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Past SwatTank Participants

2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015

2022 SwatTank

Forge - Roman Hinds ‘25 and Te’John Chapman ‘23

Label: First place and Audience Choice Winners

Forge is a mobile application that creates an individualized space to accomplish your fitness goals within a shared community platform and experience. Forge learns your goals, tracks your performance and projects your future ability, while giving you continuous feedback on your progress. Forge revolutionizes the way you work out by allowing you to team up with other users, creating opportunities to connect and motivate each other throughout your personalized, data-driven fitness journey.

techTutor - Sean Cheng ‘24, Jacob Park ‘24, Christina Wang ‘22, Tommy Vu ‘24

Label: Second Place

techTutor is a web-based application that provides on-demand technological help for individuals with lower levels of digital literacy. techTutor provides services in multiple different languages and matches customers with highly trained tutors who can diagnose and resolve their technological issues. Additionally, techTutor offers tutorials and pre-made curriculum to help develop customers' digital proficiency. 

Frequency - Dorothy-Rui Corrigan ‘23 and Leonard Park ‘23

Label: Third Place

Frequency is a social media platform centered around music sharing and listening. Our app promotes music sharing by identifying and improving upon current music streaming services' sharing features that are not user-friendly. Through features like being able to see the favorite music of different communities that one followers, or joining a group of friends to create personalized mini billboards, our app makes sharing and listening to music more of an act of community-building—one that helps people get on the same frequency.

2021 Swat(tiny)Tank

NOVA Platform - Anarsaikhan Tuvshinjargal ‘23 and Nara Enkhtaivan ‘22

Label: *First place

The NOVA Platform is a web-based application that makes the exclusive and expensive college-prep experience accessible for all Mongolian students. NOVA Platform easily provides content including foreign language courses, assistance with personal statements, and private counseling. Additionally, NOVA Platform pinpoints a student's current ability, draws out the most optimal roadmap, coaches them every step of the way to reach their desired colleges abroad.

Project Offset - Atticus Maloney '22, Edward Tranter '22, Matthew Neils '22

Project Offset brings universities and local carbon offsets projects together on a single platform. Universities want to reduce their carbon footprint and give back to their community and local offset projects need revenue to maintain their operations. Project Offset is an online marketplace that connects these stakeholders to create a more sustainable future. 

2020 SwatTank Teams Finalists + Projects

Matchband

Label: First Place, Best Pitch

Betsy Cohen '20 & Drew McMahan '22

Matchband is reimagining the local music scene by bringing musicians, music-goers, and venues together on a single platform. Musicians want to perform, venues want performances, and music-goers want to know where all of this is happening.  MatchBand is an app interface that merges all three segments by "Bringing Local Music to Local People".

Storyboard

Label: Second Place

Rebecca Castillo '20, Ariana Hoshino '20, & Isabelle Titcombe '22

Digital media creation is a powerful tool for self expression that can lead to social change. Storyboard aims to inspire social change through storytelling by offering free, accessible intensive summer programs to underserved youth in urban areas that guide them through the creation of photo series, documentaries, and written essays on social justice issues that affect them and their communities.

2019 SwatTank Teams

collared

Collared

Label: First Place

Dan Altieri ‘19, Chris Zhang ‘19, Nick DiMaio ‘19, Grayson Mick ‘20

Mentor: David Ko '92

Collared is leading the paradigm shift towards business casual clothing in the workplace by offering Henley shirts with removable collars. The removable collars allow men to retrofit their wardrobes and differentiate themselves through the designs on their collars, rather than through outdated and restrictive ties. Collared offers comfort and customization, ready to dress the modern workplace.

Patient Connect

Patient Connect

Label: Second Place, Best Pitch

Sydney Covitz ‘20, Bashar Abu Ein ‘21, Sally Peng ‘21, Parker Snipes ‘21

Mentor: Laura McKee '88

PatientConnect is a mobile application which provides a multi-use social platform for patients aged 6-18 living in hospitals, support systems for parents, and features to facilitate connection and communication. In response to growing awareness around mental health and the impact of long-term hospital stays, PatientConnect will serve as a secure social networking platform that links directly to a hospital's database of current patients in order to create community-based support for patients and their parents.

Atomica

Atomica

Label: Third Place

Michael Trainor ‘21 & Jeremy Molina (University of Florida student)

 Mentor: David Feinstein '90

 Atomica is a board game for everyone. It combines the best aspects of popular games and introduces easy-to-learn mechanics that keep   players invested and entertained. Atomica is an affordable, high-quality strategy experience created with more than just the typical board   gamer in mind. With a balance between skill and chance, and an emphasis on making alliances and trading, Atomica creates an even playing   field and a fun gaming atmosphere that newcomers and experts alike can enjoy.

2018 SwatTank Teams

Shelf

Shelf

Label: First Place

Kyle Yee '19, Sam Shih '19, and Min Zhong '19

Mentor: Steve Dean '11

Shelf is an online marketplace that takes the burden away from individuals selling clothes online. Shelf buys clothes off of customers upfront, sells them to other users on its marketplace, then returns profits directly to the seller’s bank account. No headaches from shipping, pricing, or monitoring your listings. If Shelf can’t sell it on time, we’ll return it to you or donate it to a charity.

CairWare

CairWare

Label: Second Place, Best Pitch

Istvan Cselotei '18, Paroma Nandwani '18, and Sam Gebicke-Kerr '18

Mentor: Nancy Crickman '82

"Istvan is from Budapest, Hungary. Sam is from Kiltarlity, a small village in the Highlands of Scotland. Paroma is from Kolkata, India. We met at International Orientation, and got on immediately. Fast-forward three arduous years at Swarthmore, we found ourselves on a British Airways flight to London, flying home for Christmas. It was here that we encountered the problem that we have set out to solve — the waste management process on airlines, which currently creates 5.2 million tonnes of waste per year, seventy percent of which originates from food and cutlery. Cairware works with airline companies and their food suppliers to create made-to-order dishware that is cheaper, sustainable, and compact. It adds value to airline companies by saving money and time spent on sorting through diversified waste items. "

Tricycle

Tricycle

Label: Third Place

Jason Jin '20, Henry Han '20, Eric Wang '18, Kastan Day '20 and Theint Kyaw '19

 Mentor: Matt Garmur '01

 We produce a LOT of trash a day, and most of it does not go to the right places. Instead, our waste is being burned or   piling up in giant mountains spanning hundreds of miles in the middle of the ocean. Team Reflux wants to make it   easier for anyone and everyone to throw away trash properly, and help institutions and organizations better sort and   manage trash. The Reflux Self Sorting trashcan uses computer vision and machine learning techniques to properly   classify trash and automatically move it into the right bin. In doing so, we raise awareness to sustainable practices and engage and educate people in the process of waste diversion.

Apella

'Apella

Gabriel Meyer-Lee ‘19 and Matt Parker ‘19

Mentor: Nick Lum ‘04

Άpella was created as platform for revolutionizing the way we organize ourselves in pursuit of a common goal. In a world where we can Tweet back and forth with anyone or everyone, it should be easier than ever to band together and make a lasting change in the world. Instead, it seems more difficult than ever. With record breaking marches and hash tags taking social issues to the global stages, we’re amassing so much energy and effort for what feels like slower progress in the past. We built Άpella to fix this. By making the process of organizing more accessible, more efficient, more democratic, and almost purely digital, Άpella works to break down the traditional barriers to organizing and open a new world of possibilities for what we can achieve together.

BridgeBuilder

BridgeBuilder

Bobby Zipp ‘18, Jasmine Betancourt ‘20. Hari Srinivasulu ‘21, and Blake (Tianyu) Wang ‘20

Mentor: Laura McKee '88

For a number of students, the first day of college feels like the culmination of their entire lives. But what happens the next day, when the stresses and challenges of college arrive in full force? BridgeBuilder is there to help. We are a nonprofit social enterprise dedicated to ensuring college success for students of underrepresented backgrounds and increasing their retention as high-potential employees in the job market. We aim to be the bridge that traverses the college-career gap for those young professionals. No one should feel like the finish line is too far away. We’re the bridge underneath your feet that will take you across it.

MySurge

MySurge

Sammy Greenwall ‘18, Karen Nguyen ‘18

Mentor: Steven Sell '89

MySurge aims to provides post-surgery care to orthopedic patients through services such as transportation, administration of medicine, meals, bathroom care, and access to interact with doctors via an online portal. Overall, it aims to help individuals make the right choice post- surgery and have the support network to make a quick and seamless recovery.

Oleum

Oleum

Saadiq Garba '19 and Sierra Spencer '18

Mentor: Dave Feinstein '90

Many colleges and universities are looking to mitigate their impact on climate change, but are struggling to reduce their roughly 40% of emissions that come from heating. Oleum, a waste vegetable oil fuel producer, provides colleges and universities a way to sustainably heat their campus with their existing heating equipment. Our company will collect waste vegetable oil from local restaurants, dining facilities, and other food manufacturers and convert it in our facilities into a fuel that is sustainable, safe, cost-competitive, of high heat content, and compatible with existing heating equipment.

ROCK - Lock Your Ride

ROCK - Lock Your Ride

Hunter Lee ’19 and Hailie Xie ‘19

Mentor: Demetrios Karis ‘74

‘ROCK – Lock Your Ride' is a bike-sharing service that allows students on campus to rent bikes to ride from a location to another destination. These bikes will be managed via attachable locks, engineered by Swarthmore students, that can lock the bikes portably and track the bikes’ locations. Students simply use their phone to unlock the bikes with the lock’s QR code. Location information means that bikes can be safely managed and that students can track the distances and times of routes they have traveled.

swift

Swift

Joshua Collin '20 and Rafi Hares '20

Mentor: Lisa Nash '80

SWIFT, (Savings, Wealth, Investment, Finance & Trade) is an online financial literacy program which is dedicated towards helping students at liberal arts colleges be prepared for life after college. Students shouldn’t have to deal with financial stress and financial burden while also trying to receive an education, especially at a top institution like Swarthmore College. Students need to understand life insurance, rent laws, and even the basics of how to buy a car so they can confidently walk in the world without fear of financial problems. SWIFT plans to bring this knowledge to our students through videos, interactive activities, workshops, and online presentations. We also connect students with alumni who they can relate to as well as other people within the financial sector so that students can get advice, form mentorships, and even get internships.

lemons

The Lemons Solution

Jasmine Xie ‘20 and Won Chung ‘18

Mentor: Jonathan J. Shakes '90

From their combined experiences of exploring the used hardware market and knowledge of microeconomics, Jasmine Xie ‘20 and Won Chung ‘18 provide a low cost, high reward alternative in shopping for tech through their business plan, The Lemons Solution.

2017 SwatTank Teams

switchboard

Switchboard

Label: First Place

Michael Piazza '17 and Eric Wang '18

Mentor: David Feinstein '90

Switchboard is a novel service that allows students to connect anonymously with other students at their college via text message. Students can safely expand their friend groups, seek academic and social support, and eventually receive formal support through a collaboration with Swarthmore's student led peer counseling service, Speak2Swatties. After a student verifies her school email, she can connect with a partner by major, interest, or class year – or totally randomly. Conversations on Switchboard are safe and fully anonymous. In a vibrant community like Swarthmore, there’s no reason a student should ever feel like there’s nobody talk to.

Michael Piazza ’17 and Eric Wang ’19 developed Switchboard this semester, and launched the night before SwatTank. Switchboard is rapidly gaining traction in the student body, with more than 2000 messages sent by almost 100 users across every class year.

New Dae Farms

New Dae Farms

Label: Second Place

Navid Kiassat '20, Max Rogow '20, Rebecca Fisher (Haverford), and Joey Leroux (Haverford)

Mentor: Scott Young '06

New Dae Farms was founded to feed the world in a sustainable way. We are starting with cricket feed, a high-protein food source. By recycling food waste from TriCo dining halls and utilizing campus gardens, we can create a safe and low environmental impact protein supply for our community.

Collab

Collab

Label: Third Place, Best Pitch

Meiri Anto '17, Michelle Ma '20, Seimi Park

Mentor: Giridhar N. Srinivasan '98

Collab is a social impact advisory firm that works to integrate onsite childcare into office and co-working spaces. By making marginal changes to existing infrastructure, Collab creates spaces conducive to both professional and parental development. Collab is made for any and all who identify as parents and we encourage individuals across the entire gender spectrum to participate and collaborate for gender equality, because we truly believe we are better when we work together.

zing

Zing

Label: Fourth Place

Natasha Markov-Riss '20, Roman Shemakov '20, and Augustin Burchell '20

Mentor: Ted Chan '02

Zing provides locking, solar-powered cell phone charging stations catered exclusively to college campuses and custom designed to reflect the campus community. We will start by bringing Zing charging stations to Swarthmore, but we plan to expand from there--our goal is to help students at other colleges bring charging stations to their campuses. As Zing charging stations spread across the country, a community will form around them. Our vision is a grassroots, student-led, action-based network of student entrepreneurs committed to pragmatic, cohesive, and sustained environmental change.

gameplan

Gameplan

Jason Jin '20, Won Chung '18, William Lee '20, Bunn Buraparat '20

Mentor: Mark Handweger '85

Making plans should be fun and spontaneous. Gameplan is a personalized social map that allows you to convenient visualize your events and friends around you. All your events will be in one place, in an easy to digest and tailored format. Making an event to send to friends is as simple as setting a marker on a map, allowing you to make more plans, like grab food and play pick-up sports, and keep track of them in one app. Spend less time coordinating and more time doing things together.

2016 SwatTank Teams

yenara

YenAra

Label: First Place, Best Poster

Bolutife Fakoya '17 and Sedinam Worlanyo '17

Mentor: Sabrina Moyle '96

YenAra is a socially responsible for-profit business initiative that provides unique and functional African-inspired backpacks to an international marketplace. Through YenAra, we provide stylish solutions to the daily portable storage solution needs of our customers as well as serve as a marketing and distribution outlet for these ankara fabric backpacks. Each backpack design has a unique identity and tells the story of its creator; YenAra supports and encourages the growth of local Ghanaian artisans by supporting the sale of their functional, wearable art.

AlumGo

AlumGo

Label: Second Place

Michael Lutzker ‘19, Rida Hassan ‘18, Shruti Pal ‘18, Katherine Pemberton ‘18

Mentor: Nick Martin '04

AlumGo is a unique online platform for alumni and current students of a college/university to connect in an exciting travel experience. It will allow members within the US and abroad to list and find accommodation, personal travel itineraries/guides, language assistance, and other travel-related service. Using a specially designed algorithm, our website will calculate costs based on the combination of preferences selected by users. The idea is to open doors for travelers to access regions of the world they might not be able to visit due to financial constraints, language barriers, lack of time available to plan travel itineraries, safety concerns, and any other such obstacles they might face. Essentially, AlumGo will provide an authentic travel experience tailored to your needs!

levelup

LaunchPad Initiative

Label: Third Place

Robert Eppley '19, Omri Gal '19, Kwate Quartey '19, Neeraj Shah '19, Min Zhong '19

Mentor: Dave Feinstein '90

LaunchPad Initiative provides Philadelphia area high school students with one/five-day externships (mini-internship). By connecting students with companies, organizations, and alumni, we deliver a unique experience geared towards developing skills, professional experience, and connections LaunchPad Initiative empowers students to take initiative over their futures through a platform built by students, for Students.

Ginkgo

Ginkgo

Sam Gutierrez '16

Mentor: Kevin Hall

Gingko aims to bring Chinese language learning to the 21st century, with a focus on efficient Chinese-language study centered around a diverse set of resources and study tools and supplemented by collaboration with other users and expert help from Chinese-native speakers.

Monologue​

Monologue​

Eileen Hou ’16, Jeremy Chang ’16, Rex Chang ’17, Weite Liu ’17, Xintong Tian ’16

Mentor: Steve Dean

Monologue is an online platform that helps emerging theater artists (1) share and showcase their work to the artistic community; (2) network with other emerging artists and employers; (3) streamline the recruiting process through potential matching. Our team aims to help emerging artists seek employment opportunities by finding potential collaborators and funders. We hope to create a collaborative environment where artists can exchange ideas and enrich their professional networks.

tanda team

Tanda

Yang Yi ’17 and Tushar Kundu ’17

Before there were financial institutions there were tandas, informal savings groups formed on the basis of communal trust and camaraderie. Tandas were ways in which individuals could safely save their money, access credit, and even generate returns. We believe that it’s a shame that many 21st century individuals have never even heard of a tanda, much less participated in one. Our business idea, Tanda, seeks to modernize the traditional Tanda, make it more convenient, user-friendly, and accessible, and provide individuals with a classic alternative to conventional financial institutions.

2015 SwatTank Teams

sabio

SABIO

Label: First Place

Aldo Frosinini ’15  & Mackenzie Welch ‘15

Mentor:  Demetrios Karis '74

Sabio is a mobile tool that provides actionable feedback in real-time and creates a specific track record for employee development and promotion. Sabio does this by sending out manager-triggered feedback requests to employees after events such as meetings. It then gathers feedback by using a simple rating system combine with  written feedback that is caped at 500 characters. Managers will find Sabio to be a helpful tool in identifying organizational and employee strengths and weaknesses. By identifying areas for improvement, companies will be able to provide targeted training to improve employee capabilities. Aldo Frosinini ’15 is majoring in Economics with minors in Public Policy and Psychology. Mackenzie Welch ’15 is an Honors Political Science major and Latin American Studies minor. 

Classic Engineering

Classic Engineering

Eduardo Umaña ‘15

Mentor: Michael Chodos ‘80

Classic engineering is a creative venture based in Miami, Florida. We exist to materialize visions and ideas into sustainable products we hope you will love. In order to do so, we have some strong beliefs that set the ground for our work. We believe that engineering and design are practiced best when their roots become intertwined in the development process and are indistinguishable from each other; that the boundary between engineering and design is an artificial, man-made one. We believe our creations should be useful; being able to contribute and add real value to our lives. And lastly, we believe that objects should serve us for a very long period of time. This minimizes the resources we demand from our planet and creates meaning through singular objects we can grow fond of. Eduardo Umaña ’15 is the creator of classic engineering. He grew up in the city of Bogotá, Colombia.  He will graduate this year with his B.S in Engineering. Eduardo likes staying active and traveling. You can follow him @classic_e

sati

Ryze

Satyajit Rao ‘15

Mentor: Claire Hartten '91

Ryze is a new kind of hospitality service - we want to bring elegant, premium room service to everyone, starting with guests and residents staying in New York City. We have partnered with top chef talent and popular food suppliers to provide high-end breakfasts in bed, and also provide hospitality products with a global, modern edge. All products are delivered on-demand through UBER Rush. We serve: Boutique Hotels - We are your turn-key room service provider, high-end AirBnB apartments - Transform your AirBnB apartment into a hotel, and individuals - Discerning customers order from us for themselves and their loved ones. Satyajit Rao ’15 is an Honors Political Science and Philosophy double major. After graduating in May, Satyajit will move back to his hometown, New York City, where he will spend his days as a management consultant and his nights and weekends as an entrepreneur with Ryze.

Chirps & Kisses

Nora Battelle ’17, Thomas Corbani ’17, Ditiya Ferdous ’17

Mentor: Noel A. Theodosiou '94

Chirps & Kisses is a health and wellness brand, dedicated to providing locally sourced lip balms and cough drops that will creatively and physically enhance the daily lives of our customers. Each of our products comes with an illustrated short story or profile of local nature: these narratives change each season in tandem with our flavors, keeping our clients excited about our products and engaged with the natural world around them.