News
Join Our Weekly Bulletin
Stay up to date on the latest entrepreneurship news, programs and opportunities.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Meta to Fund Promising Early-Stage CMU Startups
Meta will invest in the university’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship
The Swartz Center is proud to announce that Meta has committed to support promising early-stage, CMU-affiliated startups.
This initiative will provide funding to startups in advanced technologies, and cross-disciplinary innovation arising out of CMU’s work in AI, robotics and systems engineering. The partnership with Meta is projected to support high-potential startups in areas critical to the energy, infrastructure, health care or defense industries during its launch period.
Carnegie Mellon is known for its leadership in emerging technologies and supporting commercialization of resulting startups. Collectively, CMU-affiliated companies have created more than $658 billion in value and raised more than $40 billion in capital.
“Thanks to Meta’s partnership, we can expand our support for breakthrough companies at the earliest, highest risk stages,” says Swartz Center Interim Executive Director Meredith Meyer Grelli.
The Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship is the heart of the university’s innovation ecosystem. Named for CMU alumnus, entrepreneur and founding partner of Accel venture capital James R. Swartz, the center works to accelerate bringing research innovations and promising ideas from across CMU to the global marketplace.
Friday, July 11, 2025
Meredith Grelli Appointed Interim Director of the CMU Swartz Center
In an announcement made by Carnegie Mellon University last week, Dave Mawhinney, founding Executive Director of the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, has returned to faculty as of June 2025, after nearly a decade of visionary leadership shaping the Center's growth. The university has named Meredith Grelli as the Swartz Center’s interim director.
Meredith, who has worked closely with Dave and the CMU startup community over the years, will retain her other responsibilities as director of the Project Olympus Incubator Program, assistant dean for entrepreneurial initiatives within the School of Computer Science, and associate teaching professor of entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business. Dave will continue to serve as a teaching professor of Entrepreneurship in the Tepper School of Business.
The university is planning a celebration to honor Dave's legacy of impact to take place in the Fall of 2025.
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Genesis AI Launches with $105M Seed Funding to Build AI Models for Robots
Genesis AI, a startup that aims to build a foundational model for powering all kinds of robots, has emerged from stealth with a giant $105M seed round co-led by Eclipse and Khosla Ventures.
Founded last December by Zhou Xian, who holds a PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, and Théophile Gervet, a former research scientist with the French AI lab Mistral, the startup aims to build a general-purpose model that will enable robots to automate a wide range of repetitive tasks, from lab work to housekeeping.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
The CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and Project Olympus Announce 2025-26 Innovation Commercialization Fellows
The CMU Swartz Center and Project Olympus are excited to announce the 2025-2026 cohort of Innovation Commercialization Fellows.
The Innovation Commercialization Fellows is a yearlong program aimed at accelerating the process of commercializing university research. It aims to foster entrepreneurship among graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and research personnel who work directly with faculty investigators to conduct scientific experiments, solve problems and innovate. Fellows are awarded $50K in funding and participate in dedicated workshops and intensive mentoring to pursue their startup idea. Since 2015 the program has awarded 55 fellowships, including this year's cohort.
The Innovation Commerlization Fellows are (from left):
Mosam Dahbi, Vikram Mohanty, MD, Sakibur Sajal, Peter Schaldenbrand and Savannah Talledo
For additional information about the program, contact Melanie Simko, Program Manager.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
WVU, Pitt, and CMU Lead Regional Consortium Selected as NSF Semifinalist forTransformative Energy Initiative
A regional innovation consortium led by West Virginia University (WVU), the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and United States Research Impact Alliance (USRIA), has been selected as a semifinalist for the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines $160M funding opportunity aimed at driving economic transformation through technological innovation.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Iris Lunar Dream Capsule Will Head to Moon on Next Astrobotic Lander
Iris—the lunar rover built by 300 students across Carnegie Mellon University’s seven colleges—will head back to the moon. Members of the Iris team have assembled the Iris Lunar Dream Capsule, a tiny payload that will launch aboard Griffin-1, the next lunar lander from Carnegie Mellon spinout Astrobotic.
“Lunar archeologists, maybe 10,000 years from now, could find this and learn about Iris,” said CMU Engineering alumnus and Innovation Scholar Connor Colombo, the chief engineer on Iris who now works at Astrobotic.
Monday, July 7, 2025
Toyz Electronics Selected as a 2025 Black Ambition Semi-Finalist
Toyz Electronics, co-founded by Damola Idowu and his son and CMU alumnus Wole, has been selected as a 2025 Black Ambition Semifinalist after a rigorous evaluation process where each application was reviewed by multiple business, investing and entrepreneurial experts.
Black Ambition, founded by Pharrell Williams, is working to close the wealth gap by investing in bold ideas and providing underrepresented founders with the resources, capital and community they need to thrive.
Monday, June 30, 2025
Carnegie Mellon University Announces Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship Leadership Transition
Dave Mawhinney, Founding Executive Director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University, will return to faculty on June 30, 2025, after nearly a decade of visionary leadership shaping the center’s growth and trajectory. The university will soon launch a national search for the Center’s next leader.
“Dave Mawhinney is an undeniable force who has shaped the Swartz Center’s trajectory in both small and significant ways,” said CMU President Farnam Jahanian. “Carnegie Mellon’s community is grateful for his decade of impact across the entrepreneurial landscape and his unyielding commitment to the center’s success.”
The Swartz Center launched in 2016 thanks to a transformative $31M gift from CMU alumnus and distinguished entrepreneur and venture capitalist James R. Swartz (MSIA 1966). Today, it is a nationally recognized engine for entrepreneurship education, supporting CMU startups through an array of programs including the Gebhardt Sandbox Fund, the McGinnis Venture competition, Venture Bridge pre-seed accelerator program, a robust EIR and mentor program, and the Tartans Entrepreneurs Fund. These programs have helped anchor Carnegie Mellon as a leading producer of startups among academic institutions and a primary driver of Pittsburgh’s growing dominance in emerging technologies and as an incubator for innovation.
“Dave’s enthusiasm for life is contagious and what he has done to elevate and expand entrepreneurship at CMU is remarkable,” said Jim Swartz, founder of the global venture capital firm Accel, whose transformational gift in 2015 brought the center into existence. “He built a center, and a community, that is vibrant, forward-looking, and committed to real impact. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together, and grateful to Dave for leading and shaping the center’s success over the years. Without question, Dave Mawhinney has personally changed the importance and trajectory of entrepreneurship at CMU forever.”
Mawhinney will continue to serve as a teaching professor of entrepreneurship in the Tepper School of Business. The university is planning a celebration to honor his legacy of impact to take place in Fall 2025. “Dave stood up a center that is now thriving — with programs, partnerships and a growing pipeline of entrepreneurs committed to making a difference,” said Theresa Mayer, CMU’s vice president for research. “We are grateful for Dave’s incredible leadership over the years and excited for the Swartz Center to continue accelerating its mission and growing its impact to benefit society and improve lives.”
The university has named Meredith Grelli as the Swartz Center’s interim director. Grelli, who has worked closely with Mawhinney and the CMU startup community over the years, will retain her other responsibilities as director of the Project Olympus Incubator Program, assistant dean for entrepreneurial initiatives within the School of Computer Science, and associate teaching professor of entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business.
About the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship
Founded in 2016, the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University offers extensive support for student, faculty and alumni entrepreneurs, fostering hundreds of student- and faculty-led ventures each year. It has consistently supported around 85 startups at any given time and organized over 100 community and student events annually while mentoring more than 200 graduate fellows.
Special Thanks from the Swartz Center Team
The Swartz Center staff, students and alumni that Dave has so enrichly impacted over many years wishes to express our gratitude for Dave's unyielding leadership, mentorship, dedication and friendship. Dave's open door policy and '24-7 availability' has truly made a difference at the Swartz Center, as well as his commitment to the entrepreneurship ecosystem at Carnegie Mellon University and the
Pittsburgh region.
Over the years, Dave has been a huge inspiration to the many students and alumni entrepreneurs who have and continue to use his guidance to become successful founders.
"May the Swartz Be With You!", Dave Mawhinney.
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Abridge AI Raises $300M, Doubles Valuation to $5.3B
Abridge AI Inc. has closed on a $300 million Series E funding round, bringing the company's total valuation to approximately $5.3 billion.
Abridge's artificial intelligence transcribes conversations between clinicians and their patients to reduce the cognitive load on doctors and nurses. Founded in 2018 by CMU alumnus, cardiologist and CEO Shiv Rao, the Pittsburgh-based tech unicorn has raised considerable amounts of cash.
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Carnegie Mellon Software Startup InceptEV Acquired by Motive
Motive, the AI-powered Integrated Operations Platform, has announced it has acquired InceptEV, a software startup from Carnegie Mellon University that uses advanced battery intelligence with machine learning to help companies make smarter electric vehicle (EV) investment decisions. Venkat Viswanathan, a co-founder of InceptEV and leading expert in EVs, joins the company as a strategic advisor. Viswanathan is also a former CMU Associate Professor and Faculty Fellow at the CMU Scott Institute for Energy Innovation.
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
CMU's Tepper School of Business Spotlights Alumni From the Class of 2025: Featuring an Innovation Scholar and James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow
Recent Tepper School of Business graduates Kaitlyn Chow, Innovation Scholar and founder of BAM! and Ruben Antonio Quesada, James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow and founder of Sabana, were featured in a recent story highlighting recent Tepper School of Business graduates who have and continue to impact innovation in the region.
Friday, June 20, 2025
Introducing the VentureBridge '25 Startups!
The CMU VentureBridge (VB) program is back again and excited to announce its investment in 14 startups as a part of the CMU VB ’25 funding cycle. The CMU-alumni-founders span across the country and hail from the School of Computer Science, College of Engineering and the Tepper School of Business, where they are building solutions across AI infrastructure, intelligent agents, robotics, healthtech, cleantech and industrial automation.
Congratulations to these incredible startups!
April, Blume, Clear Solar Corporation, Edulis Therapeutics, Flaflow, Fort, Kaavio, Kashikoi, Mesh, OctaPulse, Quivl AI, Sabana, Solstis and Wood Wide AI.
Friday, June 20, 2025
VentureBridge '25 Cohort Spotlight: Derek Gregg, Kaavio
Co-founded by CMU alumnus, CEO and James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow Derek Gregg and Northwestern University alumnus Samuel Bobb, Kaavio is building the agentic future of how factories, labs and job sites buy $8.5T in technical products.
In this spotlight series, we take a behind the scenes look at an interview with Derek at the beginning of the VentureBridge program in May.
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Y Combinator Announces Launch of CMU Alumni Founded Boost Robotics
Y Combinator has announced the launch of Boost Robotics, a company building mobile robots capable of dexterous manipulation to perform routine tasks inside data centers. Beyond maintenance, their robots will provide 24/7 monitoring and inventory management at these highly secure facilities.
Boost Robotics is co-founded by CMU alumni Hans Kumar (MSR '21, CIT '19) and Hardik Singh (MRSD '23, CIT '19), who is also a 2021-23 James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow. Before this venture, Hans was a Staff Software Engineer at Boston Dynamics, where he worked on productizing computer vision algorithms for the Spot robot. Hardik was Robotics Team Lead at an agtech startup developing cross-platform autonomy as a package for drones, rovers, and tractors. They’ve been friends since their freshman year at CMU, where they met after joining the CMU Bhangra team. They both went on to earn Master’s degrees from the CMU Robotics Institute, and kickstarted their careers in Pittsburgh's robotics ecosystem.
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
EKTO VR Launches Equity Crowdfunding Campaign with Honeycomb Credit
EKTO VR, 2020 VentureBridge participant and developer of immersion-enhancing products for the 170 million users in the $6B virtual reality market—founded by CMU MRSD alumnus and CEO Brad Factor—will be launching an equity crowdfunding campaign with Honeycomb Credit on Monday.
Participants can sign up to be notified when the campaign goes live. The team will be pitching and answering questions at Honeycomb's birthday celebration next Tuesday evening, and Honeycomb will waive their fees on Monday and Tuesday as a gift to investors who get in early!
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Benetech Named to Forbes Accessibility 100 List
Benetech, developer of inclusive technology that empowers all learners, has been named to the Forbes Accessibility 100 List—a global honor spotlighting the top 100 organizations revolutionizing accessibility worldwide. Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Ayan Kishore is CEO of Benetech.
Friday, June 13, 2025
The Birth of the University as Innovation Incubator: Carnegie Mellon Received One of the First University Incubators
Back in the 70's, Carnegie Mellon had all the components that experts believed were necessary for innovation: strong engineering, a world-class business school, novel approaches to urban planning with a focus on community needs and a tradition of industrial design and the practical arts. CMU leaders claimed that the school was smaller, younger, more interdisciplinary and more agile than MIT.
The main reason that CMU received an NSF Innovation Center, however, was its director, Dwight Baumann. Baumann exemplified a new kind of educator-entrepreneur.
Director of Carnegie Mellon’s Center for Entrepreneurial Development, Baumann believed that a modern university should provide entrepreneurial education. Baumann’s goal was to establish entrepreneurship education as a core function of a modern technological university.
Friday, June 13, 2025
Gecko Robotics Reaches Unicorn Status Doubling Valuation to Over $1B
Gecko Robotics announced this week that it has raised an additional $125M in Series D funding, raising its valuation to $1.25B, which means the Pittsburgh-based company has reached unicorn status. Co-founded by CMU alumni Jake Loosararian and CPO Troy Demmer, Gecko uses robots and AI to help organizations including the U.S. military inspect and monitor critical infrastructure.
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Tepper School of Business Alumni Receive 2025 Tepper Alumni Awards
The Tepper School Alumni Awards recognize excellence in the alumni community for outstanding career accomplishments or achievements and for impressive service to the school and alumni community. At a special ceremony held on May 3, three Tepper School alumni—two founders and an accomplished product marketing lead, received alumni awards.
Lifetime Achievement Award
- John Levinson, Founder and President, Westway Capital (McGinnis Venture Competition judge, funder of the Moonshot Boardroom, mentor and investor for the CMU Swartz Center
Recent Masters Alumni Award
- Anna Fuller, Founder of Halo (VentureBridge company)
- Stephen Feyer, Senior Product Marketing Manager - Competitive Intelligence, WalkMe - (James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow and mentor, CMU Swartz Center)
Congratulations to all of the awardees!
Friday, June 6, 2025
Announcing the Five Startups to Receive $100K From the Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund
We're excited to announce the five companies that will be a part of the 2025 inaugural cohort of the Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund. The Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund is focused on empowering Pittsburgh based CMU alumni startups with unicorn potential with funding of $100K over two years, as well as mentorship and guidance. The five companies that will be a part of the cohort are:
HeadStrait Labs - Alyssa Theroux and Mary Squire
Delivering a head and neck immobilization device that monitors patient motion in real time and generates post-event analysis to reduce secondary injuries during emergency transportation.
Journey Robotics - Keith Gunnett, Re g Allen, David Lee, and Kyle Solomon
Journey Robotics helps airports and airlines easily modernize their baggage handling operations using advanced technologies without having to change existing processes or upgrade the entire infrastructure. Journey Robotics' drop-in automated Baggage Handler platform enables continuous, consistent and fast baggage handling, resulting in reduced wait times, fewer delays and an improved passenger experience.
Shelfmark - Pat O'Donell and Craig Markovitz
Shelfmark is the AI visual inspection automation platform that saves manufacturers on waste and labor and improves quality and consistency in line-based production.
Singularity Polymers - Hunaid Nulwala, Ph.D., Prof. Carlos Diaz-Acosta, and William (Bill) Belias. Singularity Polymers was founded to transform the packaging industry through the development of single-material polymeric films. By eliminating multilayer complexity, the company enables simpler, more sustainable, and cost-effective packaging solutions and a spin-off from RoCo.
Stealth - The final company is still in stealth, however we are excited to announce them at a later date.
Friday, June 6, 2025
CMU's VentureBridge Demo Day Makes a Hit in the Big Apple!
Several investors, along with tons of Carnegie Mellon University alumni packed the Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman Law office in New York on Monday, June 2 for another successful VentureBridge Demo Day, which was a part of New York TechWeek. The new VentureBridge cohort, another inspiring group of CMU alumni founders, pitched in front of over 100 investors and founders that included hardware and software demos and pitches from companies that are changing gaming, AI training, drug delivery, nutrition, fitness training and more.
Led by Venture Bridge Sr. Director Namrata Banerjee and assisted by Program Manager Steven Guo, the Demo Day was followed by a networking reception featuring the new cohort and select VentureBridge alumni in the portfolio.
Carnegie Mellon University’s VentureBridge (VB) program is a pre-seed fund and an accelerator program, part of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, focused on supporting Carnegie Mellon founders working on their startups full-time. Since 2018, the VB program has supported dozens of startups collectively valued at over half a billion dollars.
The CMU Swartz Center would like to thank Matt Kirmayer of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman for being an amazing champion of CMU founders—welcoming our alumni to their New York office and continually supporting the CMU founder community.
Thursday, June 5, 2025
Beyond Reach Labs Awarded $50K at Keystone Space Collaborative Innovation Challenge
The Keystone Space Collaborative and early-stage investor Innovation Works has awarded five local aerospace startups with $200K in funding as part of an innovation challenge. Beyond Reach Labs, founded by CMU Mechanical Engineering Ph.D Mitchell Fogelson, received $50K. The company is developing a pop-up shelter system for space and military uses.
Fogelson also won second place and $20K at this year's McGinnis Venture Competition.
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
CMU VentureBridge Film Production Startup Erosion Accepting Investments
Erosion (VentureBridge 2023), an independent film production company dedicated to creating conservation and climate comedy film and TV, is now accepting investments for its first feature film "Hiking Buddies" on the WeFunder securities platform. Horror films are traditionally the most profitable film genre and Erosion co-founders Megan Morrison and Tracy Held are leveraging their 20+ years in the entertainment industry, as well as their expertise of conservation and comedy storytelling to engage untapped film audiences.
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Rising AI & Art Startup SeeMuseums is Hiring!
SeeMuseums, a CMU Swartz Center startup co-founded by Tepper School of Business alumna Yifan Wang, is an AI + Art company developing the world’s first agentive museum tour guide—a mobile app that enhances museum visits with personalized, contextual insights. The company's mission is to make art appreciation accessible to everyone.
SeeMuseums officially launched on the App Store and Product Hunt on May 10th and within just two days, soared to the #1 Product of the Day, as well as earning the #1 Product of the Week in both the Education and User Experience categories. At SeeMuseums, every artwork tells a story—and that story should speak to all, not just experts.
The founders are currently hiring for roles in Full Stack Development, UI/UX Design, Marketing. If you are interested in their mission, learn more and apply here. If you or anyone else in the museum industry is interested in the mission at SeeMuseums, reach out to admin@seemuseums.art.
Friday, May 30, 2025
OctaPulse Founder Paul Grech Accepted Into Hult Prize Digital Incubator
When Tepper School of Business alumnus Paul Grech and his team won in the graduate track of this year's inaugural Social Enterprise Competition, a newly added track of the McGinnis Venture Competition led by CMU Swartz Center EIR Leah Lizarondo, it only went up from there. The co-founder of OctaPulse, a company aiming to revolutionize aquaculture using AI-powered fish inspection systems that reduce waste, improve yields, and protect ocean ecosystems has gone on to receive the Tepper School of Business Entrepreneur of the Year Award and has now been accepted into the Hult Prize Digital Incubator. Paul and his team, which includes Rohan Singh and Andres Castrillon, are working to build the future of sustainable seafood.
Among his many other accomplishments, Paul has also been an integral member of the 99 Tartans organization as an MBA partner, a Robotics Institute Pathways Fellow and Consortium Fellow.
Thursday, May 29, 2025
Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute taps RE2 Robotics founder as New CEO
The Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute has named a new CEO, the former founder and CEO of RE2 Robotics. Jorgen Pedersen started RE2 in 2001, growing it to a team of over 100 employees before the company was acquired by Sarcos Technology in 2022 for $100M. On June 17, Jorgen will begin leading the Department of Defense's primary Manufacturing Innovation Institutes, working to foster relationships and collaborations between robotics and manufacturing companies, government agencies and universities.
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
CMU Spinout Anactisis Awarded $20K at the Spring 2025 EPIC Pitch Competition
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) awarded more than $100K in cash prizes at the Spring 2025 EPIC Pitch Competition, where startups presented their groundbreaking energy technologies.
Second place at $20K went to Anactisis, a company focused on enhancing U.S. energy security by developing polymer-based materials to recover critical minerals from industrial waste streams.
Friday, May 23, 2025
The VentureBridge '25 Cohort Kicks Off in San Francisco and Headed to New York Demo Day
Carnegie Mellon University’s VentureBridge (VB) Program is excited to announce investments into 14 startups! These CMU-alumni-founders, representing the School of Computer Science, College of Engineering and the Tepper School of Business, are building across AI Infrastructure, intelligent agents, robotics, healthtech, cleantech and industrial automation—creating high impact and venture-scale solutions for the largest complex challenges.
The program kicked off last week in the San Francisco Bay Area with 2.5 days of intensive programming spanning multiple fireside chats with venture capital firms, VB alumni-founded startups, large mixers and networking events in San Francisco and Palo Alto, CA.
Special Thank You's:
Thank you to the CMU Swartz Center's incredible partners for their immense support of CMU founders and a special thank you to Smith Point Capital, Rackhouse Venture Capital, Fusion Fund, Silicon Valley Bank, AI Camp, Moon Creative Labs, CMU Tech & Entrepreneurship, 99 Tartans and the CMU Alumni Association Bay Area network.
Thanks also to CMU VB founders Abhishek Dubey - Bolster (VB ‘18), Vishakha Gupta - ApertureData (VB ‘20), Chelsie Hall - ViralMoment (VB ‘21), Miranda Nover, Zach Sussman - Mach9 Robotics (VB ‘21), Raj Tilwa - Focal (VB ‘22), Saurabh Misra - Codeflash (VB ‘23), Leo Ma and Calvin Zhou - RoboForce (VB ‘24), Bob Dimmico - Reveal AI (VB ‘24), and Vai Vishwanathan - Voxel.
Join us for CMU VB Demo Day in New York City on Monday, June 2 during NY Tech Week to meet the next generation of CMU founders and get a first look at what they're building!
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Artian AI Co-Founder and CEO Prashant Reddy Announces $8M Fund Raise
CMU alumnus Prashant Reddy has announced that his company, Artian AI, has raised $8M in funding to accelerate the company's ambitious goal of reliable autonomous multi-agent AI systems for business-critical enterprise processes—at scale. The round was led by Work-Bench, with participation from Foxe Capital/Anthemis and a phenomenal group of early investors and domain experts.
Thursday, May 22, 2025
2025 Stanford Knight-Hennessy Scholar Saisri Akondi Harnessed CMU's Entrepreneurial Ecosystem to Revolutionize Care for Diabetics
After Carnegie Mellon University alumna Saisri Akondi earned her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology in India, Dave Mawhinney, founding executive director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, convinced her to pursue her entrepreneurial ambitions at
Carnegie Mellon University.
While at CMU, Akondi found the perfect ecosystem in which to build her medical device startup,
D.Sole, which develops tools that monitor foot biomechanics and provide early warnings to prevent ulcers and infections.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Partner, Head of TxO at Andreessen Horowitz Kofi Ampadu Named to 2025 Power100 Presented by Blueprint Capital Advisors, LLC
Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business alumnus Kofi Ampadu has recently been recognized by the 2025 Power100 Presented By Blueprint Capital Advisors LLC. "This recognition reflects the impactful work I have the privilege of doing every day alongside the a16z Talent x Opportunity team to make entrepreneurship more accessible", Ampadu shared in a recent LinkedIn post.
Kofi is also the Founder and General Partner at SKU'd Ventures and recently began hosting a new podcast, the TxO Startup Hotline Series, targeted to founders seeking answers to a wide range of questions related to startups.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Codeflash Founder Saurabh Misra Shares Why AI-Powered Code Optimization Is Now Essential
Carnegie Mellon University ECE '19 alumnus Saurabh Misra, founder of Codeflash, the platform working to bring AI optimization to workflows, recently shared how his company is championing the recent shift of AI not only assisting with coding, but how it's also pioneering novel, efficient solutions.
Codeflash offers a practical, accessible solution for developers with its AI-powered tool that optimizes Python codebases, ensuring high performance and efficiency.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Carnegie Mellon, Mid-Atlantic Hub Host First NSF I-Corps Cohort for AI, Robotics
The CMU Swartz Center's Project Olympus and the NSF Innovation Corps Hub Mid-Atlantic Region recently hosted entrepreneurs and researchers in AI and Robotics to help faculty, students and alumni transform their research into the next generation of companies.
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Metagigs Co-Founder and CEO Alex Garcia Returns to the Swartz Center While Seeking Early-Stage Funding
Tepper School of Business alumnus and Innovation Scholar Alex Garcia returned to the CMU Swartz Center this week to work with his Pittsburgh team as they seek early-stage funding for his company Metagigs, a platform that allows video game players to find and hire experts through an official marketplace natively inside the game.
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
The CMU Swartz Center's Project Olympus Awards Five Spark Grants
The Project Olympus Spark Grant Fund helps Carnegie Mellon University founders kick-start their startup ideas. This Spring, five grants of up to $3K each were awarded to the following startups: Basilisk Robotics, PianoCam, Wok On, Perflection AI and SpoilSafe.
Spark Grants are funded by charitable gifts from alumni and other community donors. The next round of Spark Grant funding will take place in the Fall of 2025.
Friday, May 16, 2025
James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows and Innovation Scholars Participate in CMU's 2025 Commencement
During Carnegie Mellon University's 2025 Commencement Weekend, which took place May 9-11, the CMU Swartz Center celebrated several James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows and Innovation Scholars who participated in the graduation ceremony, even at CMU Qatar's campus.
Each of these students have been a significant part of the Swartz Center family as they embarked on their entrepreneurial careers, won startup competitions, participated in entrepreneurship club activities, attended the annual Entrepreneurship Trek to Silicon Valley, and participated in many other programs to help them on their startup journeys. Here is a snapshot of some of the graduates.
Above photos (in order from left):
Ruben Antonio Quesada (Swartz Fellow), Tepper School of Business, Co-founder and CEO, Sabana
Sapna Rohra (Swartz Fellow), Master's of Integrated Innovation for Products and Services (MIIPS)
Christina Yang (Swartz Fellow), Master of Design, Design for Interactions
Mukhammadjon Gafurov (Innovation Scholar), CMU Qatar (Business Administration, Finance)
Below photos (in order from left):
Emily Torrealba (Swartz Fellow) Tepper School of Business ('25 STEM)
Advika Jayanti (Innovation Scholar), School of Computer Science
Qinyuan (Olivia) Wu (Swartz Fellow), Information Networking Institute (INI), recipient of this year's INI Leadership AwardBelow photos (in order from left):
Kaitlyn Chow (Innovation Scholar), Tepper School of Business, founder of BAM!
Congratulations Swartz Fellows and Innovation Scholars!
Thursday, May 15, 2025
Ivy+ CMU Swartz in the City Series Event Highlights Two CMU Alumni Swartz Center Founders
Two CMU Tepper School of Business alumni founders, also current and past winners of the Swartz Center's McGinnis Venture Competition, were featured speakers at the 'Swartz in the City' series event held at Pittsburgh's Allegheny HYP Club on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. Kaitlyn Chow, founder of BAM! and Chibuike Dumebi-Kachikwu, CEO and founder of Thursday Thrift, shared their exciting journeys with their startups and the latest technology they are using with the Penn and other Ivy+ alumni who were in attendance.
BAM! is the home of self-heating containers that provide hot meals on the go, and Thursday Thrift is providing customers with the first digital thrifting experience powered by AI.
The event series is led by Dave Mawhinney, Founding Executive Director at the CMU Swartz Center and Donald Bonk, CMU alumnus and President of the Penn Club of Western PA.
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
UCLA Receives ADEA Grant to Use Pearl’s AI Platform to Improve Radiologic Education and Clinical Performance for High-Quality, Consistent Patient Care
Pearl, the global leader in dental AI solutions, today announced that the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Dentistry has been awarded a grant from the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) to integrate Pearl Calibrate, the first AI-powered clinical calibration tool, into its educational and research programs. The grant-powered collaboration will enable faculty, residents, and students to incorporate advanced AI technology into their curriculum and in preparation for clinical work. Insights garnered from the implementation are expected later this year.
Friday, May 9, 2025
Swartz Center Founding Executive Director Dave Mawhinney Receives Lifetime Achievement Award from the PVCA
CMU Swartz Center Founding Executive Director Dave Mawhinney was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association (PVCA) last Thursday, May 8, 2025. Several friends, colleagues and Dave's family were in attendance, including his wife Kristan and their three sons Sean, Michael and Ben.
After special remarks were given by long time friend and colleague Sean Ammirati, Dave received a special tribute from each of his sons as they took the stage together to share early family memories, a bit of humor and reflections on his unwavering commitment and passion for the Entrepreneurship ecosystem both in Pittsburgh and at Carnegie Mellon University. Dave's tireless and dedicated mentorship to countless students and alumni over the years was also highlighted and celebrated among the many friends who attended in his honor, including CMU Swartz Center staff, Swartz Fellow and Innovation Scholar students and many more from CMU and the community.
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Trainwell Launches Free Tier Workout Plans
Trainwell co-founder Matt Spettel has announced that Trainwell is now offering completely free trainer-curated workout plans for its users, with the accountability of a team of fellow users to back you up. With trainwell teams, users can build a team consisting of family and friends that can work together to hit consistency and desired goals.
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Tepper School of Business MBA Ruben Antonio Quesada Named to Poets & Quants Best and Brightest Class of 2025
Ruben Antonio Quesada, Tepper MBA and 2023-25 James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow, has had an incredible journey from architect to startup founder. As CEO and Co-Founder of Sabana, an AI-driven data management platform designed to simplify how architects and engineers manage, document and collaborate on product selections and construction specifications, Ruben embodies the passion, grit and drive that propels entrepreneurs forward and is a key leader in the Tepper School's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Aurora Innovation Deploys First Driverless Semi-truck on Texas Roads
Strip District-headquartered autonomous vehicle company Aurora Innovation Inc. announced that it has successfully deployed a completely driverless semi-truck in Texas, making it the first company to ever operate a self-driving heavy duty truck on public roads.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Lovelace AI Secures Seed Funding
Lovelace AI, the stealth AI startup founded by Andrew Moore, former dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University and former Google Cloud AI General Manager, announced it has closed a seed round backed by RRE Ventures. Financial terms of the funding round were not disclosed.
"Lovelace AI is not just building another AI company, it's solving one of the most fundamental bottlenecks in modern computing, the ability to synthesize data across environments at operational speed," RRE COO Will Porteous said in a prepared statement.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Near Earth Autonomy's Barry Rabkin Named to CMU's 2025 Tartans on the Rise
Tepper School of Business alumnus Barry Rabkin (MBA '14), Director of Marketing at Near Earth Autonomy, is a recipient of CMU's 2025 class of Tartans on the Rise. Rabkin is shaping the future of aviation through “flight beyond sight.” His strategic leadership is driving Near Earth’s revolutionary autonomous aircraft technology, forming key partnerships with the U.S. Department of Defense and leading aircraft manufacturers.
Friday, May 2, 2025
The CMU Swartz Center Hosts the AI Venture Studio AI//VS 2025 Demo Day
Hundreds attended the highly successful AI Venture Studio (AI//VS) 2025 Demo Day event held at the Tepper School of Business and CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. The event kicked off with the Open Coffee: AI Edition event and 1:1 investor meetings, followed by the live Demo Day and ending with faculty and alumni Demos/Research Breakthroughs.
Created in 2024 by Adam Paulisick, CEO of SkillBuilder.io, Professor of Entrepreneurship at CMU's Tepper School of Business and Sean Ammirati, Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship at CMU's Tepper School of Business and co-founder and former Director of the CMU Corporate Startup Lab, AI//VS has adopted proven methods with a modern view to not only build AI solutions or be assisted by AI but to "recruit" AI to teams early and often to act as a founding member.
The AI//VS event gave twenty four companies an opportunity to pitch and network with 25+ investors after the Open Coffee: AI Edition event, where participants were able to meet leading founders, researchers and teams building with AI, and over thirty investors from across the country in town for CMU AI Venture Studio Investor Day. Investors held drop in meetings for any founders ready to raise.
See the 2025 AI//VS companies here.
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Gather AI Among CB Insights Most Promising Artificial Intelligence Startups of 2025
CB Insights has launched the 9th annual AI 100—a ranking of the world's top emerging AI companies. From observability to infrastructure security to vertical AI agents, this year's winners are shaping the future of intelligent systems across industries. Gather AI, co-founded by CMU alumni Sankalp Arora, Daniel Maturana and Geetesh Dubey, made the list.
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Carnegie Mellon Founded Companies Make Pittsburgh Startups to Watch in 2025 List
Three Carnegie Mellon University startups, SkildAI, UltronAI and Netail, have been included in Pittsburgh's Startups to Watch in 2025 list.
SkildAI, headquartered in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood and backed by a significant amount of venture capital, is working to build artificial general intelligence for robots. SkildAI was founded in 2023 by CMU professors Deepak Pathak and Abhinav Gupta. UltronAI, founded in 2022 by Carnegie Mellon University Professor Marios Savvides, is developing computer vision software for retailers. Its software is capable of recognizing and matching items from images, giving retailers a wide variety of possible uses, including self checkout monitoring and inventory management. Netail, Inc., first incubated as part of renowned computer scientist Andrew Ng’s LandingAI in 2021 and launched as its own company in 2022 by CEO Mark Chrystal and CTO Barney Govan, provides retailers with an artificial intelligence-powered analytics tool called Profitmind that is capable of identifying and quantifying opportunities to adjust pricing and inventory to meet consumer demand.
The annual Startups to Watch event is on Wednesday, May 7 at Workscape on the South Side.
Thank you to our Swartz Center Patrons
