Small team. Big stakes.
Aurascan started as a pitch in December 2025. Two co-founders now build a label scanner that explains, in plain English, what's in the food, drinks, cosmetics and household products you buy.
Aurascan is in public beta on iPhone: anyone can join through TestFlight, and the waitlist is open for the public App Store release.
How we got here
December 2025
The idea wins its first prize
Christopher pitched Aurascan at CSULB's Apostle Business Ideation Challenge and took the $2,500 grand prize, the company's first capital.
February 2026
A technical co-founder
Armin joined as co-founder and CTO to build the web and mobile apps.
March 2026
Building starts
The first Aurascan code was committed, and a waitlist page followed within the week.
March 2026
San Diego State Social Venture Challenge
Aurascan placed second and won the audience vote, $8,000 in total.
April 2026
Early help
Eduardo contributed early backend work, and Omar gave the founders early advice.
April 2026
First place at the Sunstone Innovation Challenge
The team won first place and $15,000 at the Sunstone Innovation Challenge at CSULB.
June 2026
The blog goes live
We published our first ingredient reviews, starting with gluten and Red 40.
September 2026
Open iOS beta
A public TestFlight link went up on aurascan.app, so anyone with an iPhone can try the app.
September 2026
A new home: aurascan.app
We moved the website, app and API from aurascan.fit to aurascan.app.
September 2026
Beyond food, and beyond the catalog
Each product's use is now decided once, so cosmetics and personal care skip food-only details like nutrition. Grading started to account for dose, such as alcohol by its ABV. And a product that isn't in any database can be added by photographing its label.
September 2026
Our first original research
We published “What’s really on the labels”, an analysis of 262 food and drink products scanned in Aurascan, with the data free to download.
October 2026
Research that keeps going
Ingredients missing from our research library are now researched in the background after a scan, and every graded ingredient shows how confident that research is.
Funding & recognition
Three pitch-competition wins, $25,500 in prizes.
Sunstone Innovation Challenge: 1st place, $15,000
First place at the Sunstone Innovation Challenge at CSULB, April 2026.
SDSU Social Venture Challenge: 2nd place + audience vote, $8,000
Second place and the audience vote at the San Diego State University Social Venture Challenge, March 2026.
Apostle Business Ideation Challenge: grand prize, $2,500
Grand prize at CSULB's Apostle Business Ideation Challenge, December 2025. It was the company's first capital.
With thanks to Tram Nguyen and Li Liu, who helped Aurascan in its earliest days.
Meet the team
Two co-founders.
Chris Carrillo
Co-Founder & CEO
Joined December 2025
Christopher originated the Aurascan concept and pitched it to a grand prize in December 2025, the company's first capital, then led the pitches that won $25,500 across three competitions. He sets overall strategy, leads business development, and co-leads marketing.
- Strategy
- Business development
- Investor relations
- Marketing
Armin Rad
Co-Founder & CTO
Joined February 2026
Armin co-founded Aurascan and leads engineering as CTO. He builds the web and mobile apps and the backend, owns technical architecture and infrastructure, and runs marketing tooling and growth strategy.
- Web, mobile + backend
- Technical architecture
- Engineering leadership
- Growth tooling
Early help came from Eduardo (early backend contributor) and Omar (early advisor). Thank you.
How we make decisions
Clear ownership
Shared big decisions
Standard vesting
What’s next
A public App Store release
See what's in the products you buy
Scan a barcode and read what every ingredient does, in plain English.
Want to work with us? We read every message: contact@aurascan.app