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Food, Ag and Social Enterprise Innovations Make a Big Bang!

Promising Startups Showcase Ventures in 嘿嘿视频 Business Competition

Big Bang! winners with giant check
Terry Han, left, and Neil Ray of Raydiant Oximetry Inc. took the $10,000 first prize in Big Bang! for a fetal oximeter. (Karin Higgins/嘿嘿视频 photo)

The makers of an advanced fetal monitor, Raydiant Oximetry Inc., won the $10,000 first prize in the 17th annual 嘿嘿视频 Big Bang! Business Competition on Thursday (May 25).

The goal of the company is to reduce medically unnecessary C-sections, which can create health complications for millions of babies and mothers each year and increase health care costs. The team鈥檚 innovation is an oximeter that measures both oxygen saturation and heart rate for mother and baby.

Neil Ray, an anesthesiologist at the 嘿嘿视频 Medical Center and Raydiant鈥檚 chief medical officer, said participating in the Big Bang! 鈥 including 鈥渓earning from the experts about how to start a business, evaluate the market, listen to customers and deliver a successful presentation鈥 鈥 was invaluable. Raydiant will use the prize money for additional product development, starting with more human and animal clinical trials.

Second place team
Lisa Illes and Delaney Ridenour of Chromatiscope demonstrate their work on a device to boost students' scientific literacy at a low price. (Karin Higgins/嘿嘿视频 photo)

A team of seven undergraduates and recent alumni from 嘿嘿视频, UC Berkeley and UC Merced, making up Chromatiscope, won the $5,000 second prize.

Chromatiscope aims to boost students鈥 scientific literacy by combining four specialized laboratory devices for spectrometry, colorimetry, microscopy and fluorimetry into a single, easy-to-use device that costs just $40 to $70 instead of the usual thousands of dollars. The result: More students can afford the experiences necessary to excel in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

The People鈥檚 Choice Award, given to the team by vote of the audience at the ceremony, was , a web-based platform that connects high school and college athletes with NCAA-experienced coaches.

About $40,000 in cash additionally was awarded to top concepts addressing biomedical innovation, global poverty alleviation, and innovation in food and agriculture 鈥 all leading research areas at 嘿嘿视频. Thursday鈥檚 event judged a field that was narrowed from 70 entries.

Other prizes include:

  • Two teams 鈥 FloraPulse and ReNew Foods 鈥 split the Gowan Co. and AGR Challenge Award, each receiving $5,000. The award recognizes ventures that demonstrate excellent promise to do 鈥渕ore with less鈥 with water, fertilizer, pesticides/herbicides and other food/agriculture resources.
  •  received the $4,000 Biomedical Innovation Award, sponsored by the 嘿嘿视频 Office of Research, School of Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine and College of Engineering. 
  • received the $3,000 Innovation in Food and Agriculture Award, sponsored by the 嘿嘿视频 World Food Center. The startup identifies operation logistics inefficiencies in real time for growers to capture profits.
  • The Berkeley-based  received the $3,000 Global Poverty Alleviation Award presented by the 嘿嘿视频 Blum Center for Developing Economies. Reach 1600 has developed a free, adaptive SAT prep program for students from underserved communities that the foundation鈥檚 marketing director, Rosie Fan, describes as one solution in 鈥渢he fight for equal access to resources for higher education.鈥

The Big Bang! provides workshops, mentorship, financing guidance and networking opportunities to accelerate commercialization and advance the startup process. Organized and run by the  at 嘿嘿视频, it is open to the university鈥檚 students, faculty, researchers and staff as well as to the general public.

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Media Resources

Marianne Skoczek, 嘿嘿视频 Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, cell 415-425-0878, mskoczek@ucdavis.edu

Karen Nikos-Rose, 嘿嘿视频 News and Media Relations, 530-219-5472, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu

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