Charlie Bucket got a candy factory. The winners of this year’s UC Davis Big Bang Business Competition got something arguably sweeter: validation, prize money, and a launching pad for startups that are changing the world.

The annual Big Bang competition, hosted by Joe DiNunzio, Executive Director of the Mike & Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, went full Willy Wonka this year — and it worked. The theme wasn’t just a costume choice. Like Roald Dahl’s factory full of impossible inventions, Big Bang is exactly the kind of place where ideas that sound too good to be true turn out to be real, and the people behind them turn out to be the ones you should have been watching all along.

CleanStart was in the room, and we left energized.

The Golden Ticket: First Bite Takes the Top Prize

Before we get to our favorite sector win, credit where it’s due: First Bite claimed the top prize of $25,000, sponsored by DLA Piper. Their device — a clever hybrid of pacifier and breathing tube securement system designed for intubated infants in the ICU — is the kind of elegant, empathetic engineering that reminds you why startups matter. A breathing tube is a lifeline. First Bite makes sure it stays in place, while also reducing infant discomfort and supporting the development of the natural sucking reflex. Simple idea, serious impact.

Our Pick of the Night: Data Pigeon Wins the Energy + Sustainability Award

The Energy + Sustainability Sector Award — sponsored by Blue Tech Valley and SMUD — went to Data Pigeon, and from a CleanStart perspective, this one hits close to home.

Here’s the problem Data Pigeon is solving: public EV charging is quietly failing, and most people don’t know it. One in five charging sessions fails today. Stations break down silently. Operators find out too late — often only after a frustrated driver reports the problem. By then, a technician dispatch is already on the books at more than $1,000 a visit. Multiply that across a national network trying to scale at the speed that the clean energy transition demands, and you have a serious infrastructure reliability crisis hiding in plain sight.

Data Pigeon built AI-powered monitoring and diagnostics software that changes the equation. Their platform continuously analyzes charger data, detects early signs of failure, and pinpoints root causes in real time — before drivers ever see an “out of service” screen. Instead of reactive maintenance, operators get proactive intelligence. Instead of guessing, they get actionable insights.

This matters enormously. The EV charging buildout is one of the central pillars of our clean transportation future, and its credibility depends on reliability. Every failed charging session is a setback — not just for the driver, but for public trust in the whole transition. Data Pigeon is building the nervous system that keeps that infrastructure honest.

The Energy award is sponsored by two institutions — Blue Tech Valley and SMUD — that understand this deeply. SMUD has been a leader in accelerating clean transportation in our region, and their backing of this award signals exactly the kind of partnership between utilities, investors, and entrepreneurs that CleanStart exists to catalyze.

Watch Data Pigeon. This is the kind of company that doesn’t just win competitions — it fixes a real problem at real scale.

The Rest of the Wonka Factory: Sector Award Winners

Every sector winner this year was worth paying attention to. A quick look at the full board:

🌾 Food + Agriculture: Proof Pudding A functional chocolate pudding formulated for brain health and memory, built on a “Food is Medicine” philosophy. They’re targeting the global dementia burden with bioactive ingredients — and doing it in a form factor people will actually eat. Smart nutrition meets approachable snacking.

🏥 Human Health: Stork Labs Medical Stork Labs is attacking the U.S. maternity care crisis with a flexible, semi-autonomous obstetric device designed to reduce emergency C-sections. Their approach uses embedded sensors and flexible materials to guide safer operative vaginal deliveries. Clinically significant, technically elegant.

🐾 Animal Health: Pharmstead Pharmstead is rethinking how vaccines reach animals on farms — replacing labor-intensive injections with microscopic carriers that deliver vaccines through spray or drinking water. The target: Salmonella, before it ever reaches the food supply. Safer food, fewer antibiotics, less farm labor. This is how you prevent contamination at the source.

🤝 Social Entrepreneurship: Ground Truth Genomics Genomic verification for clonally propagated crops — the crops like grapes, almonds, and strawberries that drive billions in California agriculture. Ground Truth Genomics issues Clonal Integrity Certificates that give nurseries, growers, and breeders certainty about what they’re planting. When identity errors go undetected, entire harvests can be compromised. Ground Truth makes sure that doesn’t happen.

📚 EdTech: CuraVoice An AI-powered clinical communication platform that lets healthcare students practice realistic patient interactions through voice simulation. Instead of memorizing for boards, students build actual clinical reasoning and communication confidence before they set foot in a real exam room — or a real patient room.

Why This Matters to CleanStart

Big Bang is a proving ground for the Central Valley’s innovation ecosystem. It draws students and early-stage founders from across UC Davis and beyond, pushes them through a rigorous competition structure, and puts them in front of investors, mentors, and sponsors who can actually move the needle.

For CleanStart, events like Big Bang are where pipelines get built. The clean energy and clean tech ecosystem in the Sacramento region doesn’t happen by accident — it happens because institutions like the Child Institute create stages, and founders like the Data Pigeon team step onto them and show the world what they’ve built.

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners. The golden tickets are yours. Now go build the factory.

CleanStart accelerates clean technology entrepreneurs in California’s Central Valley. Learn more at CleanStart.org.