Teams with CS Students Capture 2026 Georgia Tech InVenture Prize, Win Laurels with People's Choice Award
The televised Georgia Tech 2026 Inventure Prize finals on March 11 featured six finalist teams—three of which included computer science majors—all vying to win the top $20,000 prize and support for their entrepreneurial ideas.
Computing students scored big wins in the competition, as their teams impressed the judges and the live and TV audiences.
HEARO took home the Inventure Prize, winning first place and the $20,000 award. Marilyn Pelayo-Montufar is the team's sole computer science major. The five-member team also includes biomedical engineering and computer engineering students.
Their winning invention, HEARO, is a smart otoscope that allows parents to check their children’s ears at home and detect early symptoms of ear infections, such as fluid buildup and inflammation. The team's aim is to enable parents to confidently (and heroically) care for their children and avoid unnecessary doctor visits.
“Competing in the InVenture Prize finals has been an incredible experience. It’s amazing to be surrounded by so many students turning ideas into real solutions. Being around like-minded people and seeing teams grow across multiple disciplines is truly inspiring," said Pelayo-Montufar.
She says the InVenture Prize is just the beginning, and that it has helped to bring her ideas and skills into the real world.
"I’ve always wanted to build projects that can make a real impact, and with the support of Georgia Tech and the College of Computing staff, I’ve been able to turn those ideas into reality: from working in the AI Makerspace to developing HEARO through my junior capstone design," said Pelayo-Montufar.
DoorTix, a smart ticket purchasing platform, secured the People's Choice Award for its efforts to combat the dynamic pricing crisis affecting the live events industry.
"As algorithmic price surges and scalper bots push ticket costs to unpredictable extremes, DoorTix monitors multiple ticketing platforms simultaneously and automatically purchases tickets the moment they hit a user's target price, giving fans fair and predictable access without the guesswork," said Arayna Saxena, a CS major working with two engineering students on the team.
The team's work is especially timely as Georgia prepares to host professional soccer matches this summer as part of FIFA World Cup 2026. The fan award, which includes $5,000, was voted on by the live TV audience, event attendees at the Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech, and participants who voted the week before the finals.
"Being a CS major has enabled me to work on a startup as early as my second year at Tech," said Saxena, originally from Bhopal, India.
“Competing in the InVenture Prize and winning the People’s Choice Award with DoorTix is something that would not have been possible without the strong foundation in computer science that the College of Computing has given me.”
Rounding out the CS finalists for Inventure was Lily Chisholm, whose team, Matareal, developed a solution to convert mural designs into paint volumes for artists.
"Being a finalist in the Inventure Prize has been such a wonderful experience," said Chisholm, who, along with her two engineering partners, hails from Georgia. "I've gotten to meet and work alongside so many brilliant people—and I built something that combines my love for art and my love for computer science, which is a dream come true!"
The buzz continues with the 10th Annual ACC InVenture Prize finals, scheduled for March 27 at the University of Notre Dame. Georgia Tech computer science major Sia Michael will compete with Michael's team to present Towbotics, a remote-controlled robotic trailer-hitching system.
Read more about the Inventure Prize results here: https://news.gatech.edu/news/2026/03/12/ear-innovation-hearo-wins-inventure-prize-home-ear-exam
