The grand prize winner of Thursday’s UCSB New Venture Competition was Milo, a student startup producing the first-ever wearable sensor to monitor a person’s blood alcohol content. Team members include UCSB students Evan Strenk, left, Daniel Imberman, Bob Lansdrop and adviser Netzahvalcoyotl Arroyo (not pictured). (Gina Potthoff / Noozhawk photo)

Young entrepreneurs tried to impress judges with a cricket powder recipe, video-conferencing tool and more, but the students who created a wearable blood-alcohol sensor walked away with top honors Thursday at UC Santa Barbara’s New Venture Competition.

Six student teams involved in the university’s Technology Management Program — spanning all majors and college-education levels — competed as finalists in the yearlong contest that culminates with great business ideas, cash prizes and bragging rights in a program that has historically produced several successful startups.


Not to mention the fact that UCSB students got to present pitches in front of an audience of hundreds of potential investors, academics and promising mentors.

Milo ran away with the most money during the 16th annual event Thursday evening, taking home the grand prize and raking in $20,000 overall.

The team of Evan Strenk, Daniel Imberman, Bob Lansdorp and adviser/post-doctoral student Netzahvalcoyotl Arroyo won the heart of the audience and the panel of judges with a pitch for a Fitbit-type wristband that monitored alcohol consumption levels by detecting the amount the wearer sweats — and letting the individual set alerts to say when enough is enough.

“These products have the potential to save lives,” said Imberman, a master’s student in computer science. “There is a very wide potential for this product.”

Milo earned the $2,500 People’s Choice Prize from attendee voters and first place in the tech-driven category, tallying another $7,500.

A panel of expert judges asked students to defend their ideas, questioning them about revenue, operational costs and where certain device materials were made.

Because the finalists were more competitive than ever, TMP department director Bob York said, judges decided to dole out two second-place awards instead of any third places in each category: tech-driven and market pull.

New Venture

Insiight placed first in the market pull category. Pictured here are UCSB student team members Katie Koehler and Rush Patel. (Gina Potthoff / Noozhawk photo)

Chemoguard Diagnostics was the second-biggest winner of the night, tying for a second place $3,500 tech-driven award and earning another $5,000 from the Elings Prize. Brett Cook, Alex Sercel, Dayton Horvath and Letitia Mueller spearheaded that business, which offered personalized toxicity screening of chemotherapy treatments.

The team of Ph.D. students Katie Koehler, Rush Patel and Mathieu Rodrigue came in third best overall — earning a $7,500 first-place award in the market pull category — as a software company that uses online eye-tracking to improve marketing. 

Chuckles could be heard from the crowd during the presentation from Slightly Nutty, a group that aimed to use a sustainable “cricket powder” as a protein and flour ingredient substitute.

After teammates offered judges a cricket protein bar and explained what makes a cricket organic — the insect consumes organic materials — they tied for second place in the market pull category, earning $3,500.

Slightly Nutty tied with Sesamo, which developed an app that connects a hotel key to a person’s smartphone.

Caugnate, a video conferencing tool designed for space-to-space collaboration, earned one of the tech-driven, second-place $3,500 awards.

For a complete list of student finalists, click here.

— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.