DSU student wins business plan competition with BRIO Health
April 25, 2025
Dakota State University master’s student Akash Suryavanshi earned first place in the 2025 business plan competition with his business BRIO Health, an AI-first healthcare search and diagnostic ecosystem built for those who need clarity, speed, and impact the most. This competition is part of DSU’s annual Entrepreneurs Day.
A longtime tech builder, Akash has always been interested in using technology to solve real problems, which inspired him to look into healthcare.
“It’s one of the rare spaces where innovation can directly touch lives, save time for overwhelmed professionals, and improve outcomes for patients,” he explained.
He first started experimenting with AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity to complete medical research, but quickly realized the software provided generic, unstructured, and often unreliable answers. Those results showed Akash that there was a massive opportunity to develop an AI platform that understands medical context, provides structured and actionable insights, and helps users make smarter decisions.
Akash began developing BRIO Health by conducting research. “I spoke with doctors, AI researchers, and startup mentors throughout the process,” he said. “Their insights helped me validate the problem, sharpen the product features, and think critically about compliance and go-to-market strategy.”
In preparing for the pitch portion of the business plan competition, Akash was able to practice highlighting the problem and solution and explaining why BRIO Health is relevant right now.
“This competition gave me a reason to pause, clarify the ‘why’ behind BRIO Health, and test the idea with an audience outside of my usual tech/startup circle,” he said.
Akash shared that winning the competition felt amazing and helped validate his business. It also helped him remember the importance of powerful storytelling.
His next step will be to launch the minimum viable product (MVP) to get it to students and healthcare professionals to start gathering real feedback.
“From there, we’re looking to expand into diagnostics, clinical transcribing, and digital twin technology,” he shared. “I’m also focused on building the right team and starting early conversations around funding to help bring the full vision of BRIO Health to life.”
Akash is an international student originally from India and is earning his master’s degree in computer science with an artificial intelligence specialization.
The overall results for the annual business competition are:
College division:
- Akash Suryavanshi, Dakota State University
- Kelly Sutko, South Dakota School of Mines
- Diana Haile, Northern State University