�鶹��Ѱ�����

Twelve University of Colorado research teams competed for a combined $1.6 million in startup funding grants in this year’s Lab Venture Challenge (LVC). Judges from CU's entrepreneurial network heard Shark Tank-style pitches across two nights at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, one for innovations in biosciences and another for physical sciences and engineering.

Through LVC, top innovators from �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs can compete for grants to fund projects that address a commercial need, have a clear path to a compelling market and have strong scientific support. The , with matching funds from Venture Partners at �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder.

This culminating event for these groundbreaking teams showcased the university’s initiative to support innovators from discovery to economic success. Venture Partners at �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder runs LVC, the university’s commercialization arm and central resource for researchers who want to translate their work into impactful business and social ventures. As part of the LVC program, all the competitors worked with Venture Partners to protect their innovations and practice their funding pitches for business audiences. LVC awardees will continue to work and collaborate with Venture Partners on their path to commercialization.

"At this early stage, funding is essential, but can be a challenge to obtain," said Joshua Bennett, director of LVC and assistant director of licensing at Venture Partners. "All of these teams have promising innovations ready to launch new businesses. LVC is a unique opportunity for those innovators to receive that vital funding, and we’re proud to work with the State of Colorado to make it happen."

Remarkable science to the stage

One biosciences winning team is growing stem cells for blood cancer treatment in microgravity, where cells float freely instead of being stirred by machines, with the goal of producing enough umbilical cord blood cells to treat adult patients. Another found that removing a single protein from the immune cells that shield triple-negative breast cancer shrank tumors in mice and drew cancer-killing T cells into them.��

On the physical sciences side, Ptarmigan Clockworks is turning optical clocks, among the most precise timekeepers ever built, from one-of-a-kind lab instruments into devices that can be manufactured at scale. Fortifyd’s 3D-printed helmet liners withstood up to 10 times more impact than conventional foams of the same density in peer-reviewed research. Other teams are building a stretchy liquid-metal “electronic skin” that maps pressure inside prosthetic sockets to catch painful fit problems early, a chip-scale atomic clock that transforms light energy into sound waves, and an MRI technique that spots cartilage breakdown years before it shows up on standard scans.

From research to real-world impact

To date, LVC has funded over 155 projects through more than 81 new deep-tech startup companies; collectively, these companies have raised over $691 million in follow-on financing.

Two past LVC winners returned to the showcases to share progress updates.��

, a 2025 biosciences winner, is developing obesity treatments inspired by an appetite-suppressing compound the team discovered in python blood, and has since closed a $750,000 pre-seed funding round.��

Mesa Quantum, a 2023 physical sciences winner led by CEO Sristy Agrawal, builds chip-scale atomic clocks and quantum sensors that provide precise timing and navigation when GPS is jammed or unavailable. The company has raised nearly $16 million in venture funding as it moves toward volume manufacturing.

Early support from LVC can carry a lab discovery a long way. This year, Forge Nano announced plans to go public, making it �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder’s 11th "unicorn," meaning a startup valued at $1 billion or more while still privately held. Its atomic-scale coating technology, now used in batteries and AI-era chipmaking, traces back to ALD NanoSolutions, a �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder spinout that received early funding through the �鶹��Ѱ�����and OEDIT partnership that later became LVC.��

As this year’s teams take their innovations from the lab toward the market, the next Forge Nano may already be among them.

This year’s LVC was additionally made possible by , , , , , , and

Photo Credits: Monico Candelaria

2026 Physical Sciences Winners