The field of five student teams has been set for UC Santa Barbara’s Technology Management Department’s 2022 New Venture Competition (NVC) Finals. Organizers selected Metabowlife, Rapsyn, Raveival, Refillr, and VizNet to advance to the finals, where they will compete for more than $40,000 in cash prizes. The five finalists were among the twelve multi-disciplinary teams that competed last month during the 23rd Annual New Venture Fair, a tradeshow-like event that featured product demonstrations and poster board presentations. 

Set for 3 p.m. on Thursday, May 19 in Corwin Pavilion, the 23rd Annual NVC Finals will serve as the culmination of the Technology Management’s NVC, in which students from all academic disciplines work for eight months to develop innovative start-up business plans. Each team will pitch their products and business plans to the audience and answer questions from judges. Registration for the event, which is free and open to the public, is required and can be completed online here.  

Descriptions of the finalists are included below:

Metabowlite provides accurate, easy-to-understand metrics on metabolic capacity, and effectively communicates how well your body is breaking down and, in-turn, utilizing nutrients. The team’s initial target market is patients suffering from urinary tract infections (UTIs) in a senior-care environment. 

RapSyn is a rapid biomanufacturing platform that enables protein production facilities to significantly improve their manufacturing yields, reduce production costs, and delay costly infrastructure expansion. RapSyn leverages bacteriophages, or viruses that infects and replicate within bacteria and archaea, to innovate new biomanufacturing pipelines and enable higher productivity.

Raveival is a two-sided platform that provides a tailored shopping experience for second-hand and music festival apparel.

Refillr is a fully-serviced modular fluid dispensing system with UV sanitization capabilities that makes it fun and easy for consumers, retailers, and brands to participate in the sustainable practice of beauty product refilling and, thus, reducing plastic waste.

VizNet is the most accurate online dive report and forecasting service. It allows customers to check ocean visibility conditions in their area before they dive, snorkel or swim.