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Friday, November 8, 2024
Property Co-ownership Startup Fractional Raises $15M
Fractional, co-founded by CMU Computer Science alumna Stella Han, has raised our $15M Series A, bringing our total funding to $20.5M! This round was led by Fifth Wall, with notable participation from Left Lane Capital and others. This huge milestone will assist the company on its journey to empower real estate investors to build wealth and unlock new opportunities. Stella shares the news via LinkedIn.
Friday, November 8, 2024
Hack-a-Startup Kickoff: A Two-Week Journey of Innovation & Entrepreneurship Begins!
This past weekend, Hack-a-Startup launched with an inspiring kickoff, bringing together 200 students from fields such as AI, healthcare, robotics and more. Organized by Graduate Entrepreneurship Club (GEC) members Amanda Manget (Swartz Fellow), Daniela Decoud and Nisarg Doshi, the event aims to accelerate student-led ideas through hands-on mentoring, workshops and pitching.
What’s Next: Over the next two weeks, participants will attend five specialized workshops, working closely with assigned industry mentors to refine their ideas and strategies. The journey will culminate in a final pitch to a panel of judges, with the top teams competing for nearly $10K in prizes. Twenty five startups were formed with fifteen teams advancing to the finals.
Event sponsors: Accel, Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative's Patient Safety Technology Challenge, and InnovatePGH
Initial workshop leads: Adam Paulisick, CEO at Skillbuilder and Tepper Adjunct Faculty; Alison Alvarez, CEO and founder of BlastPoint; and David Goyette
Judges: Adam Paulisick, Caiden Joseph Lukan, Arthur Sugden, and Zak Slayback
Event organizers: Amanda Manget, Daniela Decoud, and Nisarg Doshi
Volunteers: Anika Halappanavar, Jahnavi Patel, Nidhisha Voonna, Shubhaa Chawla, and Lananh Doan.
The finals will take place on Saturday, November 16 and will be open to the greater Pittsburgh entrepreneurial community.
Thursday, November 7, 2024
Galen Health a Finalist in the Patient Safety Technology Challenge
Logan Nye, MD and Kushagra Agarwal, co-founders of Galen Health, pioneer of technological breakthroughs in the early detection and prevention of pancreatic cancer, have made it to the finals of the Patient Safety Technology Challenge Grand Awards.
Kushagra will be pitching in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on January 9, 2025.
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Addy AI Founder and CEO Michael Vandi Featured in Silicon Valley Business Journal
Michael Vandi, founder and CEO of Addy AI, the 2023 VentureBridge startup that uses specialized AI models to reduce manual work for loan officers and make loan origination more efficient, was recently featured in the Silicon Valley Business Journal. In his recent post on LinkedIn Vandi shared that he was "followed by photographer Tomas Ovalle and that Tomas' story beautifully captures the true rollercoaster of building a startup—the highs, the lows, the yeses, and the nos–it’s never a straight line."
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
R.K. Mellon Foundation Awards Combined $1.4M to Four CMU Startups at Social-Impact Pitch Competition
Troutwood Takes Third Place and $300K Investment
Another Carnegie Mellon University startup to win funding from the R.K. Mellon Foundation's recent Social-Impact Pitch Competition was Troutwood, founded by Tepper School of Business alumnus and CEO Gene Natali taking, winning third place at $300K investment. Troutwood seeks to empower individuals and institutions with conflict-free financial education and planning tools.
Additional CMU startup awardees will be featured in subsequent editions of the Weekly Bulletin.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Niche Direct Admissions Named One of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2024
Niche—the website that allows students to rank and review schools—is trying to break down some of the barriers to college entry with its Direct Admissions platform. Instead of filling out and paying fees for separate applications for each college, students complete a free profile and colleges come to them—automatically offering admissions and even scholarships via the platform. Over 930,000 high schoolers have already received at least one admissions offer through Niche. “We want colleges going directly to the families saying, ‘We admit you,’” says Niche CEO Luke Skurman.
Friday, November 1, 2024
Announcing the 2024-26 James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows Cohort!
At the annual induction ceremony hosted at the CMU Swartz Center last Friday, twelve first year graduate students from across campus were inducted into the newest cohort of James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows. The students, having exemplified a passion for entrepreneurship and demonstrating consistent involvement in entrepreneurial activities on campus, accepted the offer to become a Swartz Fellow after a rigorous application process, which ended on October 13, 2024.
Also participating in the induction were the undergraduate Innovation Scholars, who joined the 2024-26 cohort back in the Spring, and five Innovation Commercialization Fellows, which is a program that accelerates the process of commercializing university research aiming to foster entrepreneurship among graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and research assistants.
The new Swartz Fellows are (in order of above photo):
- Maitreyi Agarwal, Engineering/Design/Tepper School of Business (III)
- Miguel Almeida, MS in Artificial Intelligence and Innovation, School of Computer Science
- Dr. Shubhaa Chawla, Engineering/Design/Tepper School of Business (III)
- Anthony Edwards, Tepper School of Business
- Gweneth Ge, School of Computer Science
- Ashwini Karanth, Tepper School of Business
- Aimee Langevin, MS in Artificial Intelligence and Innovation, School of Computer Science
- Eagle Lo, Master's in Computational Data Science, School of Computer Science
- Abhishek Mathur, School of Computer Science
- Shiv Panjwani, Tepper School of Business
- Sapna Rohra, Engineering/Design, Tepper School of Business (III)
- Michael Shang, Master of Software Engineering, School of Computer Science/Tepper School
of Business
Find out more about the new Swartz Fellows here.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
The Swartz Center Hosts Samsung NEXT/Radical Ventures Event: Pushing the Frontiers of AI and ML
On Tuesday, October 29, the CMU Swartz Center hosted Samsung NEXT and Radical Ventures for a private event featuring investors, founders, students and academics for a conversation about the latest advancements in AI/ML, and bridging the gap between cutting-edge research and practical applications. Samsung NEXT is one of the industries most active investors, and they are eager to invest in CMU companies.
The talk was moderated by Diane Choi, Investor at Samsung NEXT, and the panelists included:
- Tianqi Chen, Assistant Professor at CMU in the Machine Learning and Computer Science departments; Chief Technologist at OctoML;
- Matt Fredrikson, Associate Professor at CMU, School of Computer Science; Member of CyLab; CEO of Gray Swan
- Vyas Sekar, Tan Family Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, ECE Department at CMU; co-founder and Chief Technologist at Rockfish Data; Chief Scientist at Conviva.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Gather AI Partners with Indiana-based Nonprofit to Aid Visually Impaired Warehouse Workers
Warehouse management startup Gather AI announced its partnership with Bosma Enterprises, a nonprofit organization and the state of Indiana's largest employer of blind or visually impaired workers. Gather AI utilizes artificial intelligence software-powered autonomous drones to fly through warehouses and analyze items through image recognition.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
R.K. Mellon Foundation Awards Combined $1.4M to Four CMU Startups at Social-Impact Pitch Competition
Marinus Analytics Takes Second Place and $400K Investment
Another Carnegie Mellon University startup to win funding from the R.K. Mellon Foundation's recent Social-Impact Pitch Competition, was Marinus Analytics, taking second place at $400K investment. Marinus Analytics is an artificial intelligence company developing technology to help public-safety professionals to disrupt human trafficking, child abuse and cyber fraud.
Additional CMU startup awardees will be featured in subsequent editions of the Weekly Bulletin.
Friday, October 25, 2024
Unicorn Startup, Nimble Closes $106M Series C Funding Round, ScalesFully Autonomous Fulfillment with Fedex
Nimble, a pioneering AI robotics and autonomous e-commerce fulfillment technology company founded by CMU alumnus and CEO Simon Kalouche, has announced the successful closure of a $106M Series C funding round, elevating the company to a $1B valuation. The funding round was led by FedEx and co-led by existing shareholder Cedar Pine LLC. As part of their strategic alliance, FedEx has entered into a commercial agreement to scale its FedEx Fulfillment service using Nimble's technology and fully autonomous 3PL model.
Friday, October 25, 2024
R.K. Mellon Foundation Awards Combined $1.4M to Four CMU Startups at Social-Impact Pitch Competition
People's Energy Analytics Takes First Place and $500K Investment
One of four Carnegie Mellon University startups to win funding from the R.K. Mellon Foundation's recent Social-Impact Pitch Competition, People's Energy Analytics took first place, winning a $500K investment. Dr. Destenie Nock, Founder and CEO and CMU Assistant Professor of Engineering, said, “At Peoples Energy Analytics we have shown that helping people pay their energy bills is good for business in the energy utility sector. While we have gained traction in Pittsburgh and the Southeast, this investment will be integral in scaling our impact across the nation.”
Thursday, October 24, 2024
LegalSifter Acquires Contract Management Solutions Firm
CMU founded LegalSifter, a local tech firm whose artificial intelligence-powered software reviews and creates contracts, has announced it has acquired Contract Logix, a Lowell, Massachusetts-based company that provides data analysis-driven contract management solutions. LegalSifter's AI technology allows companies to sift through documents faster as the tech is capable of organizing data from documents more efficiently than humans can manually.
Friday, October 18, 2024
Alchemy Raises $31M In Seed Funding Led by Andreessen Horowitz
Alchemy, a developer of in-house pharmacy programs for clinics with large HIV and hepatitis C patient populations, has raised $31M in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. CMU alumnus Sid Viswanathan is the founder and Co-CEO.
Also participating in the round was Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, Banc of California and existing investors Twine Ventures, Springbank and AlleyCorp
Friday, October 18, 2024
Dah-Varsity TOYZSTEAM Hosts High School Students During Pittsburgh Tech Week
During Pittsburgh Tech Week at Carnegie Mellon University, Damola Idowu and his son Wole Idowu, founders of Toyz Electronics, held workshops for various high school students at the CMU Swartz Center.
Using their Dah-Varsity Video Game that integrates their TOYZSTEAM platform for STEAM learning, the two aim to empower 100 diverse students in Pittsburgh, PA. The TechWeek workshops, presentations and interactive experiences focused on video games, entrepreneurship, 3D modeling, AI and data science, storytelling and comic books, music and creating virtual superhero avatars with 3D printing. Currently, Damola and Wole have over five hundred users in Pittsburgh using the Dah-Varsity App.
Their aim with this event was to provide equity to the students by adding their created story and playable video game assets to highlight their abilities, giving a human context to data science.
Thursday, October 17, 2024
AI Horizons Pittsburgh Summit Draws Global Experts to Bakery Square (Around Town)
This past Monday, East Liberty's Bakery Square played host to the very first AI Horizons Pittsburgh Summit, bringing together global and local experts on artificial intelligence to discuss the future of the sector, safety and regulation, its unique energy requirements and how it will impact different sectors and our world as a whole.
Among the big names involved in putting the event together were Carnegie Mellon University, Duolingo, BlueTree Allied Angels, PNC Financial Services Group Inc., the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and Walnut Capital, the owner and developer of Bakery Square. At the event, Gov. Josh Shapiro called Pittsburgh the future of artificial intelligence development and said that Pennsylvania, unlike other states that are more tech wary, is a place where “everyone’s going in the same direction.”
Nvidia, a global leader in chipmaking, also had a presence at the event. A formal memorandum was signed recognizing Nvidia's decision to invest in the Pittsburgh region and create its first ever AI Tech Community here in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.
Friday, October 11, 2024
Carnegie Mellon Startups Among Semi-Finalists in the UpPrize Social Innovation Challenge
This year's semi-finalists for the UpPrize BNY Social Innovation Challenge have been announced, and several of the companies hail from Carnegie Mellon University such as: Galen Health, founded by Logan Nye, MD; VentureBridge startup velo.AI, founded by Clark Haynes, PhD, Kloopify, co-founded by COO Ignacio Osio and Peoples Energy Analytics, founded by CMU Professor and CEO Destenie Nock, PhD.
The companies will present at the UpPrize Final Showcase on October 17, 2024.
Friday, October 4, 2024
The VentureBridge 3-City Demo Day Wraps Up This Week
The CMU VentureBridge (VB) team concluded its 3-city Demo Day annual series this week with over 600+ guests and 27 CMU-alumni and CMU-faculty startups in attendance across New York, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh. Our gratitude goes out to Andy Gollach, Partner at SOSV and Tepper alumnus for hosting the CMU founders and investors in New York City, and Matt Kirmayer, Partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, for hosting CMU founders and investors in Palo Alto, San Francisco Bay area.
Thank You's:
Thank you to all of the twenty seven startup founders, CMU alumni and faculty representing the College of Engineering, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Integrated Innovation Institute, Heinz College, School of Computer Science (SCS), School of Design and Tepper School of Business who participated at these events:
Chelsie Hall, Co-Founder ViralMoment, Master's III, VB ’21; Dipan Pal, Founder Voaige, PhD Robotics, VB ’22; Sarika Bajaj, Co-Founder Refiberd, Undergrad / Masters ECE, VB ’20; Rohan Pandya, Co-Founder Focal, Master's Robotics, VB ’22; Vishakha Gupta, Co-Founder ApertureData, Master's INI, VB ’20; Arman Hezarkhani, Founder Parthean, Undergrad ECE, VB ’21; Clark Haynes, Co-Founder Velo AI, PhD Robotics, VB ’23; Joe Mullenback, Co-Founder Fluid Reality commercialized out of Chris Harrison’s Future Interfaces Group, HCI, VB ’23; Saurabh Misra, Co-Founder CodeFlash, Master’s ECE; Stuart Diller, Founder ESTAT, PhD Mechanical Engineering, VB ’21; JJ Xu, Founder TalkMeUp, Tepper MBA, VB '18; Mathew Polowitz, Tepper MBA & Heinz Public Policy, Co-Founder Equa Health commercialize out of David Creswell's Health and Human Performance Lab, Department of Psychology, VB '21; Andreas Pfenning, CMU Faculty SCS, Computational Biology, Founder Snail Biosciences; Spencer Matonis, Founder Edulis, PhD Material Sciences; Logan Nye, Co-Founder Galen Health, Master's SCS; Jay Reddy, Co-Founder Advanced Optronics commercialized out of Maysam Chamanzar's lab, ECE, VB '22, Rob Miller, Co-Founder Off The Line, Tepper MBA, VB '23.
Thank you also to Tom Matta, Co-Founder Nomikai, Undergrad Material Sciences & Tepper MBA, VB '24; Dylan Mikus, Co-Founder Fixpoint, Undergrad SCS, VB '24; Satyajit Naik, Co-Founder Aiirify, Tepper MBA, VB '24; Anna Fuller, Co-Founder Halo, Tepper MBA, VB '24; Michael Kaess, Co-Founder Aquatonomy, CMU Faculty Robotics, VB '24; Biao (Leo) Ma, Co-Founder Roboforce, Master's SCS, VB '24; Saisri Akondi, Founder D.Sole, Master's III, VB '24; Kyle Henson, Co-Founder Arda, Undergrad Business, Uriel Eisen, Co-Founder Arda, Undergrad Design, VB '24; Vijeyta Aggarwal, Co-Founder Vectro, Master's III, VB '24; Bob Dimicco, Co-Founder Reveal AI, Tepper MBA, VB '24.
Thanks also to all of the volunteers: Gus Jenkins (Swartz Fellow), Jordan Tab (Swartz Fellow), Harper LaFave (Swartz Fellow), Nisha Maharaj and David Chan.
Friday, October 4, 2024
Korion Health Wins $1M Hult Prize
Korion Health, an at-home heart and lung screening company that was No. 5 on Technical.ly’s 2024 RealLIST Startups, was awarded the prestigious Hult Prize recently in London. Out of a field of 100,000 teams, cofounders Anna Li, a CMU/Pitt graduate student, and Akshaya Anand were one of six to reach the finals, and subsequently won the final pitch competition.
The startup’s focus on healthcare advancements, combined with its Pittsburgh roots, helped land the win, according to Li.
Thursday, October 3, 2024
CorePower Magnetics Receives Over $1M Backed in Large Part by DoE
Carnegie Mellon spinout CorePower Magnetics has received an approximately $1.2M investment as part of a push from the Department of Energy. The funding will help CorePower develop and prototype a high-performance electric motor free of rare earth metals. Throughout the development process, the company will compare several rare earth element free magnet technologies.
Wednesday, October 2, 2024
Near Earth Autonomy Partners with Austin Aircraft Company to Develop Autonomous Casualt Evacuation System
Near Earth Autonomy has partnered with Austin-based LIFT Aircraft for an Army contract to design and develop an autonomous craft capable of transporting blood supply through combat zones and perform emergency casualty evacuations.
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Why Pittsburgh’s Poised to Lead the AI Revolution
AI Horizons Summit Scheduled for October 14
The former steel capital has already made the transition to advanced manufacturing. Its combination of tech talent, universities and power sources make it well-equipped to be a leader in AI. The positioning of Pittsburgh’s unique economic opportunity has already begun.
An AI Horizons Summit is scheduled for October 14, featuring Gov. Shapiro and a plethora of industry leaders. The summit aims to highlight the city’s commitment to “human-first” AI and responsible technology, differentiating it from other cities competing for leadership in this space.
Friday, September 27, 2024
VentureBridge Demo Day Continues in Pittsburgh at the Swartz Center
The CMU Swartz Center kicked off it's VentureBridge 3-City Demo Day in Palo Alto, California on September 18, and the event continued in Pittsburgh at the Swartz Center on September 25. The next Demo Day 'investor only' event will take place in New York on October 2.
The VentureBridge program supports CMU-alumni founders to build on their bold ideas by providing pre-seed funding, office space and introducing them to potential customers, investors and mentors as part of its summer accelerator. Participants at both events were able to watch select VentureBridge alumni present their innovations and successes to-date.
The CMU Swartz Center also hosted the VentureBridge Tech Talk and Job Fair on September 24. Several Carnegie Mellon alumni founded companies headquartered out of San Francisco, New York and Pittsburgh were hiring talent.
Thursday, September 26, 2024
E-Visa Startup Atlys Raises $20M Series B Funding
Atlys, the E-Visa startup founded by Carnegie Mellon University and Innovation Scholar alumnus Mohak Nahta, has raised $20M in a series-B funding round that was led by existing investors Peak XV Partners and Elevation Capital.
Thursday, September 26, 2024
Nimble Launches Robotic Fulfillment Center in New Jersey
Nimble, founded by Simon Kalouche, recently launched its new state-of-the-art warehouse in New Jersey to scale autonomous fulfillment operations. The new fulfillment center will supplement Nimble’s national 3PL fulfillment network with another node in a prime market.
Friday, September 20, 2024
The CMU Swartz Center Hosts Family Business Leadership Series Event with Stuart Weitzman, Founder of Stuart Weitzman Shoes
The CMU Swartz Center, along with the CMU School of Design, co-hosted a special Family Business Leadership Series talk on Monday, September 16, 2024 with Stuart Weitzman, founder of Stuart Weitzman shoes. Mr. Weitzman spoke passionately as he shared his entrepreneurial journey to a packed house, reflecting on his passion for design, which has been a lifelong pursuit that has led to the internationally renowned company that bears his name. His unique approach to entrepreneurship and his uncompromised commitment to prioritizing function as an integral element of fashion has led to his shoes dominated the red carpet for many years.
Meredith Meyer Grelli, Assistant Dean of Entrepreneurship Initiatives, Director of Project Olympus, Swartz Center EIR and Faculty at the Tepper School of Business, leads the Family Business initiative and kicked off the talk. James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow Julie Negussie introduced Mr. Weitzman.
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business Ranked #3 For Entrepreneurship By Bloomberg
Bloomberg's latest Business School Rankings for 2024-25 ranks Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business #3 for Entrepreneurship. CMU Swartz Center Executive Director Dave Mawhinney shared in a recent LinkedIn post, "The Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship is proud to partner with the Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business on entrepreneurship initiatives, startup formation, education and research".
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Galen Health Featured in Pittsburgh Post Gazette: What's Next in AI: Curing Cancer, or at Least Trying
In Pittsburgh, the promise of diagnosing just one cancer—Pancreatic—with AI was enough to convince CMU School of Computer Science Master of Science student and James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow Logan Nye, MD, to abandon his plans of becoming a surgeon. He’s now using coding and math to build Galen Health, in partnership with the city’s top universities and medical centers.
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.
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