Asala Ahmad, CCNY senior, biomedical engineering, and member of the AutoTENS venture in the Standard Chartered Women+Tech track.
Eight student-led City College of New York and CUNY startup ventures won $80,000 in prizes during the Zahn Innovation Center and Standard Chartered Women in Tech Incubator Competition.
The Zahn Center’s 2024 Demo Week provided 14 finalists the opportunity to pitch to panels of expert judges and compete for prizes to continue the development of their startups. Demo Week was the culmination of a semester-long extra-curricular incubator program, serving more than 55 CCNY and CUNY undergraduate and graduate students as well as community colleagues.
The event also marked the 10th anniversary of the Standard Chartered-Zahn Center partnership at CCNY, a collaboration that has driven innovation and gender equality forward.
“The WiT Incubator Competition and our longstanding partnership with Standard Chartered have been instrumental in fostering the entrepreneurial mindset among our students. We are excited to carry on supporting the upcoming generation of business leaders through collaborative initiatives,” said Kesia Hudson, managing director of the Zahn Center’s Standard Chartered Women in Tech Program.
“The teams in this year’s cohort reflect the Zahn Innovation Center’s reach across campus and the CUNY system, with many of the finalist teams coming out of earlier programs,” said Chris Bobko, Executive Director of the Zahn Innovation Center. “These include CiPASS, Biomedical Engineering Society Biodesign Challenge, Blackstone LaunchPad, and CUNYStartups or through ongoing partnerships with capstone engineering design courses.”
After a series of in-person events hosted at Standard Chartered Bank and Dechert, LLP, a panel of judges awarded four $15,000 grand prizes and four $5,000 second place prizes.
Following are the winners and team members (all CCNY unless stated).
Kaylie Hardware Grand Prize:
CarbonCLAIR -- Fares Al-lahabi (sophomore, mechanical engineering, Manhattan College); Elsa Cobaj (sophomore, ME): Dominick Gordon (junior, computer science); Naeema Haque (graduating senior, environmental earth systems science), and Jeremie Laveau (junior, ME). CarbonCLAIR is a carbon-capturing system that sustainably filters particulate matter, improving air quality and livelihood in urban cities for vulnerable populations with greater respiratory needs while meeting your building standard demands.
“This victory validates our hard work and fuels our vision for CarbonCLAIR's future. Combined with a recent collaboration with Mount Sinai, we're ready to scale up and seek new funding to make a real impact on air quality and sustainability," said Al-lahabi
ZoneCast (Second Place) -- Karim Toufiq (2023 CCNY alumnus, economics) and Miguel Carpio (2023 College of Saint Rose alumnus). ZoneCast is a camera system designed to bring a professional and forward-thinking style of play to amateur baseball.
Standard Chartered Women+Tech Grand Prize:
Easy Meets -- Marwah Alzandani (senior, business, College of Staten Island); Basmalla Attia (senior, business & political science, Baruch); and Adam Kostandy (senior, computer science, CSI). Easy Meets is a marketplace that simplifies planning hangouts and trips for groups or individuals and provides businesses with valuable information about potential customers.
“We are honored to be recognized for our innovative venture,” said Alzandani. “This experience has provided invaluable mentorship, support, opportunities, and resources. We are incredibly grateful to the Zahn Center and Standard Chartered, and look forward to leveraging this experience to create more positive change.”
AutoTENS (Second Place) –- comprised sophomore Rachel Ioffe, junior Matthew Saw, seniors Asala Ahmad and Tejaswini Sudhakar (all biomedical engineering majors); and computer science sophomore Arihant Tiwari. AutoTENS is a biotech startup focusing on automating lower back pain relief.
Zahn Social Grand Prize:
Inclusify – comprised Najia Jahan, Myesha Mahazabeen and Bryan Martinez, all seniors majoring in computer science. Inclusify is an inclusive video resume web application designed to help job seekers, especially those with ASD and developmental disabilities, to effectively showcase their unique stories and strengths through creating personalized video resumes.
“With plans to collaborate with the Goodwill organization, our journey with Inclusify has been truly transformative,” said Mahazabeen. “Learnings from the Zahn Innovation Center, coupled with our embrace of empathy-driven design, have shaped Inclusify into a product that authentically serves and empowers its users.”
EmployAble (Second Place) – comprised computer science seniors Kazi Sadman and James Zou. EmployAble is a performance observation platform used in vocational rehabilitation programs.
Zahn Software Grand Prize:
ArenaUnity -- Samin Chowdhury (sophomore, computer science), Daniel Shmir (sophomore, financial mathematics, Baruch), and Daniel Ukolov (junior, statistics and quantitative modeling). ArenaUnity is an app connecting players to impromptu sport matches and compatible teammates.
“I learned the importance of adaptability in the face of challenges and changing circumstances,” said Chowdhury. “Startups often encounter unexpected obstacles, market shifts, or feedback that necessitate quick pivots. Being able to adapt to new information and adjust strategies accordingly is crucial for survival and growth in the dynamic startup ecosystem.”
Savvy (Second Place) – comprised first-year students Melody Lew (operations management and analytics, Baruch); Ryan Lau and Kevin Wang (both CCNY computer science). Savvy is an AI-powered website that gives personalized tech product recommendations to online shoppers.
The final pitch judging panel comprised:
- Evelina Bonfim, Senior Treasury Analyst, Booking Holdings;
- Natasha Kwakwa, Global Head, Community Impact, Corporate Affairs, Brand & Marketing, Standard Chartered Bank; and
- Peter Zahn, co-founder and VP Strategy, Local Policy Lab.
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi (now Lightcast) puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. This year, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.
Jay Mwamba
p: 917.892.0374
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jmwamba@ccny.cuny.edu