By GREGORY ZELLER //
One of Long Island’s great collegiate-level innovation competitions staged its Spring 2025 installment last week – and, as usual, it did not disappoint.
Now in its 13th year, the Hofstra-Digital Remedy Venture Challenge rolled out an impressive collection of groundbreaking student ideas, with creative and compassionate competitors showcasing technologies and techniques focused largely on health and wellness.
The competition finals – held March 14 at ideaHUb, the 4,800-square-foot business incubator housing Hofstra University’s Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, part of the Frank G. Zarb School of Business – featured a “Shark Tank”-style competition, with student entrepreneurs pitching their concepts (and in some cases ready-to-roll physical products) to a high-profile panel of judges and substantial cash awards on the line.
The First Place award – a $15,000 business-development stipend, plus 10 one-hour mentoring sessions with competition founder Mike Seiman – went to PetWatch, a durable wearable device that monitors a dog’s general health, created by finance major Megan Maragliano.
Richard Hayes: Experience preferred.
The March 14 finale was the culmination of a months-long competition that included open online submissions (including video presentations); the selection of finalists, who were required to produce executive summaries of their products or ideas; and the tense on-stage showdown.
Hosted by the Zarb School of Business and sponsored by New York City-based media-technology company Digital Remedy – a digital-solutions provider Hofstra graduate Seiman founded while he was still a student at the Hempstead-based university – the Venture Challenge is “a powerful example of cross-disciplinary innovation and entrepreneurial spirit that thrives across our campus,” according to Zarb School Dean Janet Lenaghan.
“Thanks to the ongoing support of alumnus Mike Seiman, students from all academic backgrounds have the opportunity to showcase their innovations, receive meaningful feedback from experienced professionals and access critical resources to help turn their vision into reality,” Lenaghan added. “Mike’s involvement also underscores the strength of our alumni network and their unwavering commitment to supporting the next generation of Hofstra innovators.”
Second Place – a $6,000 business-development award plus five Seiman-led mentoring sessions – went to Mindbloom AI, a next-generation wellness platform envisioning 24/7 artificial intelligence-agent therapy and self-care tools to help users proactively manage their mental health.
Computer science majors Katherine Jijo and Aisha Ahmad are planning to launch the platform later this year, with Jijo – who is scheduled to begin work as a PricewaterhouseCoopers data scientist this summer – noting in-the-works plans for strategic-development partnerships and expanded AI capabilities.
“The support we received at Hofstra – from faculty guidance to coursework in software engineering and machine learning – gave us the foundation to bring this vision to life,” the entrepreneur added.
The health-and-wellness motif was evident throughout this latest Venture Challenge. Third Place ($4,000 and three mentoring sessions) went to Vibraline, a bracelet that uses gentle vibrations to synchronize heart rates and reduce anxiety, while the competition’s Social Entrepreneurship Prize ($500) went to Sustainabites, a mobile app designed to help students purchase discounted surplus food from campus dining facilities.
Judgment day: Judges (from left) Leota Blacknor, Allon Avgi and Michael Seiman call the shots at the Spring 2025 Hofstra-Digital Remedy Venture Challenge.
Joining Seiman to judge the Spring 2025 installment were Allon Avgi, founder and CEO of Bellmore-based real estate investment firm AVGI, and Hofstra University Entrepreneur in Residence Leota Blacknor, a 25-year music-industry veteran.
While the Venture Challenge always boils down to a nailbiter on-stage faceoff, “the competition is about more than pitching a business,” according to Associate Professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship Richard Hayes, executive director of the Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
“It’s about problem-solving, creative thinking and turning ideas into impact,” Hayes added. “These students are launching startups while they’re still in college.
“That’s the power of experiential learning.”
