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eGames

The eGames is NC State's annual startup competition awarding over $100,000 to NC State entrepreneurs every Spring Semester.

About the eGames

Originating in 2009, the eGames is NC State’s annual startup competition, awarding over $100k to NC State entrepreneurs. There are two tracks for the competition – the student track and the Daugherty Track for officially registered startup companies who have licensed NC State intellectual property in the past three years.

This year the student segment of eGames was split into two categories, “Think” and “Do.” This means teams compete with an idea or business in the early stages – the ”Think” category – or with an established startup that has a product, revenue, or customers – the ”Do” category.  Teams must forgo two rounds of judging across different categories, measuring everything from market feasibility to design and prototype.

The student track is open to all student teams comprised of at least 50% degree-seeking NC State students – both undergraduate and graduate.

2021 eGames Awards Ceremony

All year, NC State entrepreneurs have been developing their ventures for a chance to win $100,000 in cash prizes. Check out the Awards Ceremony below to see who took home some startup money from this year’s competition!

Congratulations to the 2021 eGames Winners:

  • 1st place – $10,000 | Flux Hybrids: A hybrid conversion for automobiles that can be installed on any vehicle with minimal charging infrastructure needed.

Team members: Clay Dowdey, Micah Ulrich

  • 2nd place – $8,500 | Extruo: Wearable products for track and field athletes that deliver real-time quantitative insight.

Team member: Dakota Batch, J’den Williams

  • 3rd place – $6,500 | Valish: A water-based, solventless, odorless, and durable nail polish only requiring a one-step application that is cured faster than traditional and gel polishes.

Team member: Grace Carrell, John McGarrahan

  • 1st place – $9,000 | Vertibra: A smart bra designed with wireless sensors to engage back muscles as well as promote dynamic correction and muscle memory

Team members: Bryson Boettget, Daniel Olson, Jeanine Fry, Marta Pasqualini

  • 2nd place – $7,000 | DEVO: DEVO is developing a new method of producing plasmids in patients at a higher rate than is currently possible in order to rapidly create gene-therapy dependent cures for disease via.

Team member: Andrew Buchanan, Eli Moskowitz, Erik Andersen, Miracle Walters, Olivia Wedegaertner

  • 3rd place – $4,000 | iVlo Medical: iVlo Medical is working to create a more efficient and safe IV drip for emergency medical use

Team member: Alex Nadimi, Brady Anna, Daniel Olson

  • Social Impact Award – $2,000 | Seadrone: A remote-controlled quadcopter that can be rapidly deployed to an endangered swimmer and deliver flotation equipment. 

Team members: Benjamin Gray, James Whittenborn, Leah Pursell, Megan Rettino, Nolan Joyce

  • Environmental Impact Award – $2,000 | Flux Hybrids: A hybrid conversion for automobiles that can be installed on any vehicle with minimal charging infrastructure needed.

Team members: Clay Dowdey, Micah Ulrich

  • Arts Impact Award – $2,000 | Lykke: A source for locally-curated gift baskets filled with hand-made goods from in and around Moore County, North Carolina.

Team member: Hayden Wempe

  • Arts Impact Award – $2,000 | Hexerate: Hexerate is building Approach, an app that will help people navigate new locations and businesses at a glance.

Team members: Asa Latta, Caleb Davis, Ivey Floyd, Matthew Agustin, Quoc Vu

  • IBM Built on Cloud Impact Award – $2,000 | Mac Health: Software to offer medical billing and revenue management systems in order to avoid medical billing errors.

Team member: Timothy McKay

  • IBM Built on Cloud Impact Award – $2,000 | Extruo: Wearable products for track and field athletes that deliver real-time quantitative insight.

Team members: Dakota Batch, J’den Williams

  • Design & Prototype Impact Award – $2,000 | Extruo: Wearable products for track and field athletes that deliver real-time quantitative insight.

Team members: Dakota Batch, J’den Williams

  • Design & Prototype Impact Award – $2,000 | Seadrone: A remote-controlled quadcopter that can be rapidly deployed to an endangered swimmer and deliver flotation equipment. 

Team members: Benjamin Gray, James Whittenborn, Leah Pursell, Megan Rettino, Nolan Joyce

eGames Ranks in the Top 20 University Entrepreneurship Competitions

We’re not only NC State’s largest entrepreneurship competition – we’re Top 20 in the country!

Learn More 

Daugherty Endowment Track

The Daugherty Endowment Track has been a contributing partner of the eGames since 2016, with the primary goal of increasing the success of startup companies based on NC State IP. The Daugherty Endowment Track is open to officially registered startup companies who have licensed NC State intellectual property in the past three years — meaning their licenses must be currently active. The funds allocated to winning companies can be used for critical early-stage business expenses.  For the past four years, the Daugherty Track has awarded prizes totaling $50,000 each year – with first place receiving $25,000, second receiving $15,000 and third receiving $10,000. In 2021, the Daugherty Track had two teams tie for first place.

The Daugherty Endowment Track is made possible by The Richard L. and Marlene V. Daugherty Centennial Campus Entrepreneurialism Endowment (Daugherty Endowment) with funding partnership from the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science and collaboration with the NC State Office of Partnerships and Office of Research Commercialization.

2021 Daugherty Endowment Track Winners:

  • 1st Place – $25,000 | Indago: RFID technology to prevent counterfeiting of circuitboard electronics.

Team members: Kirti Bhanushali, Paul Franzon, Tim Pitts, W. Shepherd Pitts

  • 1st Place – $25,000 | Gradient Medical: ACE (Algorithmically Controlled Electrotherapy) to target and eliminate cancerous tumor cells.

Team members: Chris Fesmire, Darren Dasburg, Matt DeWitt, Michael Sano, Ross Petrella

  • 3rd Place (tied) – $10,000 | Baynano Technologies: Nano-crystal ink technology that can be applied to glass to make it automatically tint to save electricity.

Team members: Aram Amassian, Charles Tse, Milad AbolhasaniThe Daugherty Track at the eGames is made possible thanks to the following:

  • Richard and Marlene Daugherty Entrepreneurialism Endowment 
  • Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science
  • NC State Office of Partnerships
  • NC State Office of Research Commercialization

We also thank our wonderful judges.

A Special Thanks

To all of our Entrepreneurship Champion Partners!

IBM and Carimus are champion partners

We Also Thank

Our Entrepreneurship Advocate Partners!

Eastman chemical the variable and carimus are advocate level partners

Extraordinary Impact Awards were made possible thanks to the following supporters

Special thanks to all of the 2021 eGames Judges

  • Keith Vest – Finals Judge
  • Alagu Periyannan – Finals Judge
  • Donnie Goins – Finals Judge & Awards Announcer
  • David Gardner – Finals Judge
  • Bill Rollinson
  • David Spitz
  • Connor Regan
  • Nakyrah Radney
  • Emily Neville
  • Kelly Caldwell
  • Moaad Benkaraache
  • Ben Bradley
  • Catherina Gomes
  • Harish Kommera
  • Lily Ryzebol
  • Munish Gupta
  • Steven Guido
  • Matthew Pepe
  • Arvind Gupta
  • Maddie Hornsby
  • Sarah Deasy
  • Bryan Spitz
  • Tony Pease – Finals Judge
  • JiNan Glasgow George – Finals Judge
  • Patti Key – Finals Judge & Awards Announcer
  • Julie Gavaghan – Finals Judge
  • Greg Norton
  • Tayyab Hussain
  • Oz Merchant
  • John Petitte
  • Cheyenne Parsley
  • Sandeep Batta
  • Atul Mene
  • Prasanna Naik
  • Andrew Bowker
  • Shannon Kurtz
  • Ahmed F Osman
  • Lisa Schenkewitz
  • Jaspreet Singh
  • Brendan Michaelsen
  • Shraddha Rathod – Award announcer
  • Carolina Arias
  • Miles C. Wright
  • Mitch Moore
  • Catherina Gomes
  • Emily Neville
  • Monika Kondura
  • Liz Tracy
  • Jeyashree Haridoss
  • Jay Chen
  • Philip Freeman
  • Audrey Henderson
  • Johnny Davis
  • Nicholas Sailer
  • Stephen Smith
  • Griffin Geiger
  • Praneet Mocherla
  • Steven Guido
  • Chasta Hamilton – Award announcer
  • Annah Lee
  • Julia Caston
  • Ritika Shamdasani

2020 eGames Winners

Curious about last year’s eGames?

The week of April 20th, we hosted a series of live Facebook interviews with the winning teams to learn more about their ventures. During these live streams, we also took questions from the audience. Check out those interviews on-demand on our Youtube channel.

Congratulations to the 2020 eGames’ Winners:

  • 1st place – $5,000 | Sani: A South Asian fashion label focused on South Asian American women.

Team member: Ritika Shamdasani

  • 2nd place – $3,000 | The Salsa Underground Experience: Daniela Patiño’s exclusive Salsa party and movement for ‘Salsa dance nerds’

Team member: Daniela Patiño

  • 3rd place – $2,000 | Choir Baton: An online choral community to get #morepeoplesinging

Team member: Beth Philemon

  • 1st place – $5,000 | Saphai: Creating a sprayable coating that can make any surface self-cleaning when exposed to sunlight and rainwater

Team members: Cameryn Sharkey, Jack Timothy, Madelyn Mahl, Alex Persson, Jaspal Singh

  • 2nd place  – $3,000 | Summit Kinetics: Giving the freedom of movement back to those in need via a passive lower-body exoskeleton

Team members: Alyssa Cox, Amy Hogan, Ethan Eldridge, Jennifer Lo, Jacob Harris

  • 3rd place – $2,000 | Safe Crate: Dog crate aiming to reduce your pet’s anxiety during stressful times

Team members: Halen Mattison, Cloe Nichols, Justin Powers, Evan Grant, Jalen McGee

  • 1st place – $5,000 | Thermoelectrix: A thermoelectric ice brace that lessens the pain and swelling of injuries.

Team members: Om Doshi, Calvin Hawke, Vikramsheel Singh

  • 2nd place – $3,000| Seamless: A platform to make fashion e-commerce a joyful and engaging experience for shoppers.

Team members: Madeline Yun, Devin Junkins, Adithya Balaji, Svapnil Ankolkar, Rohith Yenumula

  • 3rd place – $2,000 | I/O: A seamless smart device that decreases phantom energy consumption when you are away.

Team members: Nathan Woodward, Matthew Panizza, Jesse Heidrich, Abhiroop Kollipara

  • 1st place – $10,000 | Kalia Health: A biotech startup dedicated to improving women’s health in low-resource settings.

Team member: Denali Dahl

  • 2nd place – $7,00 | Sani: A South Asian fashion label focused on South Asian American women.

Team member: Ritika Shamdasani

  • 3rd place – $5,000 | SafeCrate: Dog crate aiming to reduce your pet’s anxiety during stressful times

Team members: Halen Mattison, Cloe Nichols, Justin Powers, Evan Grant, Jalen McGee

  • 1st place – $5,000 | Summit Kinetics: Giving the freedom of movement back to those in need via a passive lower-body exoskeleton.

Team members: Alyssa Cox, Amy Hogan, Ethan Eldridge, Jennifer Lo, Jacob Harris

  • 2nd place – $3,000 | Sani: A South Asian fashion label focused on South Asian American women.

Team member: Ritika Shamdasani

  • 3rd place – $2,000 | Kalia Health: A biotech startup dedicated to improving women’s health in low-resource settings.

Team member: Denali Dahl

1st place – $25,000 – Photocide Protection: Environmentally friendly products that can disinfect a wide range of pathogens.

2nd Place – $15,000 – Vector Textiles: Fabrics designed to prevent mosquitoes from getting through to your skin.

3rd Place – $10,000 – Stitch Partners: Smoke remediation technology for use in confined spaces where venting is not an option.