McGinnis Venture Competition Final Round Celebration
The McGinnis Venture Competition, a platform exclusively for Carnegie Mellon University's community of student entrepreneurs, brings together Carnegie Mellon's best and brightest student entrepreneurs to compete for $60K in investments.
Congrats to our 2025 Winners!
For 2025 only, with a special gift from the McGinnis family, we were able to double the prize winnings for each team!
Undergraduate Winners
First Place: Thursday Thrift, Inc.: Where Discovery Meets Demand. Team includes Chibuike Dumebi-Kachikwu, Paul Davis and Amy Guo. (Receiving $8,000)
Second Place: noVRel: Redefining the OR through Augmented Reality. Team includes Tanvi Mittal and Sejeal Katiyar. (Receiving $5,000)
Graduate Winners
First Place: Solstis: Solstis is an AI powered platform that allows you to create workflow automations using API specialized agents in natural language. Solstis is like having a group chat where your app agents talk to each other, execute workflows on command and learn over time - like a team that never sleeps. Team includes Samika Sanghvi, Pratik Satija and Aarav Bajaj. (Receiving $50,000)
Second Place: Beyond Reach Labs, Inc.: Building rapidly deployable infrastructure for austere environments. Team includes Mitchell Fogelson. (Receiving $30,000)
Third Place: Sabana: Accelerate your product research and construction specifications. Team includes Ruben Quesada, Saket Kulkarni and Alexander Zhu. (Receiving $20,000)
Fighting Spirit Award
BAM!: For those everyday moments where you need a little BAM!. Team includes Kaitlyn Chow, Tarek Fakhri, Melody Chu, Liam Merino, Shanting Hou and Nyomor-Da Tackie-Yarboi. (Receiving $1,000)
Help cheer the final round teams to victory by attending our in person event.
The McGinnis Venture Competition is made possible by a generous endowment from Gerald E. McGinnis, founder of Respironics.
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Final Round Team Presentations
5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Award Ceremony & Networking Reception
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship
Carnegie Mellon University
Tepper Quad
, 3rd Level
4765 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
The event will also be live-streamed to allow our international and remote community members to view. To view the live-stream visit the events page the day of the event.
Visitor parking available at the East Campus Garage
The McGinnis Venture Competition is made possible by a generous endowment from Gerald E. McGinnis, founder of Respironics.
Schedule of Events
Undergraduate Team Pitches
Undergraduate Teams: 5 min pitch and 5 min Q&A
2 min break between presentation
|
1:00 - 1:10 p.m. |
GoRide |
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1:12 - 1:22 p.m. |
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1:24 - 1:34 p.m. |
Thursday Thrift, Inc. |
|
1:36 - 1:46 p.m. |
Wurklife, LLC |
Graduate Team Pitches
Graduate Teams: 5 min pitch and 5 min Q&A
2 min break between presentations
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2:15 - 2:25 p.m. |
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| 2:27 - 2:37 p.m. | |
| 2:39 – 2:49 p.m. | |
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2:51 – 3:01 p.m. |
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| 3:03 – 3:13 p.m. | |
|
3:15 – 3:25 p.m. |
BioVita Intelligence |
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3:35 – 3:45 p.m. |
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3:47 – 3:57 p.m. |
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3:59 – 4:09 p.m. |
Sabana |
| 4:11 – 4:21 p.m. |
Scottie Fetch |
| 4:23 – 4:33 p.m. | |
| 4:35 – 4:45 p.m. |
Speak Smart.ai |
Networking Reception + Awards Ceremony
5:30 - 7:00 p.m. EST
Join us as we announce the winners of the 2025 McGinnis Venture Competition.
Awards to be announced between 6:10 - 6:30 p.m. EST.
Hear the winner of the Social Enterprise Prize Teams give a quick pitch during this time.
2025 Final Round Teams
GoRide
Undergraduate Track
Erika Ramirez and Audrey Simon
The Long-Distance Student Rideshare Marketplace
noVRel
Undergraduate Track
Tanvi Mittal and Sejeal Katiyar
Redefining the OR through Augmented Reality
Thursday Thrift, Inc.
Undergraduate Track
Chibuike Dumebi-Kachikwu, Paul Davis and Amy Guo
Where Discovery Meets Demand
WurkLife, LLC
Undergraduate Track
Luca Adams and Josh Ramos
WurkLife is a software platform that aims to revolutionize the recruitment landscape with an all-in-one platform that connects applicants and employers. It facilitates a seamless, user-friendly experience for the everyday job-seeker and employer. Think the common app for colleges, but for jobs!
Check Me Ltd
Graduate Track
Yuyun Francis Berinyuy, Assynath Mlay Thompson and Alice Mugengano
Transforming Breast Cancer Care inAfrica with AI and Community Support
Umuganda Energy Finance
Graduate Track
Iyata Adikpe, Peace Bakare, Cynthia Iradukunda, Theogene Gasigwa and Alvina Minja
Umuganda Energy Finance (UEF) is a digital platform that enables global investors to fund renewable energy projects in Africa, specifically Rwanda.
BAM!
Graduate Track
Kaitlyn Chow, Tarek Fakhri, Melody Chu, Liam Merino, Shanting Hou and Nyomor-Da Tackie-Yarboi
For those everyday moments where you need a little BAM!
Beyond Reach Labs, Inc.
Graduate Track
Mitchell Fogelson
Building rapidly deployable infrastructure for austere environments
BioVita Intelligence
Graduate Track
Gweneth Ge, William Wu, Shivang Vijay and Gloria Ma
Private LLM for Biopharma Company
Perflection AI
Graduate Track
Guangzhao(Zack) Li, Yuhao (Gary) Liu, Yinong (Oliver) Wang, Yu Tong Tiffany Ling, Qilin(Kimi) Wu, Jialu Gao, Ming-Feng(Justin) Li, Ruwei(Cindy) Chen, Shenghua Huo, Yiming(Frank) Liu and Mingyu(Myles) Tang
Perflection AI builds AI coaches that interactively deliver real-time, personalized sports instruction. Their smartphone-based app, Swingie, directly observes, analyzes and discusses tips with sport amateurs just like a human coach powered by their unique vision and motion foundation models, tailoring unique learning progressions to unique individuals.
PlanWise
Graduate Track
Max Hsiao, Jacinto Suner and Anshika Agarwal
AI-powered dentistry that makes care smarter, more efficient and more transparent.
Sabana
Graduate Track
Ruben Quesada, Saket Kulkarni and Alexander Zhu
Accelerate your product research and construction specifications
Scottie Fetch
Graduate Track
Timothy Watts
Scottie Fetch aims to be the fastest matchmaker for top-quality, independent sponsor led small business acquisitions in the lower market by providing a platform to connect isolated networks, educate acquisition participants and consolidate the information that matters most. Buyers, sellers and equity partners can now more easily and more quickly find their acquisition partners and finalize the deal.
Solstis
Graduate Track
Samika Sanghvi, Pratik Satija and Aarav Bajaj
Solstis is an AI powered platform that allows you to create workflow automations using API specialized agents in natural language. Solstis is like having a group chat where your app agents talk to each other, execute workflows on command and learn over time - like a team that never sleeps.
Speak Smart.ai
Graduate Track
Naufal Nafian, Jeremia Redmond, Shounak Karmalkar and Vir Toolsidas
The New LLM: Limitless Learning Model
Thank you to our Swartz Center Patrons
