Student Entrepreneurs Win Big in Klaus Startup Challenge Finale

With more than half a million dollars at stake, it’s no surprise that nearly 160 student teams entered the College of Computing’s sixth annual Klaus Startup Challenge.

The competition to win one of four $150,000 startup investments began in February and ended in April when 17 teams pitched their startup concepts to judges at a live Demo Day event held on April 22.

“The Klaus Startup Challenge was a huge success, and we were thrilled with the level of participation and energy in the room,” said Tamar Wilkins, event organizer and GT Computing academic program manager.

She added that the event showcases the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit within the College of Computing community, and provides students with access to workshops, mentors, and networking opportunities with alumni, founders, and industry leaders.

“The startup challenge is designed to help students move beyond the classroom to begin building real-world solutions through customer discovery, mentorship, pitch development, and startup storytelling.”

From the arts to healthcare, this year’s startup challenge highlighted a range of innovative ideas and technologies from student founders. The winning teams were:

• Ensemble – Co-founders Jahnavi Bhansali and Juhi Bhatia created Ensemble to provide organizations with awareness of potential outcomes before decisions are made.
• MyObra – Developed by Fernando Reyes, MyObra is home-service management software that combines job scheduling, invoicing, estimates, digital signatures, and customer management into a single platform for contractors.
• Kairos Health – Co-founders TanushChintala, Sanjana Kavula, and Adhira Tippur developed Kairos Health as an AI-powered patient intake and front-desk automation platform built for dental offices and clinics.
• Sway Formations – Created by founder Arnav Chokshi and teammates Yash Shelar and Heet Shah, Sway Formations is an AI-powered formation builder that enables dance teams, choreographers, production managers, and others to create, share, and teach complex group formations and movements.

Each winning team received $150,000 in funding support from Fusen World, a platform founded in 2022 by Christopher Klaus, Fusen World CEO, GT alumnus, technology entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Fusen was launched to empower student founders worldwide to successfully launch and grow their startups.

Along with Klaus, the judges for this year’s startup challenge were:

• Joe Uhl – partner at Dogwood Ventures, GT Computing advisory board member
• Margaret Weniger – CREATE-X director of entrepreneurial programs
• Katrina Montinola – fractional and interim CTO, CAIO with True Sage LLC and EV2X.AI, GT alumna (ICS 1988), GT Computing advisory board member

To be eligible for the Klaus Startup Challenge, at least one co-founder for each team must be a current GT Computing student.