18 Teams Advance in the 2018 Social New Venture Challenge

On Wednesday, 18 teams advanced to the semifinals of the 2018 John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC).

The SNVC is the social impact track of the Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge (NVC), the University of Chicago’s nationally ranked accelerator program. The SNVC is run by Chicago Booth's Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation, along with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

The SNVC is the cornerstone of the university’s Edwardson Social Entrepreneurship Program, an initiative that jump-starts businesses and nonprofits focused on achieving social missions.

With the announcement, the teams advance to Phase II of the competition, during which they will work throughout Spring Quarter to launch a nonprofit or for-profit enterprise with a social mission at the core.

Finalists will compete on Tuesday, May 22, for $75,000 in venture funding, along with new prize money in 2018.

2018 SNVC Teams:

AIM Clinics provides evidence-based Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy to children with autism in rural parts of the US. (School affiliation: Booth, Harris)

Akadi Solar makes home solar available to the rural and low-income communities of Ghana through the introduction of financing, utilizing mobile money for payments. (Booth)

Block Club is a socially-conscious apparel company that aims to combat Chicago’s gun violence by providing work opportunities for at-risk young men via contract manufacturing, screen printing services, and original design opportunities. (Booth)

Compass provides a secure networking platform that allows undocumented immigrants to find social and legal support, empowering attorneys to get a head start on cases and clients to save on legal costs. (Booth, SSA, Law School)

Digivise is a guidance counseling technical platform that assists high school students with identifying and achieving their post-secondary goals. (Booth)

DuSable Farms is an active partner in the development and operation of the agricultural processing business of Fermes DuSable near Jeremie, Haiti, providing investment professional assistance and marketing for Haitian and international wholesale buyers. (Booth)

Esperanza is a microfinance company focused on giving unbanked and underdeveloped communities access to competitive credit options via an easy-to-use platform to ensure transparency and facilitate growth and development. (Booth)

Fiduscript is a digital technology company that aims to create sustainable solutions for substance abuse prevention. (Harris, SSA)

Gather Activism is a centralized platform for political activism, curating progressive political events, organizations, actions, and campaigns onto mobile and web applications and sorting them by issue. (College)

GoodWorks is a cooperative dedicated to the needs of independent workers, assembling training, legal, and financial supports for members to promote their collective capacity to seek meaningful and stable work. (Booth)

Innovate for Impact gives social service organizations tools to measure program delivery and effectiveness by analyzing models and identifying the most impactful outcome metrics to personalize services, improve programming, and help secure more funding. (Booth)

Mighty is a community impact marketplace that allows people, small businesses, and community organizations to compare banking choices by industry impact metrics and to track the performance of their impact banking portfolio, starting with money in deposit accounts. (Graham, College)

Pavan is a platform that allows urban Indians to monitor air quality by educating users about air pollution, providing personalized tips to protect themselves, and streamlining purchase of effective anti-pollution products. (College)

Roibooks is a web-based platform that helps school staff, especially educators in under-resourced urban schools, connect students with opportunities for self-expression and learning beyond curriculum. (Booth, GSAL)

Shakti is a targeted mobile application designed to provide women in Bengaluru, India, with legal information (regardless of literacy levels) by capitalizing on the prevalence of smartphones. (Harris)

Unbreakable is a 10-week, anti-bullying online video program that focuses on empowering youth and improving their self-confidence using scientifically proven psychological techniques, including cognitive behavior therapy, diet-nutrition, motivation, strength-training, cardio exercise, and self-defense. (Booth)

VouchCircle is a social networking platform for job referrals in the low-to mid-skill labor market that aims to lower employee turnover rates and provide feedback to jobseekers during the recruiting process. (Booth)

Yelaane Health will provide communities in Mali with effective, quality, and affordable diagnostic services essential to the health and well-being of expectant mothers and their fetuses. (Booth, Harris)

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