2022 Completed

2022 NVC

Gen Z Technology and Sustainability

Awards

Category	Place	Team	Prize	Project
Grand Prize	Winner	Noveil Michael Allotey, Kendrick Barefield (co-founder per Arch Grants company directory)	$20,000	The first dating platform for Gen Z college students with no profiles and no swipes, designed to increase the number of matches and in-person dates a user receives.
Runner-Up	Winner	Enjovu Paper	$5,000	Sustainable paper produced from regenerated fibers in elephant feces.
Track Award (Consumer Services)	1st	Noveil Michael Allotey, Kendrick Barefield (co-founder per Arch Grants company directory)	$10,000	See Grand Prize Winner.
Track Award (Consumer Services)	2nd	SnapHealth Ashraf Hammouri	$5,000	Empowering patients to take back control over their health record data with a simple mobile application designed to improve the healthcare experience.
Track Award (Life Sciences)	1st	forMED Technologies Aryan Agarwal, Ruben Shakya, Raphael Francis Aguas, Lily McGrale, Kamalesh Ananthakrishnan	$10,000	An at-home, non-contact IOP (intraocular pressure) monitoring system that measures eye pressure daily to ensure medication effectiveness and prevent blindness.
Track Award (Life Sciences)	2nd	Sayenza Biosciences Derek A. Banyard, MD, MS, MBA (Founder & CEO; UCI School of Medicine alumnus), Jered B. Haun (Co-Founder; Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at UCI), Alan D. Widgerow (Co-Founder; UCI Center for Tissue Engineering)	$5,000	The industry's first fully-automated platform for the processing of liposuction fat, the largest source of adult stem cells in the body, for limitless point-of-care aesthetic and regenerative medicine applications.
Track Award (Business Products)	1st	Nutripair Catlin Tran (Founder & CEO; Business Economics '23; 2022 UCI Beall Creativity & Entrepreneurship Scholarship recipient), Bing Mo (UCI alum '21, co-founder)	$10,000	Everyday technology that pairs people with the best foods for their dietary preferences while helping restaurants raise revenues by 10% through menu management and allergen/nutrition analyses.
Track Award (Business Products)	2nd	EmpowerMi	$5,000	Technology-driven mental wellness platform.
Track Award (Consumer Products)	1st	HAI Yi-Ching (Wendy) Huang (CEO), Katrina Alberto (CMO), Ting-Ling (Tina) Kuo (CPO), Hsiao-Tung (Shelly) Liao (CFO), Tanaporn (Paul) Suwatnodom (COO), Pongthanit (Pong) Bisalputra	$10,000	Sustainable and fashionable jewelry for consumers who are looking for attractive, high-quality products that match their passion for an eco-friendly lifestyle.
Track Award (Consumer Products)	2nd	GaleGauge	$5,000	Golf training tool using wind/temp data to adjust swing calculations.
Track Award (Social Enterprise)	1st	Blue Aqua Food Tech Hamoon Shishechian (NVC presenter; co-founder), Kendyll Trenary (NVC presenter; COO), Agustine Pimentel (NVC presenter; consultant), Parham 'Bahar' Mansor Safain (co-founder; not a presenter at NVC per Sunstone)	$10,000	Developing an alternative protein for fish feed to help solve the global issue of fishmeal shortages and food waste mismanagement with the use of insects.
Track Award (Social Enterprise)	2nd	Enjovu Paper	$5,000	See Runner-Up Winner.

Primary source: Merage press release.

Judges

Final-round Shark Tank style panel. The NVC-2022-Report.pdf cites a total of 54 judges across all rounds.

Post-competition outcomes

• Noveil Operating Founder Michael Allotey (UCI 2021 CS graduate per Sunstone Founder Focus). Co-founder Kendrick Barefield named on Arch Grants company directory. Named to the Arch Grants 2022 cohort. Tracxn shows still active as of ea...
• Enjovu Paper No public outcome Sustainable paper from elephant-feces fibers. No findable company site, Crunchbase, or post-2022 traction.
• forMED Technologies No public outcome Continuous IOP (intraocular pressure) monitoring system. No Crunchbase, no surviving site, no follow-on funding traceable.
• Blue Aqua Food Tech Operating Site bafoodtech.com is live with insect-protein product page. Co-founders Hamoon Shishechian and Parham Mansor Safain (brothers-in-law) operating a black soldier fly farm. No announced funding round; appears pre-reven...
• Sayenza Biosciences Operating Clinical-stage adipose-tissue regenerative-medicine company. Raised ~$1.16M; joined California Life Sciences FAST Spring 2024 cohort; published 2025-trend commentary as recently as Q1 2025.
• Nutripair Operating Founder Catlin Tran's dietary-restriction restaurant-matching app received a $25K Verizon grant in 2025 and was profiled by UCI Social Sciences in March 2025.
• SnapHealth Pivoted mysnaphealth.com is operating (verified 2026-05-11) but its current product is a 'health coverage' platform (insurance) with a coverage calculator for families and broker tools. This is a pivot from the 2022 NVC conce...
• EmpowerMi No public outcome Technology-driven mental wellness platform. No traceable post-competition activity past 2022 award.
• HAI No public outcome Sustainable jewelry made from upcycled ocean plastic. No traceable post-competition activity.
• GaleGauge No public outcome Golf training tool using wind/temp data to adjust swing calculations. No traceable post-competition activity.