Summer Venture Studio Preview Day @ Ion District

Be among the first to see what's next 👀

Join us for the inaugural Summer Venture Studio Preview Day, where this year's cohort of ambitious student founders will pitch the ventures they've spent the summer building.

Hosted by the Ion District and in partnership with Rice Alliance, SVS Preview Day is both a showcase and a celebration of Houston's innovation community.

Meet founders, connect with fellow entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, and supporters, and help us celebrate the next generation of student innovators at Rice.

Meet the 2026 SVS Cohort!

Actile Technologies

Founder: Barclay Jumet

Actile develops wearable smart fabrics that communicate critical information through the language of touch, helping operators’ eyes and ears stay focused on their environment in national defense and other demanding settings.

DHI Tech

Founders: Dev Sanghvi, Madhuvani Thatiparti, Aneesh Thatiparti

DHI Tech is developing a plug-and-play edge AI layer for surveillance networks that makes every camera a smart device, covering 25-plus safety, compliance and security use cases out of the box.

Kairos Health

Founders: Adhira Tippur, Sanjana Kavula, Tanush Chintala, Aditya Jain

Kairos have developed  an AI-powered patient intake platform built specifically for independent dental practices.

Lucero Health

Founders: Halbert Kim, Rohan Dharia

Lucero connect patients to supplemental resources, turning non-medical needs into actionable care beyond the clinic via a digital platform.

MedIQ Health

Founders: Suran Somawardana, Jacob Lei, Patrick Bednarz

MedIQ is developing hardware and software solutions that help asthma patients and their doctors better manage their condition.

Codene

Founders: Adam Towner, Saul Brauns

Codene are building the AI platform for go-to-market engineering. They Codene discovers ideal customers, executes personalized outreach and accelerates the journey from launch to revenue.

Vantage

Founders: Gavin Firestone, Nolan Connolly

Vantage have developed an AI motion coach that uses computer vision to deliver instant, actionable feedback on exercise technique and programming.

Magma Health

Founder: Ramtin Shahzanian

Magma clones real companies into high-fidelity RL environments.

Coop

Founders Adithiya Balaguru, Arnav Bhalla

Coop are building an early respiratory disease detection system for poultry farms using AI to analyze audio feeds collected from poultry houses.

Learn more about the 2026 Summer Venture Studios cohort!

About Summer Venture Studio

Summer Venture Studio (SVS) provides an immersive three-month experience where Rice student entrepreneurs receive $15,000 in non-dilutive funding, individualized mentorship, workspace and access to an extensive network of experienced founders, investors, and industry experts.

Since launching in 2023, SVS has become one of Rice’s premier pathways for translating student innovation into high-growth companies. More than half of participating ventures have gone on to raise pre-seed or seed financing, while alumni companies have earned acceptance into some of the world’s most competitive accelerators programs, including Y Combinator and Tech Stars.

For more information, visit Lilie Summer Venture Studio!

About Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (Lilie)

The Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie) is the home for entrepreneurship and innovation at Rice University. As the center for entrepreneurship on campus, Lilie runs courses and co-curricular programs to help develop students, researchers, faculty, and alums into entrepreneurs for life.