7/5/2020 Carly Defilippo, Illinois ECE
An Illinois ECE student-led startup is working to redefine how people wake up to help improve their sleep experience. With the help of iVenture, TAVO is developing a SmartAlarm wristband to wake users during light sleep to promote a productive and energetic morning.
Written by Carly Defilippo, Illinois ECE
URBANA, IL - A new Illinois ECE student-led start-up is redefining the way people wake up to improve their sleep experience. The start-up was recently welcomed into iVenture’s sixth cohort. From technology innovations to social ventures and cultural campaigns, iVenture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a competitive educational accelerator for top student startups.
TAVO started to combine science and technology for a better wakeup in January 2019. The TAVO SmartAlarm wristband uses machine learning to wake users in light sleep and promote a productive and energetic morning. iVenture has helped TAVO’s SmartAlarm thrive in the start-up culture, according to Michael Zheng (BSEE ’20). “What I personally enjoy the most about iVenture and their supportive start-up culture is the excitement of physically creating something from scratch that you know will directly improve someone’s life for the better,” Zheng said.
Michael Zheng, TAVO’s software engineer, says that TAVO was born in the midst of friendship and the team has found ways to help each other tackle challenges.“ Tadas Kunickas, Lukas Kulbis, Alex Sirakides, and I all initially met through life as friends. Kunickas (BS TSM ‘21) and Kulbis (BS CS Eng ‘20) are the creators of the product idea. They needed help to physically engineer and develop the technical aspects of the product and that’s where Sirakides (BSEE ‘21) and I come into the picture,” stated Zheng.
“iVenture Accelerator at the University of Illinois is a capstone entrepreneurship experience for our campus’ most ambitious student startups and projects – and provides them knowledge, funding, mentorship, peer support, and resources necessary to grow and scale,” Sarah Brincks, Community Engagement Fellow with iVenture Accelerator, explained.
Due to its success, iVenture is a highly competitive program. From the 40 ventures that applied, only 11 ventures were accepted to this year’s sixth cohort. Among the 11 ventures, 9 ventures are from the Grainger College of Engineering, including ECE’s student-led startup, TAVO.
To read more about the 11 ventures who have been welcomed to iVenture’s sixth cohort, visit iVenture Accelerator-Startups and visit TAVO’s portfolio to read more about the team and their journey iVenture Accelerator-Tavo.