BioMex, a health-tech start-up pioneering advanced biocompatible mesh fabrics engineered for open-wounds and surgeries, took first place and $20,000 at the BerQ RNG Business Plan Competition.
Founded by Michigan State University students Tanvi Gadamsetti and Madhav Aggarwal, the venture’s flagship product, BioMesh X® is a micro-structured surgical fabric designed to maintain a fixed position during medical procedures. The mesh is breathable, and its antimicrobial fibers also reduce infection risk, while improving recovery times.
Gadamsetti and Aggarwal have also combined their love for entrepreneurship and material sciences to create other products and brands, including a shoelace venture, BRCĒ.
Hosted by Morrissette Entrepreneurship Powered by Ivey, this year’s competition was sponsored by BerQ RNG, which was founded by Ivey MBA ’06 Bas van Berkel. A serial entrepreneur specialized in developing projects with environmental impact, van Berkel is a longtime supporter of entrepreneurship at Ivey – serving as an entrepreneur-in-residence and judge at Ivey’s Business Plan Competition.
The BerQ RNG Business Plan Competition included 12 teams from Michigan State University, Rice University, University of Arkansas, University of Waterloo, Washington University in St. Louis, and Western, competing for a prize pool of $31,000.
The 28th edition of the competition was held on January 22-24, 2026, at the Ivey Business School and Ronald D. Schmeichel Building for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Second place and $7,500 was won by CELLECT Laboratories, a University of Waterloo-founded women’s health diagnostics company that enables non-invasive sample collection from menstrual flow via a pad-integrated specimen receptacle.
CELLECT’s proprietary nanomaterial captures and stabilizes cervical cells and DNA, letting existing labs run gold-standard HPV/STI tests with their current PCR/ELISA/NGS workflows with no insertion, no new instruments. CELLECT was represented by co-founder CT Murphy (Pictured above).
Third place and $2,500 was secured by Western University’s Stable Insights. Led by Sydney Burns and Julia Piskunowicz, Stable Insights is creating a smart horse blanket that continuously tracks vital metrics, including temperature, heart rate, gut sounds, movement, and environmental conditions.
Stable Insights was part of the 2025 ESI Cohort, and both co-founders are taking the certificate in entrepreneurship at Western.
Rounding off the finalists was Sasha Ovalle of Rice University, founder of AssisTech Smart Shower, who won $1,000 for her assistive voice-controlled shower accessory designed to help elderly, disabled, and mobility-impaired individuals shower safely and independently.
The 2026 competition included a host of fireside conversations that included Jaymie Crook, EMBA ’17, founder of Bosco & Roxy’s; Parag Shah, HBA ’04, co-founder of NewAge Products; and 2024 competition winner and co-founder of Protein Pints, Paul Reiss. The competition also included a workshop with Ash Singh, HBA ’04, and feedback rounds with a panel of entrepreneurs and business analysts. The feedback round included Matt Bellia, BMOS'12, (Step Sciences), Brennon D'Souza (TechAlliance), David Muir, BSc’89, PhD’94 (Western University), Erika Oaks, BA’07 (TechAlliance), Paul Okundaye, HBA ’19 (Gigbanc), and Marty Smith (TechAlliance).
The panel of judges for the 2026 edition (pictured above) included Mazhar Alvi, MBA ’07 (GlobeWyze Inc), Harman Bassi (BerQ RNG Inc.), Albert Behr (Behr & Associates Inc.), Nancy Ghuman (BerQ RNG Inc.), Thomas Kalafatis, HBA '97, MBA '02 (Hullwright Advisors), Rajah Lehal, MBA ’06 (Cobalt AI / Clausehound), Jacoline Loewen (Burgundy Asset Management Ltd.), Mark Mauleesan, MBA ’16 (MRX North Communications/Medskool Reviews), Shay Nulman, MBA ’12 (Mantaro Capital Corp), Ilham Punjani (International Business University), Morgan Rosenberg, HBA ’15 (caregiVR), Parag Shah, HBA ’04 (NewAge Products), Colleen Sharen, MBA ’93 (Western University), Ash Singh, HBA ’04 (Hyper Accelerator), Shari Walczak, HBA ’94 (The Garden), and Michael White, MBA’00 (IBK Capital Corp).