TULSA, Okla., Nov. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ten University of Tulsa student teams competed Friday in a "Shark Tank"-style pitch competition for a chance to earn thousands of dollars to further develop their entrepreneurial ideas.

This was the second year for the Hurricane Pitch Competition, which brought together interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate students to pitch their companies to judges. Cosponsor Regent Bank put up $25,000 in prize money.

The undergraduate competition winner was Tally, an eco-friendly and privacy-focused receipt management solution. The graduate category winner was G&J Sensing Solutions, which seeks to mitigate harmful gas emissions – particularly methane – using micro-sensor technology. Each winning team received $7,500.

Leah Saucedo, a finance junior and CEO of Tally, said the team will begin developing the product. "We have been able to showcase our business to the broader community, so that they know what's happening here at TU," she said. "The competition was great, and I'm just so grateful and excited that I have such a supportive school and opportunity to be able to do this."

The second place undergraduate prize of $3,500 was awarded to Living Water Aquaponics, which grows lettuce, microgreens and tilapia in a climate-controlled greenhouse, providing high-quality food to upscale restaurants and grocery stores in Tulsa. Third place and a $1,500 check went to Aura Patch, which aims to transform epilepsy care through the development of an innovative micro-sweat biomarker patch.

Gerardo Vera, CEO of G&J Sensing Solutions, is a UTulsa Cyber Fellow and pursuing a doctorate in cyber studies. He said the prize money will fund prototypes. Initially, Vera said, the team was simply trying to advance science, "but when we heard about an opportunity to go further, [we thought] maybe we can create it for ourselves and also contribute to the country, to the environment, to the economy as a whole."

In the graduate division, second place and $3,500 went to Havita, which utilizes artificial intelligence to help users use optimize goals during sleep. Third place and $1,500 was awarded to Auximotus, whose flagship product is an adaptive robotic head-neck rehabilitation system.

Many of the businesses are socially minded, including Tastify, an app that, among other things, seeks to reduce food waste and improve nourishment in lower income households.

In addition to Regent Bank, other cosponsors included JOLT and Hurricane Ventures, which are housed in UTulsa's Collins College of Business.