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Friday, January 17, 2025
The CMU Swartz Center Wraps Up Another Successful Entrepreneurship Trek
Each year, the Swartz Center holds its annual Entrepreneurship Trek to California's Bay Area the week before the start of Carnegie Mellon University's Spring semester. Led by CMU Swartz Center Executive Director Dave Mawhinney and Sonya Ford, Program Manager, this year's Trek was held January 6-10, 2025 and was attended by twelve graduate James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows and twelve undergraduate Innovation Scholars. The Trek aims to immerse the students into the startup and venture capital landscape of Silicon Valley, while they network and continue to build strong relationships with their fellow student cohort.
An important goal of the Trek is for the students to connect with the vast CMU alumni network and engagement with alumni founders who have made similar journeys. The students are also encouraged to search for summer internships at a startup in their space of interest. A highlight of the Trek is the annual networking event hosted by Accel, founded by Jim Swartz, MSIA '66, which was held on Thursday, January 9.
In addition to visiting alumni startups, the students also visited various venture capital firms including the annual visit to Accel and others such as Sequoia Capital, Pear VC, Google Ventures, Matrix Partners and Root Ventures. New this year was a special Family Business Leadership Speaker Series talk featuring Bart (MSIA 1981) and Barb O'Brien, owners of O'Brien Estate Winery, which was organized by CMU's Meredith Meyer Grelli and held on January 8 in San Francisco.
Thursday, January 16, 2025
CMU Alumnus Bart O'Brien and Wife Barb Share How They Created A Successful Winery at the Family Business Leadership Series Talk in San Francisco
During the recent Swartz Center Entrepreneurship Trek in California, the current cohort of James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows, Innovation Scholars, and CMU Rales Fellows, along with several CMU alumni, attended a special Family Business Leadership Speaker Series featuring Bart (MSIA 1981) and Barb O'Brien, founders and owners of O'Brien Estate Winery. The two have endured the ups and downs of building a profitable business, eventually shifting their focus to a romantic business based on passion and love. During their spirited talk, both spoke about the challenges and rewards of owning a winery capped with samples of their delicious wine. The talk was moderated by Dr. Shubhaa Chawla, CMU MIIPS student, 2024-26 Swartz Fellow and DEIB Fellow.
The Swartz Center would like to thank sponsors George Tong, President of Gemini Food Corp, James Minor, Swank Construction Company and Helen Hanna Casey, CEO of Howard Hanna Holdings, for their support of the Family Business Initiative.
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Tepper School Undergraduate Student Makes History as Third-Youngest Funded by Y Combinator
Caseflood.ai, a rising star in the legal tech world, is transforming the way law firms handle client interactions. Founded earlier this year by Ethan Hilton, a freshman business administration major at the Tepper School of Business, Tolen Schreid from Purdue, and Ayushman Srivastava, a recent CMU Masters graduate in Information Systems Management, Caseflood.ai is an AI-powered inbound system that takes people from incoming callers to engaged and informed clients. Caseflood.ai was recently accepted into the YC Winter 2025 batch.
“Carnegie Mellon’s vibrant community has been invaluable to us. This year we were able to set up a dedicated workspace in the CMU Swartz Center, which was extremely helpful,” Hilton said. “This immersion in the university's entrepreneurial ecosystem has helped us to turn our vision into reality.”
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Niche Acquires Goodkind to Modernize How Colleges and Schools Connect with Students
Education connection platform Niche has made its first acquisition, Toronto-based Goodkind, a communication platform connecting colleges and students. Previously backed by notable startup accelerator Y Combinator, Goodkind's platform provides colleges with video messaging, Whatsapp automation, chatbots and other tools. CMU alumnus and Niche CEO Luke Skurman initially met representatives for the company at a trade show, and after connecting at subsequent events ultimately decided an acquisition was the best way for the two to collaborate.
Friday, January 3, 2025
Stratus Material Secures $3M From Department of Energy
Point Breeze-based Stratus Materials, formed by CMU MSE professor and CEO Jay Whitacre, secured almost $3M in funding from the Department of Energy to develop a possible updated battery material for electric vehicles.
Stratus will utilize the funding to develop PhosCAM, a high energy density composite material cathode material. The goal is for the cathode battery to achieve an energy density similar to a lithium based battery, which would not have the safety issues and higher cost associated with the latter. Stratus was founded by a team of battery experts and completed a $12M Series A financing round in 2022, backed in part by Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures. See the DOE announcement here.
Friday, December 20, 2024
Trainwell Announces Contract with U.S. Air Force
Matt Spettel, Co-founder and CEO at trainwell, recently announced that the company has won its first contract with the U.S. Air Force to help improve the readiness and physical fitness of its airmen. Over the coming months, trainwell will be aggressively expanding its work with the Air Force and pursuing three additional multi-million dollar contracts.
Friday, December 20, 2024
American Dental Association Invests in Pearl to Advance AI in Dentistry
Pearl, the global leader in dental AI solutions founded by Carnegie Mellon University alumnus and CEO Ophir Tanz, has announced that the American Dental Association (ADA) has made a strategic investment in Pearl’s dental AI platform. The investment reflects the ADA’s commitment to supporting visionary companies whose disruptive technologies empower dental professionals to advance patient care and public health.
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Gather AI Named a 2024 Top Tech Startup Award Winner
Gather AI has been recognized as a winner of the 2024 Top Tech Startup Awards by Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive for the impact the company is making to address supply chain challenges with computer vision and data insights. Gather AI's most recent innovation is a world first: unlocking the power of computer vision in cold and freezer environments.
Thursday, December 19, 2024
UltronAI, Carnegie Mellon University Partner with Illinois-based Egen for Industry-focused Solutions
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and one of its startups UltronAI, has partnered with Egen, an Illinois-based software company with a global reach. The three will utilize UltronAI's computer vision engine that enable identification of products, objects and more alongside Egen's engineering and data talent to co-create AI solutions for both commercial and public sector clients.
UltronAI is founded by CMU alumnus and CTO Marios Savvides, who is also the Bossa Nova Robotics Professor in Artificial Intelligence at CMU.
Friday, December 13, 2024
The Dog Eats the Dog Food!! Jim Swartz Starts a New Indie Film Streamer
Jim Swartz has been an inspiration to us all throughout his Hall of Fame venture capital and World Championship yachting careers. He is also a two-time Oscar winner in the Documentary category. Jim now has started Jolt.Film to create access to audiences for indie filmmakers and documentarians.
Thank you for continuing to show us the way Jim!
Friday, December 13, 2024
HubSpot to Acquire Frame AI, Unlocking the Power of Conversational Data with AI
HubSpot, the leading customer platform for scaling businesses, today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Frame AI, an AI-powered conversation intelligence platform. "We’ve always admired HubSpot for its early and distinct choice in unifying customer data. It has been the heart of their platform, and we’re ready to help take it to the next level,” said Carnegie Mellon University alumnus George Davis, co-founder and CEO of Frame AI.
Thursday, December 12, 2024
Family Business Leadership Speaker Series Hits the Road in San Francisco, CA
Featuring Carnegie Mellon University alumni Bart and Barb O'Brien
A very special talk, featuring Bart (MSIA 1981) and Barb O'Brien, founders and owners of O'Brien Estate Winery, has been organized by Meredith Meyer Grelli during the week of the CMU Swartz Center's January Entrepreneurship Trek on January 8, 2025 in San Francisco, CA.
During this special event, Bart and Barb will dive into their journey of navigating the challenges and triumphs of a family-owned estate winery in the competitive spirits industry. This session, part of the 2024-25 Family Business Leadership Speaker Series, promises valuable insights for anyone interested in family enterprise dynamics and entrepreneurship.
The Family Business Initiative is a joint program of Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business and the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. The Initiative is made possible through the generous support of alumni George Tong (MSIA 1990), Gemini Food Group, Jimmy Minor, (MBA 2024), Swank Construction and Helen Hanna Casey, Howard Hanna.
Carnegie Mellon alumni and students are invited to attend. Light refreshments will be available.
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Duolingo Partners with Netflix for Squid Game Tie
Carnegie Mellon University founded Duolingo has partnered with Netflix for a major cross promotional campaign for the second season of the latter's hit Korean dystopia drama Squid Game.
Friday, December 6, 2024
Pharrell Williams's Black Ambition Awards $50K to Farm to Flame Energy
Pharrell Williams recently handed Carnegie Mellon alumnus and Farm to Flame Energy CEO Kwaku Jyamfi an oversized check for $50K at his Black Ambition Demo Day.
Jyamfi, also a James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow, won the money through Black Ambition, an organization Williams started to help close wealth and opportunity gaps in capital and resource access for Black founders. The prize money will help Farm to Flame continue to develop a sustainable biofuel cheaper than diesel by converting wood and agricultural waste into energy.
Thursday, December 5, 2024
Velo AI Bike Light Cameras Help Ann Arbor Understand Risks, Stresses for Cyclists
Cycling in Ann Arbor comes with significant variation in risk from street to street, and officials are digging into data to better understand that. The Downtown Development Authority recently teamed up with 2023 VentureBridge startup Velo AI, founded by Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Clark Haynes, PhD, which makes an AI-powered bike light and camera called Copilot that can detect surrounding vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists while analyzing their behavior in real-time.
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
Carnegie Robotics Unveils Cutting-Edge Body-Worn Compute System for Military Use
Carnegie Robotics, a leader in advanced robotics systems and sensors, has announced the introduction of its military-grade, body-worn compute system called CardShark. CardShark is designed to empower soldiers with real-time AI processing capabilities in the field.
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Gather AI Expands Into Cold Storage and Freezer Locations
Gather AI, co-founded by Carnegie Mellon University alumni Sankalp Arora, Daniel Maturana and Geetesh Dubey, has developed a drone solution that now encompasses the cold chain. The company says it has the first inventory management automation setup using drones for inventory monitoring automation.
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Honeycomb Credit Announces New Strategic Partnership with PCG Impact Fund
Honeycomb Credit recently announced a new strategic partnership with PCG Impact Fund, a leading investment firm dedicated to driving social and economic growth in the Pittsburgh region. As part of this collaboration, PCG Impact Fund has committed $250K as an institutional impact investor on the Honeycomb Credit platform, strengthening a shared mission of empowering small businesses and fostering community growth.
Honeycomb credit is co-founded by George Cook, CEO, Christian Bilger, Tepper School of Business alumnus and COO, and Ken Martin.
Friday, November 22, 2024
Congratulations to the Hack-a-Startup Winners! The Spark Igniting Pittsburgh’s Startup Scene
The Hack-a-Startup competition wrapped up on Saturday, November 16, with three teams earning top honors and nearly $10K in cash prizes. Organized by the Graduate Entrepreneurship Club’s directors Amanda Manget, James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow, Daniela Decoud, and Nisarg Doshi, the event, held at the Carnegie Mellon Swartz Center, brought together CMU undergraduates, graduates, and PhDs from diverse backgrounds to pitch ideas, refine prototypes and tackle real-world challenges.
Supported by sponsors Accel, Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative and InnovatePGH, the competition provided the participants with the tools and guidance needed to refine their ideas. Over two weeks, the top fifteen finalist teams attended workshops led by industry experts, worked closely with mentors and conducted over fifty customer discovery interviews to transform their concepts into MVPs. The event culminated in final pitches to a panel of judges representing startup founders, academia, venture capital and the tech industry.
The Winners:
1. PlanWise ($4,000): Using AI to improve dental treatment plans by reducing malpractice and enhancing transparency.
Team: Max, Hsiao, Tepper, MBA; Aimee Langevin, James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow, SCS, MSAII; Amine Bouayad, MCS, MS-DAS; Anshika Agarwal, iii (COE), MIIPS; Jacinto Suner, SCS, AI; Ethan Hilton, B.S. AI & Business.
2. Relayd ($2,500 + $1,000 Patient Safety Technology Prize): An AI tool helping nurses focus more on patient care by reducing administrative burdens (also winners of the Patient Safety
Technology Challenge).
Team: Abiraami Muthukumar, MIIPS; Shubhaa Chawla, James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow, MIIPS; Austin Lignell, Tepper, MBA; Saicharan Emmadi; Neharika Srivastav, MISM
3. Solstis ($1,500): A no-code AI platform automating workflows for project management tools.
Team: Pratik Satija, CIT, AIE; Vignesh, Menon, CIT, AIE; Samika Sanghvi, SCI, CS.
By the Numbers:
• 60+ Ideas pitched
• 30 Teams formed
• 30 Mentor-startup matches
• 15 MVPs developed
• 300+ Customer discovery interviews conducted
Thank you to the Judges and Sponsors!
The final event featured a distinguished panel of judges, including Ari Lightman (CMU), Phillip Robertson (Google), Liam Krut (Reinforced Ventures), Cigdem Benam (Innovation Works), and Lindsay Fairman (Blue Tree VC). Volunteers such as Anika Halappanavar, Nidhisha Voonna and Jahnavi Patel played a key role in ensuring the event’s success.
Hack-a-Startup continues to highlight Carnegie Mellon’s established reputation as a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship. For these entrepreneurs, it’s just the beginning.
Thursday, November 21, 2024
Sabana is Headed to Techstars Demo Day!
Ruben Quesada, James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow, and Saket Kulkarni, co-founders of Sabana, are returning to Chicago for Techstars AI Demo Day on December 5, 2024 at Google's Fulton Market office. The company allows its users to accelerate product research and construction specifications,
“At Sabana (Techstars ‘24), we’ve been hard at work and excited to share what we’ve been working on over the past few months,” says Ruben. Sabana, which allows its users to accelerate product research and construction specifications, will be unveiling their new beta version at Demo Day. If you are in the area and interested in attending, register or check the website.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Exciting Things Happening at Carnegie Mellon University’s Family Business Initiative
Led by Meredith Grelli, the Family Business Peer Advisory Groups, part of the CMU Swartz Center's Family Business Initiative, are now in their second year, and already making waves.
"Twenty four family business leaders attend for six peer advising sessions throughout the year. Each session dives deep into real challenges faced by one of our members, with the group working together to brainstorm ideas, offer fresh perspectives and map out actionable steps forward. The results? Game-changing insights and stronger businesses", says Meredith in her recent LinkedIn post.
Leif Johnson Jr., CEO of Open Arms Health Care, LLC, is the co-facilitator for this year’s program.
Friday, November 15, 2024
Quiet Capital Announces $12M Seed to Support Mach9
Quiet Capital has just announced a $12M seed to support Mach9, co-founded by CMU alumnus and CEO Alex Baikovitz, in their mission to automate geospatial data production. "Critical infrastructure like roads, bridges, railroads, power lines, and utilities all need precise geospatial data to be properly built, managed, and maintained. Mach9’s AI technology is redefining geospatial mapping, achieving speeds and precision that traditional methods can’t match", as stated by Quiet Capital partner Michael Bloch in a recent post via Linkedin.
Friday, November 15, 2024
Mill Selected As a 2024 Good Housekeeping Kitchen Gear Award Winner
Mill, the oderless food recycler founded by CEO Matt Rogers, was recently selected for the 2024 Good Housekeeping Kitchen Gear Award in the Next Wave Kitchen Innovations category.
Thursday, November 14, 2024
The 2024-26 James R. Swartz Fellows and Innovation Scholars Are Ready to Take on the World!
The newly selected graduate Swartz Fellows and undergraduate Innovation Scholars participated in the annual photo shoot during their weekly Proseminar on Friday, November 1, 2024. The students will visit California's Bay Area for the annual Entrepreneurship Trek in January, where they will meet various CMU alumni founders, visit venture capital firms, participate in alumni networking events and search for summer internships.
We think this bunch is ready to solve the world's most pressing issues, one idea at a time!
Thursday, November 14, 2024
Project Olympus Announces Three New Entrepreneurs-in-Residence
After a careful search for experts who could advise in AI, Robotics and Life Sciences, three experienced CMU alumni were chosen to join Project Olympus as the newest EIR's.
Clockwise from Left: JJ Xu, CEO and founder of TalkMeUp, an AI-powered SaaS platform transforming communication training for the workforce through personalized, scalable coaching solutions. With a background in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), as well as business administration, JJ—also an EIR at the Swartz Center and an adjunct professor at CMU's Tepper School of Business—bridges technical innovation with business acumen to deliver high-impact solutions in the real world.
Matt Spettel is the CEO and founder of trainwell, a Pittsburgh-based remote personal training and nutrition coaching startup. A CMU alumnus with a robotics engineering background, Matt specializes in building and scalable innovative consumer products.
Laura Ohlund, an alumna of CMU'sTepper School of Business, co-founded a virtual reality medical imaging system which many local and other medical professionals used in their training. As a global strategy consultant, Laura worked with clients such as Disney, DuPont, Prudential and Louisville Slugger to define and execute change on a large scale with returns of $40M+. As an elected public official and Board President of multiple organizations, she was responsible for budgets of over $65M and had direct governance responsibility for policy.
Welcome to the Project Olympus team JJ, Matt, and Laura!
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
R.K. Mellon Foundation Awards Combined $1.4M to Four CMU Startups at Social-Impact Pitch Competition
Korion Health Takes Fourth Place and $200K Investment
Another Carnegie Mellon University startup to win funding from the R.K. Mellon Foundation's recent Social-Impact Pitch Competition was Korion Health, co-founded by Anna Li and Akshaya Anand. Korion Health is developing accessible medical devices, starting with an electronic stethoscope that empowers people to do their own heart and lung screenings at home.
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.
Thank you to our Swartz Center Patrons
