Law School Teams Win Funding in Social New Venture Challenge
Two Law School-affiliated teams tied for second place on Tuesday in a social entrepreneurship challenge hosted by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. JuryCheck, a web-based platform that will allow attorneys, advocates, and courts to detect racial and gender underrepresentation in jury pools, and Flipside, a platform that combines social science research and computer algorithms to help users escape so-called filter bubbles, will each receive $20,000 in startup funding.
JuryCheck, which was developed by Kate Miller, ’17, and Christian Kolb, LLM ’17, and Flipside, an interdisciplinary team that includes Michael Killingsworth, ’18, were among seven teams that competed in the final round of the John Edwardson, MBA'72, Social New Venture Challenge.
“The Law School teaches students to identify, analyze and solve complex problems—a skill essential not only in the practice of law, but also in social entrepreneurship,” said Robin Ross, executive director of the Law School’s Doctoroff Business Leadership Program and an advisor to both teams. “We are thrilled to see Chris, Kate, and Michael use their rigorous legal and business training to create innovative and measureable solutions for these pressing social issues. We look forward to following both team's progress and success!"
This is the second year that Law School entrepreneurs have placed in the SNVC. Last year, a team of three Law School students tied for first with AccessArc, a technology service that gives prison inmates increased accessibility to legal advocacy.
"Receiving the $20,000 from the SNVC is amazing,” Killingsworth said. “We couldn't be more thankful for the opportunity the University of Chicago provides and especially the Rustandy and Edwardson families. This grant will give us the resources necessary to fully build out our platform this summer. We all see this as a validation of our hard work the last couple of months, but I think every single person within Flipside is hungrier than ever to make this happen!"
Miller and Kolb were also grateful for their experience in the competition, and look forward to using their winnings to help get JuryCheck off the ground.
“Competing in the SNVC has been such an exciting journey for us,” they said. “We are incredibly proud of the progress that we, Flipside, Provide, and all of the other teams made over the last few months. We are particularly grateful to the all of the judges and coaches who helped us prepare for the finals. Thanks to the momentum and support we received during the competition, we are more committed than ever to making JuryCheck a reality and hope to have a pilot program running soon.”
The SNVC is organized by Booth’s Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation in partnership with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Provide, a project devoted to lowering administrative burdens for childcare providers took first place.