Texas Tech University

Innovation Hub Awards More Than $250,000 to Accelerator Startups

Kathryn Dankesreiter

April 20, 2023

Winners

The seventh cohort of the Texas Tech Accelerator Program has been selected.

Winners of Texas Tech University's Accelerator Competition and Social Innovation Challenge were announced Friday (April 14), with the Innovation Hub at Research Park awarding more than $250,000 and announcing the seventh cohort of the Accelerator Program. 

After a month of interviews and mentorship opportunities, the 17 finalists spent the day presenting their pitches to a panel of judges in Texas Tech's very own “Shark Tank” style competition. 

Taysha Williams, managing director of the Innovation Hub, announced the winners and the seventh cohort of the Accelerator Program at the Discoveries to Impact Closing Party later in the evening. Each of the 10 winners received a $25,000 award and a place in the year-long Accelerator Program, which offers professional mentorship and other benefits through the Innovation Hub's extensive network. 

During a luncheon Thursday and Friday's Closing Party, finalists also were allowed a one-minute elevator pitch to the crowd for a chance to win each day's People's Choice Award. AbbyRose and Hometown Hats Co. were each awarded $500 after being selected as the daily winners by popular vote. 

2023 Texas Tech Accelerator Program Winners

New American Fabric (NAF) | The NAF selenium fabric technology can be covalently attached to cotton and then can catalytically generate superoxide radicals that kill bacteria without harming tissue.

Team:

 

Terra-Form | Terra-Form is pushing the development of mechanized formworks for sustainable rammed earth construction applications around the globe to reduce cost, carbon footprint and overall energy consumption.

Team:

  • Steve Guzman (Texas Tech University System (TTU System) alumnus, community entrepreneur)
  • Jody Hicks (TTU System alumnus, community entrepreneur)

 

AbbyRose | A patented phone case rack called the Rose Rack that showcases your phone cases in an organized and aesthetic way.                                                     

Team:

 

G&G Ranch | G&G Ranch was founded with a commitment to reduce labor requirements and financial inputs of organically growing specialty crops utilizing a protective, overhead crop-netting system consisting of a suspended, full-enclosure insect net around a crop canopy.

Team:

 

Riskcuers | Riskcuers is creating a platform to automatically measure susceptibility of employees to social engineering attacks for the purpose of estimating the premium of coverage for data insurance.

Team:

  • Akbar Namin (Texas Tech faculty)
  • Keith Jones (Texas Tech faculty)
  • Saroj Gopali (Texas Tech doctoral student)

 

Moneta | Moneta provides a software app for managing systems safety according to the High Reliability Organization (HRO) paradigm.

Team:

 

AuroraX LLC | Inkjet-printed super-capacitors for solid-state energy storage solution that is safe, inexpensive, quick to recharge, high energy density, and does not degrade.

Team:

  • Bashir Morshed (Texas Tech faculty)
  • Moriom R. Momota (Texas Tech doctoral student) 

 

Pontos | Pontos is a collapsible kayak that increases the accessibility of outdoor recreation and paddle sports.

Team:

  • Adam Mulsow (Texas Tech alumni)
  • Amanda Mulsow (community member)
  • Will Bednarz (community member)
  • Lindsey Ring (community member)

 

Dymedrop | Dymedrop is a platform for selling content-rich tickets for event based-attractions. 

Team:

  • Blake Hicks (Texas Tech alumnus)
  • Brooke Hicks (community member)

 

Valkyrie UAS Solutions | Valkyrie UAS Solutions will develop a national blueprint for Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations that will further enable rural healthcare, tele-health services and shielded unmanned aircraft systems corridors.                                                            

Team:

  • Tyson Harmon (community entrepreneur)
  • Catherine Self (community member)

 

 

tags: Academics, Faculty, Innovation Hub, Research, Stories, Students, Vice President for Research, provost

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A new era of excellence is dawning at Texas Tech University as it stands on the cusp of being one of the nation's premier research institutions.

Research and enrollment numbers are at record levels, which cement Texas Tech's commitment to attracting and retaining quality students. In fall 2020, the university achieved a goal more than a decade in the making, reaching a total student population of more than 40,000. In 2018, the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education again placed Texas Tech among its top doctoral universities in the nation in the “Very High Research Activity” category. Texas Tech is one of 94 public institutions nationally and 131 overall to achieve this prestigious recognition. 

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Innovation Hub
at Research Park

Innovation Hub


This 40,000-square-foot facility is designed to be a resource for the faculty and students of both Texas Tech and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center as well as community members interested in launching new ventures. Texas Tech is a national research university, and the Innovation Hub at Research Park is critical to building the knowledge-based economy of West Texas through the development of innovators and entrepreneurs who solve society's problems and develop innovations to make impact.

 

The Innovation Hub at Research Park is located at 3911 4th Street, Lubbock, TX, just west of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.

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The Office of Research and Innovation is tasked with facilitating excellence in research, scholarship and creative activity for Texas Tech students, faculty and staff. The office promotes an academic environment embracing creativity, curiosity, innovation, diversity, ethics and integrity.

Among other programs, the OR&I supports responsible and safe conduct of research, faculty development and recognition, interdisciplinary collaborations, externally sponsored research, partnerships with industry and community stakeholders, international research collaboration and the application of research for the benefit of society. The OR&I promotes a culture of creative expression, discovery, innovation and collaboration with the goal of advancing Texas Tech's status as an elite national research university.

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