Meet the 23 startup teams in our Company Launch program at Lassonde Studios for spring 2022. Find a complete list below. They are working in areas ranging from hair products to food waste.
Company Launch offers these startups office space at Lassonde Studios, cohort gatherings, workshops, staff coaches, professional consultants, and more. All students at the University of Utah are welcome to apply to join the program. Startups are admitted every semester.
The program is managed by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and sponsored by Zions Bank.
Learn more and apply to join the program at lassonde.utah.edu/launch.
Spring 2022 Startup Teams
2-Go Instant Mart – 2-Go Instant Mart is a mini convenience store that will carry snacks and instant meals from Asian brands for students and faculty to have. It will offer a quick snack or meal inspired by Asian convenience stores. It will bring international students a feeling of home and others a great experience.
Argus Entertainment – Argus Entertainment provides DJ and audiovisual production services to the Wasatch Front and beyond, primarily serving weddings, school dances, and private events. Launched in 2020 amidst a global pandemic, Argus Entertainment understands the ever-changing needs of the event production industry and is constantly evolving to meet those needs. From intimate 30-guest weddings to 6,000-person concerts, Argus Entertainment handles audiovisual needs in a variety of sectors and capacities.
Camspire – Created to spread awareness for suicide and mental health. The mission of the company is to ease the conversation of mental health, provide coping skills, and create a community of supporters.
Carpe Zen Productions – A production, content and marketing studio.
Cecelia – Cecilia is an app to better connect artists with work, as well as help network artists with other artists. On the buying end, finding an artist is needlessly complicated. A buyer must go through personal connections to find the specific talent they need or they have to do endless research to find an artist. There are apps, like Fiverr, that make it easy for buyers to find artists, but these are middleman transactional sites. They will not allow artists meeting with clients because then there is no need for Fiverr to host the transaction. Cecilia is not a transactional site but rather a community of artists and clients.
Cortex Evolution – Their mission is to create a community where people passionate about self-improvement learn from an expert and from each other how to better learn, think, and act. They cultivate greater personal growth, life success, and happiness. They are pioneering new methods to make personal development systematic, effective, and enjoyable for two audience segments: people sick of unproven, ineffective “”self-help”” strategies and people sick of trying to do it alone, which is often lonely and ineffective.
Eden – By monitoring and recording the natural forces relative to sustaining plant life in any living space, the Eden app makes the perfect recommendations on what to plant, how to plant, and where to plant to make the most of the potential energy available, after considering all the factors. Eden will incorporate a wide array of home and gardening features so that any plant enthusiast can turn their humble abode into a humming botanical garden.
explorWell – A company providing online fitness coaching and private yoga instruction. Your best resource for becoming your healthiest and best self. Let’s make your goals reality!
Foam – The DoorDash for your laundry, Foam is an innovative, direct-to-consumer laundry service for students living on campus. Their mission is to make laundry as straightforward and stress-free as possible, all while disrupting the traditional “communal laundry” facilities found in high-density living areas – especially within universities as, in essence, they are some of the largest landlords.
Foodrush – Foodrush solves food waste and provides a benefit to both stores and consumers. Instead of sold throwing their unsold food, they can sell it to consumers at a cheaper rate. Stores are able to earn additional income from that food which would otherwise be thrown away. On the other hand, consumers are able to acquire that food at a discounted rate. It eliminates food waste, both stores and consumers have a win win situation.
FullFeel – An online marketplace for homemade food that allows people to turn their home into a food business.
Highborn Leather – Highborn Leather is dedicated to making timeless, high-quality leather products that are made-to-order by hand. They pride themselves in their passion about recapturing the timelessness of classic leather goods for people that appreciate heirloom quality products.
Innovation Central – This company develops cutting-edge outdoor solutions. Currently, it is developing a hammock incorporating an air pad to insulate campers.
Keyvan Kash Art – A company dedicated to supporting local artists with extraordinary talents and giving them a better chance and working to spread the voice of many unrecognized visual artists.
Kurl Up – Kurl Up is a sulfate-free, multicultural, and vegan haircare brand for people with very curly hair. Curly consumers have lacked substantial haircare in the past. Haircare has advanced a lot but leaves curly hair out of the conversation, even though data shows curly consumers are willing to spend twice as much as people with straight hair. While big brands are partnering with go-green projects, adding cruelty free labels and cutting costs while doing it, curly haircare has remained mostly the same since it hit mainstream shelves in early 2000s. Kurl Up is giving curly consumers more ethical options with fair trade ingredients, vegan, and cruelty free formulations, and they strive to drive costs down to be more affordable.
Little Wanderers – Little Wanderers Studios is an entertainment company focused on making quality video games that break existing conventions as well as creating memorable, intimate, and thought-provoking experiences. They hope that through their games they can engage players on a deeper level and inspire them to innovate and seize their own opportunities to uplift and educate others.
Mura – Mura is a smart science-based productivity wellness planner designed (primarily) for students. Driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, Mura brings together functionality from a calendar, planner, task app (to-do list), habit tracker, project management app, goalkeeper, wellness log, and meditation hub all in one modern, digital platform. Coming soon to mobile.
Namadik Living – Namadik Living is a centralized platform of furnished apartments across the United States enabling tenants to live anywhere for any duration of time within the network. Future tenants joining the network will be able to view available listings, apply, and book apartments within minutes. Tenants in the network enjoy the benefits of fully furnished apartments, and an unparalleled ability to move seamlessly across the country under the same lease.
REP – REP will offer consumers a multi-gym application-based pass to access a large variety and quantity of independently owned gyms. Offering users a choice of unique atmospheres, special equipment, and conveniently available locations in every corner of each city REP is present. REP is a hyper-scalable, low maintenance, and low-cost business model. Paired within the REP app will be a niche social media for fitness; allowing influencers, gym goers, supplement companies, and many more to connect with a target audience and a community that shares common goals.
Revive – Plastic waste is continuously collecting in landfills. Much of this waste can be reduced by taking advantage of reusable products, such as silverware. Revive is working on creating reusable utensil sets that attach to everyday items in order to encourage the elimination of single use plastic. The hope is that its containers will be easily portable, and therefore on hand for everyday use.
SadieB Personal Care – SadieB is a personal care company for Gen Z girls with a social mission of empowering girls through products that focus on their abilities, accomplishments and goodness rather than the look they are trying to achieve. It will launch with shampoos, conditioners, body washes and body sprays. SadieB is founded, led and operated by girls with a girl’s P.O.V. Through products, opportunities and voice our purpose is to empower every girl to be an unstoppable force for good.
Trips – Trips aims to provide the fashion industry with authentic art and design on quality garments that undercut the market prices set by brands that dominate the fashion industry. A huge aspect that provides value to the customer is the original art from the founder. The brand inspires and promotes hard work and authentic visual arts and ideas.
Whop – Whop is an acronym: we heart our pets. This is a one-of-a-kind service that will provide quality, mindful, and sustainable products that are hand-selected to cater to each pet’s personality. Whop will prioritize working with small and local businesses that align with our values over bigger companies. They are striving to create a business that customers feel good about, and are building a community of pet lovers rather than focusing on maximizing profit.
