Startups
Many wine lovers struggle with a sensitivity to sulfites — preservatives used in food and beverages. James Kornacki drew from his research experience in the lab and created Üllo, a polymer technology to remove free sulfites from wine and restore it to its original, from-the-vintner purity and taste.
Morgan Lewis ’18 MS wanted to create a storage solution to keep her guitar safe during “rest mode” — between songs or at breaks during gigs. For her Engineering Design Innovation final project, she created Auxilia, an attachable stand that stays out of the way while the guitarist is playing and deploys automatically when she sets the guitar down.
To help provide students with easy access to medication and other personal care items, a team of entrepreneurs created MedKit Solutions. Pre-med seniors Matthew Urban and Chris Holland, both neuroscience majors, developed the concept with Feinberg School of Medicine first-year student Ashorne Mahenthiran ’19.
Blaze Pizza started with a trip to Chipotle in 2011. Looking for a no-wait pizza lunch, Elise Wetzel ’87, ’92 MBA and her husband, Rick, ended up eating burritos, but the made-your-way format sparked an idea.
Todd Somers ’73 helped direct Northwestern football’s offense as a quarterback for parts of three seasons in the early 1970s. Now, as a longtime Wildcats season ticket holder cheering from the stands, he’s created a new game-day condiment combo: MustKetch.
Sahar Jamal, founder of Maziwa, is creating a battery-powered breast pump so new mothers in East Africa can return to work. Maziwa’s design includes a cooler and pump so that women can collect and store breast milk even if they have no access to electricity or refrigeration, and the pump’s sleek, compact design also allows women to pump more discreetly.
Student Vishaal Mali's startup puts pedal power to good use. PedalCell provides cyclists with reliable onboard power during their ride.
Lillian Hoodes ’13 MA is helping to fix a common problem for environmentally aware hikers: how to pack nutritious food when headed out on the trail. Hoodes is co-founder and CEO of TrailFork, a company dedicated to providing outdoor adventurers with sustainably packaged and healthy dehydrated food.
Dom Collins ’16 JD, MBA had been working as a media and entertainment banker on Wall Street for a year when he got the itch to leave his day job and pursue his passion. Drawing on his legal and business background, Collins formed Domarco7 Entertainment and launched an R&B career in New York City under the stage name Dom Marcell.
Brent Chase knows the pain and helplessness of watching a loved one go through a physically and emotionally damaging autistic meltdown. Chase’s younger brother, Alec, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when he was 3 years old.
