Evanston Startup Among 5 Semifinalists in WSJ Competition

Evanston startup company SwipeSense has made it to the final round of a Wall Street Journal competition for “Startup of the Year.” 

Founded by Northwestern graduates Mert Iseri and Yuri Malina, the company created a portable hand sanitizer system that clips to a health professional’s belt and can track how often he or she dispenses sanitizer. Their goal is to reduce the number of hospital-acquired infections, in order to save lives.

The WSJ Startup of the Year competition began online in June, with 24 different startups chosen among 500 applicants. Last week, Wall Street Journal editors chose five finalists, including SwipeSense, based on the companies’ “scalability, long-term viability, originality and distinctiveness of their products and services, utility, and ability to perform tasks we and our mentors set for them.”

Readers can vote for SwipeSense or the other four semifinalists online until Nov. 4, when the Wall Street Journal will choose a winner.