The UH Ventures Accelerator, powered by the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE), selected five Hawaiʻi startups for its spring 2020 cohort. Designed for early-stage, University of Hawaiʻi-affiliated ventures across 10 campuses, the accelerator provides tailored mentorship, intensive startup education and seed funding. Four of the five startups selected address challenges associated with COVID-19.
“When we selected the companies at the end of last year, we had no idea that our reality would be so different today,” said PACE Executive Director Peter Rowan. “It’s exciting to be able to assist these promising startups scale their solutions to solve real challenges we’re facing because of COVID-19. The team of instructors, mentors, advisors and speakers we assembled bring together a wealth of knowledge and experience that will help this cohort gain traction and realize their potential.”
“During the application and selection process, we were most encouraged by the diversity of startups being built by students, alumni, faculty and staff across the 10 campuses within the UH System,” said UH Office of Innovation and Commercialization Interim Director Steve Auerbach. “We look forward to supporting more entrepreneurial activity to help our economy get back on track after the current crisis.”
The companies chosen for the spring 2020 cohort:
- Hawaii Innovation Lab—Led by Hawaii Natural Energy Institute post doctoral fellow Arif Rahman, the company develops low-cost, liquid metal, optical coating for flexible mirrors.
- Pharmacist First—Led by Shidler MBA alumnus Colby Takeda, the company provides a telehealth service that partners a clinical pharmacist team with primary care providers to better manage chronic disease.
- Radial3D—Led by Shidler alumnus Evan Young, the company delivers 3D clinical lab experiences to medical schools online.
- RendezView—Led by PhD computer science student Alberto Gonzalez, the company offers an online meeting platform that helps remote workers collaborate, create and edit in sync.
- Selective HA—Led by Honolulu Community College student Zoe Pastorfiled-Li, the startup began in 2019 and aims to utilize fashion waste and other aloha wear fabrics to make reusable, fashionable face masks.
More information and applications for the next cohort are available at this website.
