Friday, March 22, 2019

CMU Alumni Entrepreneurs Participate in Podcast at SXSW 2019 

While attending SXSW 2019, CMU alumni and entrepreneurs Amy Millman and Cindy Padnos, founding and managing partner of Illuminate Ventures, participate in a podcast to discuss their SXSW panel "Turning the Tables: Entrepreneur to Investor." Also joining the discussion is Anuraag Jain, co-founder at Zensors, a visual AI company spun out of CMU and one of the startups working out of the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. 

Listen to the podcast.

Friday, March 15, 2019

CMU Alumnus to Lead $100M Wisconn Valley Venture Fund

Advocate Aurora Health, Foxconn, Johnson Controls and Northwestern Mutual have selected CMU alumnus Jason Franklin, Ph.D. to lead the $100M Wisconn Valley Venture Fund.

The early-stage venture capital fund is designed to invest both nationally and globally, targeting transformative and interdisciplinary innovations in health care, technology, manufacturing and financial services.

Read FINSMES.

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Innovation Scholar and Swartz Fellow Selected as Finalists in the Rice Business Plan Competition

Two CMU students, Matthew Spettel (Innovation Scholar) and Jorge Anton Garcia (Swartz Fellow), have been named finalists in the 2019 Rice Business Plan Competition to be held on April 4-6, 2019. Matthew's company, Delta Band, develops a wearable device for gym workouts and Jorge's company, Tarseer, is developing a product to diagnose and monitor glaucoma.

Find out more and see all of the competitors.

Friday, March 8, 2019

CMU Wearable Startup Effortlessly Tracks Your Gym Workouts

CMU startup Delta Band, co-founded by CMU sophomore student and Innovation Scholar Matthew Spettel, is featured in an article written by Foo Conner, CEO of online media company, Jekko.

One of the startups working out of the CMU Swartz Center, Delta Band is the developer of a wearable device focused on non-invasive tracking of gym workouts. Read more.

Read Jekko.com.

Friday, March 8, 2019

Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business Scores High Rankings For Entrepreneurship In Bloomberg Businessweek Report

On March 6, 2019, Bloomberg Businessweek released its 2018 Best B-School rankings based on survey responses from over 3,000 employers who recruit full-time MBA graduates. CMU's Tepper School of Business ranked high in many categories, including its Entrepreneurship program, which ranked third for students showing exceptional entrepreneurial skills and drive, and eighth for its reputation in Entrepreneurship.

Read Bloomberg.com.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

CMU Alumnus Michael Preysman Featured in the Wall Street Journal

CMU alumnus Michael Preysman, founder and CEO of Everlane, the San Francisco–based brand known for $100 cashmere and transparent pricing, is featured in a recent article published in the Wall Street Journal.

The article highlights Preysman's vision of a plastic-free future for his company—and the retail industry.

Read WSJ Magazine.

Friday, March 1, 2019

Who Won the AlphaLab Gear Pittsburgh Hardware Cup

The Pittsburgh regional finalists for the 2019 AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup gathered on February 28, 2019 for a chance to win $3K and compete for the international title at CMU’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. The top prize went to Yodel Labs, a CMU spin-off that specializes in gear that uses sound waves to produce highly accurate, real-time measurements of the immediate area.

Agro-business Panacea won the Audience Choice Award. Other contestants included the Strip District-based Aspinity and the materials company Arieca, a CMU NSF I-Corps Site Team and the makers of Thubber.

Read NextPittsburgh.

Thursday, February 28, 2019

The CMU Swartz Center Hosts Pittsburgh Reverse Pitch and AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup 2019

The Pittsburgh Reverse Pitch and Innovation Challenge, hosted by CMU's Corporate Startup Lab and Innovation Works, and the AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup 2019, were held at the CMU Swartz Center on Thursday, February 28, 2019.

The afternoon began with the Reverse Pitch, aimed at bringing startups and entrepreneurs together for partnership opportunities and pilot funding. Following was the Hardware Cup, an international pitch competition for early-stage hardware startups. This year, six teams pitched their ideas to a panel of judges to compete for $50K. One of the startups will move on to the international finals, which will be held in Pittsburgh in May.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Deserve Cards named One of the Most Innovative Companies in 2019 by Fast Company

Co-founded by CMU Tepper School of Business alumnus Kalpesh Kapadia, Deserve Cards—formerly SelfScore—uses machine learning to create more equitable credit products for young adults. The company was recently named one of The Most Innovative Companies in 2019 by Fast Company.

Read more at Fast Company.

Friday, February 8, 2019

Four Time Successful Entrepreneur Alan Chung Visits the CMU Swartz Center

Carnegie Mellon University alumnus and founder and CEO of Perka, Inc. Alan Chung, returned to CMU on February 7 and 8, 2019 as a guest at the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship.

Among his many successful ventures, Perka Inc. is a mobile loyalty platform that helps merchants build profitable, long-term customer relationships.

While at the Swartz Center, Alan led a CONNECTS seminar on Thursday, February 7 entitled, "How to Find and Evaluate Your Startup Ideas" and will speak to the current cohort of Swartz Fellows and Innovation Scholars on Friday, February 8 during their required Proseminar in Entrepreneurial Leadership course.

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Former Google Exec Invests $2M in Pittsburgh Tech Firm, Niche

Former CEO and chairman of AOL and a former Google executive Tim Armstrong, has invested $2M in Pittsburgh-based Niche, founded by CMU alumnus Luke Skurman.

Niche helps its customers research U.S. colleges, schools, neighborhoods and companies through its easy-to-read and comprehensive report cards, rankings and reviews. 

Read more at BizJournals. This article requires a subscription.