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Friday, September 13, 2024
The Swartz Center Hosts Annual Entrepreneurship Bootcamp with Keynote from Shift Robotics Founder, Xunjie Zhang
Last Saturday, the CMU Swartz Center held another successful Bootcamp, welcoming over five hundred graduate and undergraduate students from across campus to the annual event aimed at sharing all things entrepreneurship to help aspiring student entrepreneurs. The event was kicked off by Dave Mawhinney, the Swartz Center's Executive Director and Meredith Meyer Grelli, Assistant Dean of Entrepreneurship Initiatives, Director of Project Olympus, EIR at the Swartz Center and Faculty at the Tepper School of Business, followed by student panel discussions covering Swartz Center programs, networking and community booths.
Registered students received the newest 'May the Swartz Be With You' t-shirt, snacks throughout the afternoon, lunch and were invited to join the CMU Tech & Entrepreneurship organization for an end of summer networking after the event.
A fireside chat took place during Bootcamp with Shift Robotics founder Xunjie Zhang, creator of the Moonwalkers shoes, moderated by Zubin Aysola, Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence student and 2023-25 James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow. After his talk, Xunjie raffled off two pair of the Moonwalkers, which were given to two students.
Friday, September 13, 2024
Dr. Alfred Spector Visits the Swartz Center to Discuss AI and Data Science
On Thursday, the CMU Swartz Center held its James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Leadership Series talk with special guest Dr. Alfred Spector, Visiting Scholar at MIT and Senior Advisor at Blackstone. Dr. Spector shared his perspective on applying artificial intelligence and data science effectively and also discussed his co-authors' recent book, 'Data Science in Context' (and an associated MIT Course).
After his talk, which was co-sponsored by CMU's School of Computer Science, Dr. Spector hosted a few of the current James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows and Innovation Scholars for lunch.
Friday, September 13, 2024
Bloomfield Robotics Acquired by Japanese Tractor Company Kubota
Lawrenceville-based Bloomfield Robotics announced that it has been acquired by Kubota Corporation, an Osaka-headquarterd global tractor manufacturer. Kubota previously led a $4.4M funding round into the company. The company, which spun out of research from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, monitors the health of crops with robotics, artificial intelligence and software, three categories that CEO Mark DeSantis said the Pittsburgh region excels at.
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Sabana to Join Techstars Chicago 2024 Class this Fall
Sabana, an AI-driven data management platform designed to simplify how architects and engineers manage, document and collaborate on product selections and construction specifications, has joined the Techstars AI in Chicago 2024 class this Fall. Co-founded by Tepper School of Business MBA and James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow Ruben Quesade and Computer Science and AI student Saket Kulkarni, the two will participate in the accelerator alongside twenty three other startups looking to pioneer disruptive technologies.
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Cinder Among the Top 100 in Will Reed's Top 100 of 2024
Cinder, the platform that allows users to automate and scale moderation, manage cases and investigations and supercharge effective AI, empowering Trust and Safety teams to execute in the future, was recently included in Will Reed’s Top 100 of 2024. Founded by CMU alumnus and Innovation Scholar Glen Wise, this is the second year that Cinder made the list of seed and series A stage companies who are shaping the future of workplace culture.
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Brew Gentleman Opens Braddock Public House
Last week, the owners of the ten-year-old brewery Brew Gentlemen expanded their footprint in the borough into the space at 1211 Braddock Ave. with the soft launch of Braddock Public House.
Co-owner and CEO Matt Katase, who started brewing while a student at Carnegie Mellon University, opened the original brewery and taproom in Braddock in May 2014. The new taproom features a menu that draws from Western Pennsylvania pub favorites such as pierogi and wings alongside dishes such as spam musubi that are a nod to Katase’s Hawaiian upbringing. It will expand a bit as ownership moves toward its official grand opening on Saturday, September 21.
Friday, September 6, 2024
CMU Alumnus Greg Volynsky Launches Olive Legal
Carnegie Mellon University alumnus and Harvard Doctor of Law Greg Volynsky, also an Innovation Scholar, recently launched Olive Legal (YC S24), which uses AI to summarize client medical records for personal injury lawyers. Olive has built an AI solution that cuts humans out of the loop entirely, with instant turnarounds, while preserving human-level accuracy. After only five weeks since its launch, Olive has already achieved $5K in monthly revenue. Olive is co-founded with Sam Damashek (Jane Street, CMU).
Read more at YCombinator.
Thursday, September 5, 2024
FedEx Announces Expansion of FedEx Fulfillment With Nimble Alliance
FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) recently announced a strategic alliance and investment with Nimble, an AI robotics and autonomous e-commerce fulfillment technology company founded by Simon Kalouche, CEO, to scale FedEx Fulfillment with their fully autonomous 3PL model. To support this alliance, FedEx has made a strategic investment in Nimble.
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Serena Dao Selected to Join VERGE 24 Emerging Leaders
Tepper School of Business alumna and James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow Serena Dao has been selected for the VERGE 24 Emerging Leaders program. The goal of the program is to foster a community of sustainability professionals that is diverse and representative of the world in which we live.
The #VERGE24 conference is the center of gravity for professionals catalyzing transformative, profitable change through deploying climate tech at scale. Serena is sharing a promo code for anyone interested in attending for 10% off the ticket cost. The code is V24ELC10.
Friday, August 30, 2024
TalkMeUp Founder JJ Xu Becomes an Adjunct Professor at the Tepper School of Business
JJ Xu, CEO of TalkMeUp, is now serving as an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. At the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, she teaches practical strategies for launching and scaling startup ventures, offering students real-world insights into innovation and leadership in the startup world.
JJ will also start a new position as Entrepreneur-In-Residence for the Corporate Startup Lab.
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Retired Duolingo Head of Finance Denis Meinert Dies at 64
The CMU Swartz Center is sad to announce the passing of its good friend, Denis Meinert, who passed away peacefully at his home, in O'Hara Township, Pittsburgh, PA, surrounded by his loving family on August 26, 2024 at the age of 64.
Denis had over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and financial executive. He was the retired Head of Finance for Duolingo, and served as CFO of 4moms from 2011 to 2013. He was also CFO and a Principal for H.B. Maynard and Company (acquired by Accenture in 2007), and as CFO for Hire for companies including CMU spin-offs reCAPTCHA (acquired by Google in 2009) and Blue Belt Technologies (acquired by HealthPointCapital in 2011). Denis loved life with a passion that inspired and enriched the lives of everyone around him.
Read the obituary for Denis.
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Carnegie Mellon Core Partner in New Center To Improve Robot Dexterity
Carnegie Mellon University will be a core partner in a new multi-institutional collaboration that has received $26M from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to launch an Engineering Research Center (ERC) dedicated to revolutionizing the ability of robots to amplify human labor. The new ERC will be run by Carmel Majidi, faculty co-founder of Arieca and Estat, Swartz Center supported startups.
Read more at Carnegie Mellon News.
Friday, August 23, 2024
Meredith Meyer Grelli Appointed New Director of Project Olympus
Meredith Meyer Grelli has taught over a thousand students about entrepreneurship since joining Carnegie Mellon University full-time as an assistant teaching professor of entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business. She is dedicated to helping people navigate business development, no matter the stage.
She will now take on a new role, succeeding Kit Needham as Assistant Dean for Entrepreneurship Initiatives and Director of Project Olympus. In her words, "It's an honor to carry forth Kit's work and Lenore Blum's vision for supporting entrepreneurial efforts of our faculty, students, staff and community members".
Meredith will continue her faculty role at the Tepper School of Business, and her EIR role at the CMU Swartz Center, embracing CMU’s interdisciplinary spirit.
Congratulations Meredith, from all of us at the CMU Swartz Center!
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Sitewiz Accepted into Alpha Lab's Newest Cohort
Sitewiz, co-founded by Ram Potham, an Innovation Scholar with the CMU Swartz Center, Rohit Malhotra and Drake Som, is an end-to-end digital optimization solution offering AI-driven actionable suggestions and personalizations to boost conversion rates and average order values. The company has been accepted into Alpha Lab's newest cohort, as mentioned in their recent blog.
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Pumbhirri Studios Founder Isha Hans Launches Kickstarter: 3-in-1 Artwork - Play and Display
Isha Hans, CMU Master of Design alumna and James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow, has brought together her love for experience design, art and entrepreneurship with her company Pumbhirri, and has launched a special product on Kickstarter.
Isha realized that art prints often end up as passive decorations, lacking a personal connection with their owners. As an artist herself, she wanted to change that and has created an interactive experience: you piece together three artworks as a puzzle, then frame them to create art that feels personal and meaningful. Isha is eager to share her play and display experience with the world, and her goal with the Kickstarter campaign is to raise capital for production costs. Visit the Kickstarter to support Isha as she embarks on her fundraising goals!
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Transfr Launches Career Exploration 2.0 to Guide Students from the Classroom to to In-Demand-Jobs
Career Exploration 2.0 by Transfr provides immersive learning opportunities to guide learners from the classroom to meaningful careers. Founded by CEO Bharani Rajakumar, Transfr empowers learners through a comprehensive career development platform to navigate new career paths, enhance job satisfaction, and adapt to the evolving job market. The company was recently named the 2024 "Best World-Changing Idea, North America" by Fast Company.
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Brew Gentlemen to Open Braddock Public House In Former Superior Motors Space
After running pop-ups out of the space on occasion throughout the past year, Brew Gentlemen, co-founded by Carnegie Mellon University alumni Matthew Katase and Asa Foster, is set to open the Braddock Public House by the end of the summer. Located at the former Superior Motors restaurant, the brewpub will feature beers from Brew Gentlemen and other local craft producers.
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
RK Mellon Foundation Awards $1.4M to Pitch Competition Winners, Including CMU Startups
The Richard King Mellon Foundation has announced the winners of its third Social-Impact Pitch Competition. Four young Pittsburgh-area companies received a combined $1.4M from the region's largest foundation, three that have founders tied to Carnegie Mellon University including: People's Energy Analytics (1st place, $500K); Marinus Analytics (2nd place, $400K) and Troutwood, Inc. (3rd place, $300K).
Friday, August 16, 2024
Velo.AI To Equip POGOH Bikes With Sensors as Part of $15M DOT Grant Program To Improve Road Safety
Velo.AI, a participant in the 2023 VentureBridge cohort, has been awarded $200K from the Department of Transportation to help improve safety conditions for cyclists.
The company will utilize the funding to use a fleet of bicycle-mounted sensors to gather and compute real-time, near-miss collision data between bicycles and automobiles to analyze and identify road safety hazards and risks in the Pittsburgh region.
Thursday, August 15, 2024
How Duolingo Turned a Free Language App Into a $7.7B Business
Language-learning app Duolingo makes around $500M annually, despite offering all of its lessons for free. The WSJ explores how the company is using AI and A/B testing to keep users hooked.
Thursday, August 15, 2024
The Customer Discovery Kickstart Program Wraps UpTwelfth Cohort
The Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship’s Project Olympus Incubator recently completed its 12th cohort of the Customer Discovery Kickstart, a program for early-stage startups to explore the feasibility of their business ideas. Read more about the participating startups here.
12 startups learned about the fundamentals of customer discovery during the 4-week course, which included conducting customer discovery interviews and coaching from experienced Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. Participants included undergraduate and graduate students, and alumni from several CMU schools and departments including Dietrich College, School of Computer Science, College of Engineering, Tepper School of Business, and Integrated Innovation Institute.
Two Kickstart cohorts will be offered in the Fall—the four-week, remote programs will begin on September 18 and October 23. Contact Melanie Simko, Program Manager for more information.
Friday, August 9, 2024
BlastPoint Featured in Next Pittsburgh's Article: Pittsburgh's Tech Industry Booms Fueled By Startups and Investments
Pittsburgh’s tech ecosystem is still growing. Last year, sixty local startups saw a $7.38M investment and 1,154 new jobs with support from Innovation Works. Several Innovation Works’ portfolio companies saw huge growth in the past year, including Carnegie Mellon University startup BlastPoint, which raised $8.91M last year.
Co-founded by Alison Alvarez and Tomer Borenstein, BlastPoint is an East Liberty-based startup that uses AI to predict human behavior for large enterprises to understand their customers better. Last year, BlastPoint grew from twelve employees to over forty.
Thursday, August 8, 2024
Aurora Raises $483M to Support Scaling Strategy and Upcoming Launch of Driverless Trucks in Texas
Last week we raised total gross proceeds of $483 million, which adds to our $1 billion of liquidity as of the end of June. With runway well into 2026, we expect this incremental capital to fund the initial phase of our scaling strategy. I feel energized by this momentum as we prepare to launch driverless trucks in Texas, planned for the end of this year.
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
Swartz Center Hosts CMU Rales Fellowship Orientation
On Monday, August 5, approximately twenty two Carnegie Mellon graduate students from various schools on campus attended the first CMU Rales Fellows Program orientation, which was held at the CMU Swartz Center. Led by Amy Burkert, Ph.D., CMU Vice Provost for Education, this program attracts and equips a diverse group of future leaders in STEM to empower them and connect them with others who share their passion and to advance the next generation of diverse STEM leaders.
Students from the College of Engineering, Dietrich College, Mellon College of Science, School of Computer Science and Inter-College Programs are eligible to participate.
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
AI Horizons Summit Represents Return to Forward-thinking Pittsburgh
A recently announced artificial intelligence summit, fittingly called AI Horizons, will take place in Pittsburgh in October. The summit represents the needed return of global ambition to Pittsburgh, as the city quietly remains a leading center for research and innovation. The event’s partners include both Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, along with Google, Duolingo and local AI firms.
Friday, August 2, 2024
Pearl Raises $58M to Help Dentists Make Better Diagnoses Using AI
Pearl, one of only three startups that has an FDA clearance to use AI to assist dentists make accurate diagnoses and provide patients with a “second opinion,” announced last week that it raised a $58M Series B round led by Left Lane Capital with participation from Smash Capital, Alpha Partners, and existing investors, Craft Ventures and Neotribe Ventures.
Pearl is founded by Carnegie Mellon University alumnus and CEO Ophir Tanz, who incubated Pearl inside GumGum, a computer vision startup serving sports and advertising franchises, which he co-founded in 2007.
Thursday, August 1, 2024
Carnegie Mellon Startups Among Semi-Finalists for UpPrize
Five Carnegie Mellon University startups have been named semi-finalists in the 2024 UpPrize Social Innovation Challenge, aimed at creating cross-sector partnerships to solve some of our community’s most pressing problems. The startups, who have been participants in several Swartz Center programs such as the James R. Swartz Fellows, VentureBridge and the Customer Discovery Kickstart program are: Velo AI, Galen Health, Kloopify, Fine Art Miracles and Peoples Energy Analytics.
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
VentureBridge Startup Fluid Reality Honored with Fast Company's Innovation by Design Award
Fluid Reality, a spinout from technology developed at the Future Interfaces Group at Carnegie Mellon University co-founded by Carnegie Mellon alumnus Craig Shultz and Joe Mullenbach, is an honoree of Fast Company's Innovation by Design Award. The 2023 VentureBridge company makes compact actuator components for consumer and enterprise electronic devices.
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Multi-hyphenate Creator and Technologist Damola Idowu Is Using Hip-Hop To Introduce Pittsburgh Students To Technology, Science, Math and Entrepreneurship
Damola Idowu began his relationship with hip-hop in the late 1980's. Along the way, he also envisioned an academic path after listening to various famous rappers at the time. His son Wole Idowu, also revealing engineering talent at an early age, earned meetings in Silicon Valley and recruitment by top colleges, eventually landing at Carnegie Mellon University.
The two developed a curriculum called ToyzSTEAM, working with a Carnegie Mellon start-up program to co-found Toyz Electronics, Inc., which is working out of the CMU Swartz Center.
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
The CMU Swartz Center Announces 2024-25 Innovation Commercialization Fellows
The Carnegie Mellon University Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship recently awarded five Innovation Commercialization Fellowships for 2024-2025. Find out more about the new cohort here (pdf).
Thank you to our Swartz Center Patrons
