen.
VestaTech, a startup from the University of Missouri that aims to improve the last-mile
delivery in the e-food industry, finished second in the elevator pitch and received
a $2,000 prize.
The five teams taking home prize money:
AlgenAirfrom the University of Maryland, an ecommerce company in Baltimore, Maryland, that
developed the aerium, the first natural air purifier that uses algae to reduce carbon
dioxide and increase oxygen as effectively as 25 houseplants.
Aurignfrom Georgia State University, a decentralized music publishing company that uses
data analytics in blockchain technology to securely file music publishing documents.
CelluDotfrom the University of Arkansas, which addresses the growing problem of agrochemical
drift with a novel biopolymer adjuvant technology that keeps pesticides and herbicides
at the site of their intended use, thus preventing farmers from incurring financial
losses due to crop damage and curbing the negative implications of drift on human
health and the environment.
OxyGenfrom Johns Hopkins University, which provides a portable oxygen concentrator to treat
patients with chronic lung disease needing greater than 3 liters per minute of oxygen.
Vesta Technologiesfrom the University of Missouri, which provides food-ordering customers with a premier
temperature-controlled locker system that accepts and stores delivered perishables
from the e-food and grocery delivery industry at any temperature between minus-15F
and 155F. The smart locker technology will allow delivery services to access apartments,
commercial businesses, and universities 24/7 and avoid the pain points of the last
mile delivery drop off with the consumer.