The annual New Venture Challenge is a six-workshop series that prepares student startups for market entry and fundraising. Twenty-five teams participated in the program, with 10 advancing to the finals. Finalists demonstrated their technologies during a showcase, and the top five teams pitched their innovations before a panel of judges.

Graduate students Raishma Anwar, Angelica Gonzalez and Kate Stanton claimed first place and the Crowd Favorite Award for echoSURE Inc., earning $22,500.

echoSURE is developing a novel medical device that accurately verifies pediatric nasogastric feeding tube placement, helping eliminate delays in care, improve patient safety and reduce healthcare costs.

"The New Venture Challenge award will allow us to finalize our Minimum Viable Product, secure contract lab space to continue testing, and file our utility patent and additional provisional patents," Anwar said.

Another Weldon-affiliated startup, VitaWave Tech Inc., earned second place and $15,000. The team includes Ankit Shah of the Weldon School and T. Hingba of Purdue Polytechnic.

VitaWave is developing a clinically accurate, cuffless, in-ear blood pressure monitoring device that enables intermittent continuous remote monitoring. The technology aims to improve hypertension management for millions of patients while expanding access to convenient home monitoring.

"Winning second place in the New Venture Challenge validates that the market is ready for medical-grade, cuffless blood pressure monitoring," Hingba said. "It also strengthens our credibility with strategic investors and clinical partners as we close our $1.2 million pre-seed round and prepare our FDA 510(k) Class II presubmission package. We are building momentum toward our preeclampsia pilot and moving closer to deploying across medical centers for patients who need reliable home monitoring."

Hosted by the Purdue Incubator, the New Venture Challenge helps student entrepreneurs refine their value proposition, develop commercialization strategies and build investor-ready financial models while preparing innovative technologies for real-world impact.

About Purdue Innovates Incubator

Purdue Innovates Incubator is the front door to the rich ecosystem of programs and services designed to help early-stage startups take their next step. Programs provide settings for cohort work and one-on-one consultations. Content includes clarifying problems from the customer’s perspective, developing a business model, conducting customer discovery interviews, team building, determining regulatory pathways and legal structures, and more. Purdue alumni and community members interested in becoming mentors are invited to contact the Incubator team.