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Friday, April 25, 2025
The Corporate Startup Lab Hosts 2025 Spring Forum
The Corporate Startup Lab, a Swartz Center-Tepper Initiative, held its Spring CSL Forum at the Swartz Center and Tepper School of Business on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. The event, titled AgentAI: Reimagining Work, provided over 250 attendees a closer look at agent-based AI focusing on the importance of understanding AI agents and its limitations and how executives, entrepreneurs and investors are using it today. In partnership with Deloitte Consulting LLP, the high-impact event explored the transformative role of AI agents across industries.
The half day event included a packed agenda with several expert-led discussions and networking with leaders from Industry, Venture and Academia, aimed at providing valuable insights into how Agentic AI is reshaping business strategy, productivity, and innovation.
The event wrapped up with three breakout sessions followed by a networking reception and Startup Expo featuring seven Agentic AI-based CMU startups.
Thursday, April 24, 2025
HEBI Robotics Recently Inked a Contract with NASA's Ames Research Center
HEBI Robotics will work with NASA's Ames Research Center to "advance autonomous systems and digital framework that will be utilized to construct and maintain adaptable structures in space, including modular habitats, satellites and telescopes," according to a press release.
HEBI was founded in 2014 as a spin-off of Carnegie Mellon University's Biorobotics lab.
Thursday, April 24, 2025
Near Earth Autonomy Secures $790K Contract to Deliver Miniaturized Autonomous Flight Systems
Maryland-based company SURVICE Engineering has awarded CMU Robotics Institute spinoff Near Earth Autonomy a $790K contract to deliver a miniaturized autonomy system, Firefly.
Near Earth's system is integrated into a preexisting autonomous drone system, providing the drone with increased environmental perception and flight pathing, with capabilities of detecting obstacles and identifying landing zones.
Friday, April 18, 2025
The Swartz Center Selects Newest Cohort of Undergraduate Innovation Scholars
The CMU Swartz Center has chosen its next cohort of undergraduate Innovation Scholars. The 2025-27 cohort, a mix of twelve entrepreneurially minded students from several schools across campus, was chosen after a rigorous application process which included over 75 undergraduate student applicants. The students hail from the Tepper School of Business, School of Computer Science, Dietrich College, Mellon College of Science, Human Computer Interaction Institute and the College of Engineering.
The students in the cohort are (in order of the above photo):
- Deepti Aggarwal, MCS/Computational Finance
- Naman Chordia, CIT/Mechanical Engineering
- Carys Doyle, CIT/Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Jiya Gupta, SCS/Tepper School
- Anika Halappanavar, Tepper School/HCI
- Thomas Kanz, SCS
- Arianna Martinelli, Dietrich/Information Systems
- William Montague, SCS/AI
- Hamza Pereira, SCS
- Danely Rodriguez, Tepper School
- Jack Shah, CIT/Mechanical Engineering
- Akeil Smith, Tepper School
The new cohort will be introduced at the final Spring semester Proseminar in Entrepreneurial Leadership event on Friday, April 18, where they will meet and network over lunch with current and past Innovation Scholars. The student cohort will officially start programming in the Fall, when they will also join the newest cohort of graduate James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows.
Thursday, April 17, 2025
Serial Entrepreneur Tom Klaff Returns to CMU and Visits the Swartz Center
Carnegie Mellon MSIA '93 alumnus and serial entrepreneur Tom Klaff returned to his alma mater on Monday, April 14, 2025 to visit various departments on campus. While there, the CEO of Revolution Cooking—home of the Revolution Toaster—and co-founder of many other companies stopped by the Swartz Center to have lunch with the current cohort of graduate James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows and undergraduate Innovation Scholars.
During his talk, Klaff shared his journey from being an MSIA student to founding multiple companies, lessons he's learned from those experiences, and building a close relationship with the late entrepreneur and venture capatalist Don Jones. Klaff encouraged the students to take advantage of their time at CMU and to go ahead and start their companies, while also sharing advice on navigating the current entrepreneurship landscape.
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Honeycomb Credit Acquires IFund Women (IFW)
Honeycomb Credit has recently acquired IFund Women (IFW) with a vision to build the most comprehensive small business funding platform in the country. By combining Honeycomb’s community-driven investment model with IFW’s expertise in crowdfunding, grants and coaching, the merger will help to unlock capital, resources and connections for entrepreneurs at every stage of growth—from idea to expansion to long-term success.
Honeycomb Credit is co-founded by George Cook, CEO and CMU alumnus and COO Christian Bilger.
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Gecko Robotics Partners with L3Harris to Create Virtual Aircraft Inspection Technology
Gecko Robotics announced that it is collaborating with defense tech giant L3Harris Technologies Inc. to develop a virtual environment capable of diagnosing problems with aircrafts. According to a release from Gecko, the technology is capable of capturing 10,000 images of an aircraft, which are then used to create a 3-D model digital twin of it.
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
CMU Spinout Panopto Appoints New CEO
Panopto, a Pittsburgh-based software company that provides a video management platform and AI tools, has named a new top executive. According to a release from the Carnegie Mellon University spinout, Stephen Laster has been tapped to serve as its next CEO.
Friday, April 11, 2025
Thirty CMU Student Founders Receive $1K from the Bruce S. Gebhardt Sandbox Fund
The CMU Swartz Center is excited to announce the thirty CMU student founders that have been selected to receive $1K through the Bruce S. Gebhardt Sandbox Fund for the Spring 2025 cycle. The founders will use the funding to support their early-stage startups.
Congratulations to the student founders!
Thursday, April 10, 2025
Robb Myer Accepts New Role as Assistant Director at Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Grove City College
Robb Myer has been deeply involved in the Pittsburgh Startup Ecosystem since graduating from CMU's Tepper School of Business in 2006. He served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) with the Swartz Center from 2016 through 2020. While there, he helped relaunch the alumni-focused VentureBridge Accelerator in Silicon Valley, raising a $1.5 M investment fund for the Accelerator. He continues to be committed to the CMU community as an advisor to 99 Tartans and EIR emeritus with the Swartz Center.
The co-founder of NoWait, which raised $22.5M in Venture Capital funding and was acquired by Yelp in 2017, is now focused on his new role as teaching professor and Assistant Director at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Grove City College, which he recently accepted. Robb is active in the Redemptive Pittsburgh movement, which seeks to build a local community for entrepreneurs who seek to use their ventures to promote the common good locally and globally.
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
CMU Alumni Spotlight: Former ActivLearning CEO Justin Weinberg
Justin Weinberg, Ph.D., CMU Chemical Engineering alumnus, was recently featured in an article published by CMU's Chemical Engineering school, where he discussed his experience as a Ph.D. student and how it has proven applicable to being a startup CEO. Weinberg co-founded Aktiv Learning, a company that bought interactive STEM education to mobile devices and was acquired by Top Hat, market leader in student engagement solutions, in 2022.
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
The Swartz Center Hosts Final Funders & Founders Talk in the 'Meet the Parents' Series
David Motley, General Partner at Black Tech Nation Ventures and his son Carrington Motley, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business, were the guest speakers at the last of the three Founders & Funders Series 'Meet the Parents' fireside chats hosted at the Swartz Center on April 4, 2025. The father and son duo shared their expertise with the CMU entrepreneurship community at the event, which was organized by Meredith Grelli, Director of Project Olympus, Assistant Dean of Entrepreneurship Initiatives at the School of Computer Science, and EIR at the Swartz Center.
Friday, April 4, 2025
Draper Associates Invests $1M in Pittsburgh's Mito Robotics to Automate Wet Labs
Draper Associates has invested $1M in Mito Robotics, a local startup that combines life sciences and artificial intelligence. CMU Biomedical Engineering PhD candidate and researcher Bingda Li's work with stem cells requires him to culture a lot of cells, a process that requires incredibly specific timing, which inspired him to co-found Mito with Xinyu Wang to help automate wet labs.Friday, April 4, 2025
Shelfmark Selected as a Finalist In TitletownTech Startup Draft
Shelfmark, the automated visual inspection platform for manufactured products founded by Tepper School of Business alumnus Pat O'Donnell, has been selected as a finalist in the TitletownTech Startup Draft. The event is a first-of-its-kind, connecting early-stage startups with investors, operators and corporate partners in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Pat is one of seven finalists out of 1,000 applicants in 50 states.Voting is open now to help Shelfmark become the Fan Favorite.
Thursday, April 3, 2025
ToyzElectronics Founder Damola Idowu Accepted Into JumpStart, Inc. Trailblazer Software Accelerator
Dah-Varsity AI, powered by Toyz Electronics, Inc. and founded by Damola Idowu, is a gamified platform where students build real-world skills and connect with employers through immersive challenges. Think Minecraft meets Indeed—but with real outcomes. Damola is one of ten founders in the JumpStart, Inc. Trailblazer Software Accelerator and will be pitching at the Startup Showcase on April 16, 2025.
Thursday, April 3, 2025
CMU's Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Association Holds 2025 CMU Venture Challenge Demo Day
Last Friday, the CMU Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Association (UEA) held its annual CMU Venture Challenge Demo Day at the CMU Swartz Center. For thirteen years, the CMU Venture Challenge has brought together brilliant students to launch their ideas, technologies and talent.
CMU VC offers student entrepreneurs a strong network of resources, including mentorship from serial entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, attorneys and business leaders. Finalists are invited to pitch their ventures to a panel of distinguished judges and VCs, hear from industry-leading speakers, network with fellow innovators and push their creations to the limit.
This year, high school students from the Penn Hills Entrepreneurship Charter School in Pittsburgh were also invited to attend the event.
This year's winners are:
- 1st Place: Avalon (CMU)
- 2nd Place: Code Four (MIT)
- 3rd Place: Thursday Thrift (CMU)
Team Avalon also won first place in the undergraduate category at the Swartz Center's Social Enterprise Prize Competition and Thursday Thrift won first place in the undergraduate category of the McGinnis Venture Competition, both events were held at the Swartz Center in March.
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
CMU Alumnus Launches Kickstarter for Carb Portioning Kitchenware That Helps Diabetics Manage Blood Sugar Levels
Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Robert Paul is working to help diabetics manage their blood sugar levels effectively. After extensive market and user research, he founded Macro Spoons, the only kitchenware that scoops a precise serving of carbs, calories and protein designed for weight loss, building muscle and managing glucose.Robert has pre-launched his Kickstarter, which will go live on April 7, 2025.
Friday, March 28, 2025
The Swartz Center Hosts CMU Energy Week Reception
Carnegie Mellon University held its annual Energy Week event on campus March 25-27, 2025. This year's event, which tackled balancing sustainability goals with AI, began with Investor Day on Tuesday, AI & Energy on Wednesday and ended with Student Day on Thursday.The Energy and Cleantech Networking reception was held at the CMU Swartz Center on
Tuesday, March 25.
Thursday, March 27, 2025
New Scott Institute Award Gives Entrepreneurship a Boost
The Scott Institute for Energy Innovation has launched its new entrepreneurship award to grow the Carnegie Mellon energy and climate startup community, making it easier to translate CMU cleantech innovations from research to the market. The inaugural winners come from disciplines such as business, robotics, and architecture and include faculty, master’s students and Ph.D. students.
Among the recipients are (in order of the image):
- Waku Ken-Opurum, Ph.D. student, Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics,
School of Architecture - Ruben Quesada, Tepper School of Business MBA candidate, CEO and co-founder of Sabana and a 2024-26 James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow
- TJ Thomas, a Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering
- Howie Choset, the Kavcic-Moura Professor of Computer Science
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
The Swartz Center Hosts Final Family Business Leadership Speaker Series Talk for 2025
The final Family Business Leadership Speaker Series for 2025 was held at the Swartz Center on Friday, March 21 with special guest, Kristy Knichel, President and CEO of Knichel Logistics in Pittsburgh.
Kristy, a logistics industry leader, has a $100M dollar business under her belt and it continues to grow. She shared her incredible journey during the noon discussion, which was moderated by CMU MS Integrated Product Development student, Praneetha Pratapa. The event was in partnership with CMU's Engineering Design, Innovation and Entrepreneurship group (EDIE) directed by Distinguished Service Professor Mark Sanders, with the hope of encouraging more women in CMU's College of Engineering to consider leadership and entrepreneurial roles in heavy industry.
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Refiberd Named U.S. Winner of eBay x Council of Fashion Designers of America
Refiberd, co-founded by CEO Sarika Bajaj, was recently named the U.S. winner of the eBay x Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Circular Fashion Fund. The winners were announced at an in-person pitch and final celebration with other businesses and a network of sustainability and fashion leaders in NYC. Also a 2020 VentureBridge participant, Refiberd empowers the fashion industry to achieve true circularity using hyperspectral imaging to ensure efficient and accurate sorting of textiles for recycling applications.
Monday, March 24, 2025
Nimble Among Fast Company's Ten Most Innovative Logistics Companies of 2025
According to Fast Company, consumers continue to amplify the e-commerce boom, pushing retailers, carriers and warehouses to find new technologies and platforms to meet demand while mitigating losses. Many of the top logistics companies this year met the moment by embracing breakthroughs in machine learning and automation, retooling their offerings with incredible prescience. Nimble, a startup that landed a $106M investment from FedEx last fall, founded by Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Simon Kalouche, deployed fully autonomous warehouses that reduce the typical cost of picking, packing and sorting orders by 40%.
Friday, March 21, 2025
Celebrating the 2025 McGinnis Venture and Social Enterprise Prize Competition!
The annual McGinnis Venture Competition was held at the CMU Swartz Center on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. In true McGinnis fashion, the final round undergraduate and graduate teams gave their final pitches to thirteen esteemed judges and a packed house as they competed for prize investments. The final round teams made it through the vigorous, multi-round competition that kicked off in early January.
For 2025 only, with a special gift from the McGinnis family, the Swartz Center was able to double the prize winnings for each team. Find out more about the winning teams and their prizes.
Graduate Team Winners:
1st place: Solstis
2nd place: Beyond Reach Labs, Inc.
3rd place: Sabana
Undergraduate Team Winners:
1st place: Thursday Thrift, Inc.
2nd place: noVRel
The Winners of the Social Enterprise Prize Competition
The Social Enterprise Prize Competition is a special track that was added to this year's McGinnis Venture Competition by Swartz Center EIR Leah Lizarondo. The competition, open to both for-profit and non-profit ideas, is designed to empower students to develop entrepreneurial solutions for social and environmental challenges.
Social Enterprise Prize Competition Winners:
The undergraduate team first place winner was tied for team Avalon (Derek Armfield, Akeil Smith) and team AdaptED (Aditi Shimpi, Allison Yu). The first place winner of the graduate track team was OctaPulse (Paul L. Grech, Andres Castrillon, and Rohan Singh).
Special Tribute! Tepper School of Business Alum Roger Corbin Receives Bruce S. Gebhardt Alumni Advocacy Award
A special tribute was given to Tepper School of Business alumnus Roger Corbin, Partner at Northpoint Associates, who was honored with the first Bruce S. Gebhardt Alumni Advocacy Award presented by Swartz Center Executive Director, Dave Mawhinney. This annual award recognizes a CMU alumnus that has participated in and enhanced the CMU entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Ed Engler, Managing Partner at 3 Points Rising Ventures in Pittsburgh and a long time judge for this event, presented the very first Fighting Spirit Award to the Swartz Center's Executive Director, Dave Mawhinney. "The annual award is in recognition of Dave's indefatigable fighting spirit that I've had the pleasure of observing for over 30 years. Teams qualify if they have participated in the McGinnis Venture Competition more than once and do not let the sting of loss keep them from coming back. They need not win anything else either year. The prize consists of a single custom imprinted left hand boxing glove and a $1,000 grant funded by myself", said Engler.
The winner of the Fighting Spirit Award was Kaitlyn Chow, founder of BAM!.
Thursday, March 20, 2025
CMU Spinoff Pearl Street Acquired by Enverus
Enverus, an Austin, Texas-based energy software firm owned by Hellman & Friedman, bought CMU-spinoff Pearl Street, a provider of grid interconnection software that had raised funding from Powerhouse Ventures, VoLo Earth Ventures, Pear and Matt Rogers' Incite.
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
CMU Founder of DashStrom Selected for Innovation Works' AlphaLab Accelerator
CMU alumna Ketaki Desai, PhD is the co-founder and COO of DashStrom, along with Christina Ramirez, CEO. DashStrom is one of the newest cohort members of AlphaLab's first combined cohort with Innovation Works. The company is a character development program that helps children build confidence, grit and a growth mindset through engaging, active games. With over 250 coaches, the company has impacted over 11K children nationwide. The platform makes it easier to connect parents to local classes led by certified Dashstrom coaches, ensuring a safe and enriching experience for their children.
While a part of the cohort, Desai hopes to utilize the customer discovery resources to work on product market fit. "Essentially, what we're trying to do in this phase of being in AlphaLab is really understanding and honing our product market fit," Desai said."
Friday, March 14, 2025
Inc. Names Alison Alvarez to Its 2025 Female Founders 500 List
Inc.’s eighth annual Female Founders list highlights the nation’s top business leaders who challenge the status quo to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems. The leading media brand for entrepreneurs and business leaders, has named CMU alumnus Alison Alvarez, CEO and Co-founder of BlastPoint, to its eighth annual Female Founders list. This prestigious recognition honors 500 women whose innovative ideas and leadership are shaping industries and driving change.
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Tartans on the Rise Celebrates Several Carnegie Mellon University Founders
Tartans on the Rise celebrates recent alumni who are making an impact in their organizations and in their communities, across the nation and around the world through leadership, innovation and career achievements. The 2025 Tartans on the Rise honorees include several CMU alumni founders such as Sheyda Demooei and Chelsie Hall, co-founders of 2021 VentureBridge startup ViralMoment, Sasha Cohen Ioannides, sustainability advocate and co-founder of Ecotone Renewables, Gregory Houchins, founder of Chement, Innovation Commercialization Fellow and NSF I-Corps Site team participant, and Barry Rabkin, director of marketing at CMU spinout Near Earth Autonomy.
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
A Closer Look: Two CMU Startups Accepted Into Accelerators: BAM! Founder Kaitlyn Chow Accepted Into AlphaLab's First Combined Cohort
Carnegie Mellon University senior Kaitlyn Chow, founder of BAM! and a 2023-25 Innovation Scholar, was recently accepted into AlphaLab's first combined cohort. The companies will receive up to $100K in investment, along with sector-specific expertise through specialized tracks, intensive training in customer acquisition and founder-led sales and more.
BAM! is a self-heating, lightweight, portable container that keeps your meals warm while you go about your day.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Hardly Accepted Into Techstars Workforce Development Accelerator and AlphaLab's First Combined Cohort
Founded by CMU Tepper School of Business alumna Allison Braund-Harris, her company Hardly was recently accepted into Techstars Workforce Development Accelerator and AlphaLab's first combined cohort. Hardly provides consolidated jobseeker tools, assessments and scheduling to boost collaboration between individuals and organizations. Hardly also participated in the VentureBridge 2021 cohort.
Friday, March 7, 2025
Carnegie Mellon Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship Founding Executive Director Dave Mawhinney Inducted Into Dealmakers Pittsburgh Hall of Fame
The Smart Business Dealmakers Conference was held last week on Thursday, February 27 at the Wyndham Grand Hotel in Pittsburgh's downtown. The conference connects entrepreneurs, investors and advisers for a day of dynamic content and networking in top U.S. business markets. The conference also recognizes members of the community who have made significant contributions to the region. Dave Mawhinney, founding Executive Director of the Carnegie Mellon Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, was honored with a Pittsburgh Hall of Fame award for his contributions to Entrepreneurship in the region.
Also among the honorees were Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Jim Gibbs, founder of MeterFeeder and John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic Technology, Inc.
Thursday, March 6, 2025
Carnegie Mellon University Alumnus Alan Frank Inducted Into Pittsburgh Basketball Club Hall of Fame
Alan Frank, a good friend of the CMU Swartz Center, was inducted into the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Men's Hall of Fame this past weekend. Alan was an MVP of high school basketball at Pittsburgh's Schenley High School and the leading scorer in the city of Pittsburgh. He earned a scholarship to Carnegie Tech, (now Carnegie Mellon University) and set a single-game regulation time scoring record that lasted from 1957 to 2022. Alan is CEO at The HomeBingo Network, Inc. and CEO/Founder of Colorball Rewarded Advertising in Pittsburgh. Colorball provides storefront retailers with its unique marketing and advertising "method", which draws new visitors into retail stores. Visitors can then play five colorball pick-3 or pick-4 games for free everyday on Colorball e-tablets, winning prizes of $100 or $1K instantly.
"Alan Frank is living proof that the Swartz Center will be here for our alumni for their entire life. Alan graduated CMU in 1957, yet he is a resilient and determined entrepreneur, who in 2025, still adds to the value of our Swartz Center/CMU alumni network everyday. I am proud to call Alan my friend", says Dave Mawhinney, founding Executive Director at the Swartz Center.
Thursday, March 6, 2025
Carnegie Mellon University Undergraduate Team Wins Second Place at VCIC
Six members of CMU's Scottie Ventures competition team represented Carnegie Mellon University at the VCIC Regionals held at American University in Washington D.C. Pictured below (from left to right): Ethan KK Yeo, Jiya Gupta, Darren Grendi (Advisor), Deepti Aggarwal, Can Oguz, Anish Jain, Saarthak Gupta.
VCIC is the world’s largest venture capital competition with a total of 48 undergraduate teams competing across 8 regionals. In a three-stage tournament, teams simulate a variety of important VC work, from conducting due diligence sessions with real startups to building and defending a term sheet to a panel of judges and industry professionals.
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
AlphaLab Selects 15 Startups for First Combined Cohort
AlphaLab, the accelerator of Innovation Works helping entrepreneurs accelerate their path to market, has selected fifteen companies, including some CMU founded startups, to join its first combined cohort. The CMU companies include BAM!, founded by Kaitlyn Chow, also an Innovation Scholar, Korion Health, co-founded by Anna Li, MD Ph.D., dually majored at CMU and the University of Pittsburgh, with Akshaya Anand, and Hardly, co-founded by CEO Allison Braund-Harris.
The companies will receive up to $100K in investment, sector-specific expertise through specialized tracks, intensive training in customer acquisition and founder-led sales, hands-on fundraising preparation and an immersive, on-site cohort experience.
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
2024 Most Disruptive MBA Startups: Sabana, Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)
Sabana, was recently selected to the 2024 Most Disruptive MBA Startups by Poets&Quants. Sabana, co-founded by Tepper School of Business MBA Ruben Antonio Quesada, also a James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow, and Saket Kulkarni, is a data management platform designed to enhance collaboration and streamline the process of material/product selection and construction specifications for architects and design engineers.
Monday, March 3, 2025
Fluid Reality a Finalist for SXSW Pitch
SXSW Pitch is a platform that allows early-stage technology startups to pitch their product and/or services to industry technology experts, high-profile media personnel, and venture capitalists/angel investors. Joe Mullenbach, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Fluid Reality, is a finalist and will present the company in the Robotics, Web3, Voice & Extended Reality Technology category on Sunday, March 9. The winner will be announced at the SXSW Pitch Awards Ceremony, also on Sunday, March 9.
The Swartz Center is cheering on Fluid Reality, a participant in VentureBridge, Innovation & Commercialization Fellows, as one of five robotics and XR finalists from across the world taking the stage. Joe will join the SXSW Pitch finalists at a special meetup on Monday, March 10 to do demos. Find out more here.
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