Announcing the 2023 John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge Finalists

Seven mission-driven teams with innovative ideas, including reducing packaging waste, providing critical access to healthcare services, and increasing employee ownership, will advance to the John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC) Finals on Tuesday, May 23. The teams were selected from 17 Phase II ventures.

Student finalists will compete for at least $150,000 in startup capital during the 13th annual Edwardson SNVC, which is the social impact track of the University of Chicago’s nationally ranked business launch program, the New Venture Challenge. Hosted by the Rustandy Center and the Polsky Center, the SNVC has jump-started more than 150 game-changing, mission-driven ventures who have raised more than $165 million. 

Congratulations to the 2023 SNVC finalists: 

Hibiscus Health provides urgent and accessible therapeutic interventions for new parents suffering from perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.

Orca is a last-mile shipping company for ecommerce food brands. Through an innovative “circular delivery” model, Orca recovers and reuses cold-chain materials to eliminate harmful waste and reduce costs for its partners.

OUDoc is a medical group of addiction medicine specialists that focus on providing scalable, effective, evidence-based treatment for OUD. They intervene telehealth-first, in the hospital inpatient and emergency department settings, and provide ongoing continuity of care through patient stabilization.

Period is a subscription based digital outreach and legal correspondence platform, paid for by attorneys and advocates, that gives incarcerated people free access to legal assistance and advocacy by matching them with attorneys who can review cases for innocence and post-conviction claims, and with influential advocates who can lead public campaigns

The Good Village is an app that coaches people to eat more of what's good instead of throwing it away, so that they can protect this village we call earth.

The Support Network empowers college students across the country to create an inclusive community and support each other’s identity, mental wellbeing, and day-to-day lives through peer-facilitated groups and bi-weekly community events. They work with student leaders and administrators to launch effective peer-to-peer support models.

Valued is a platform that helps business owners exit and employees own. They connect selling owners with a curated selection of capital partners. Owners receive a market rate return on their business and provide the life-changing opportunity of ownership for their workers.

Register to attend the 2023 SNVC Finals in person at the Harper Center or tune in online.

This event is open to all members of the UChicago community and the general public. 

The SNVC is the cornerstone of the Rustandy Center’s Edwardson Social Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Chicago, an initiative named in recognition of a 2016 gift by John Edwardson, ’72, retired chairman and CEO of CDW and co-chair of Advance Illinois.