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Get Ready for CMU Startup Week!
Date: September 24–26, 2025
We’re launching something big. Introducing CMU Startup Week—a three-day celebration of entrepreneurship, innovation and the unstoppable energy of the CMU startup ecosystem!
From AI and robotics venture showcases to a startup job fair, tech talks, talent connections and deep tech breakthroughs, this campus-wide extravaganza will bring together students, faculty, founders, investors and innovators from every corner of Carnegie Mellon University.
Here’s what’s on tap:
AI/Robotics Venture Day
In partnership with Innovation Works and VentureBridge, this investor-focused event will spotlight the region’s most exciting AI and robotics startups.
SPARK 2025: CMU's Annual Largest Startup Job Fair - Keynote, Tech Talks & Networking
We’re teaming up with Career Services to bring top startups looking to scoop up the country's top talent from our student body!
Pittsburgh Lab to Market
Our deep tech and university spinout showcase will feature researchers taking breakthrough science to the market.
Events will take place across campus, with participation from every CMU school.
Mark your calendars—this will be a week to remember.
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| Startup Shelfmark Secures Investment from Venture Capital Firm backed by Microsoft, Green Bay Packers
Local startup Shelfmark, founded by CMU Tepper School of Business MBA and CEO Pat O'Donnell, has secured an investment from TitletownTech, a venture capital firm founded through a partnership between Microsoft and the Green Bay Packers.
Shelfmark is a computer vision startup that provides manufacturers with the ability to automate visual inspection with artificial intelligence.
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| Skild AI Unveils Skild Brain, a General-purpose
AI for Robots
Over a year after securing a $300M Series A fundraising round, local robotics startup Skild AI has begun to peel back the curtain on what it's been building.
The East Liberty-based startup has unveiled Skild Brain, a foundational artificial intelligence model designed to run on most existing robots. The company was first founded in 2023 by CEO Deepak Pathak and President Abhinav Gupta, two CMU faculty members.
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Aurora's Driverless Trucks Now Operate at Night,
Marking Unexpected Early Milestone
Alongside its quarterly earnings call, autonomous vehicle firm Aurora Innovation Inc. announced that its driverless trucks now operate at night.
The company became the first company to operate an autonomous semi with no person in the drivers seat on public roads earlier this year. Although it resumed operating with an observer at the request of one of its OEMs, Paccar, CEO and CMU alumnus Chris Urmson said on the earnings call that the three vehicles still operate completely autonomously.
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VENTUREBRIDGE '25 FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT
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Welcome to the VentureBridge '25 Founders Spotlight!
Carnegie Mellon University’s VentureBridge program, an initiative of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, supports CMU-alumni founded companies with capital, co-working space, access to mentorship and resources, and investor demo days across San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and New York City.
For the next few weeks, we will feature the founders of the '25 VentureBridge cohort.Join us in celebrating these amazing founders.
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Take a Look Back at the First Five Founder Spotlights!
We've highlighted the first five alumni founders in the VentureBridge '25 cohort. Now let's take a second look at each of the founders before the next set of founder spotlights.
OctaPulse, Paul Grech
Edulis Therapeutics, Spencer Matonis
Clear Solar, Mike Provenzano
April, Neha Suresh
Kaavio, Derek Gregg
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| CMU's Ethan Hilton Announces $3.2M Seed
Round for Caseflood.ai
According to a recent LinkedIn post from CMU's young entrepreneur Ethan Hilton, he has recently announced a $3.2M seed round from investors like Alex Hormozi's ACQ Ventures and Y Combinator, and the release of his state-of-the art legal intake agent, Luna.
"Caseflood.ai (YC W25) is building the high-performance AI intake team for law firms, allowing all firms to reach gold-standard conversion rates out of the box. Today, we’re releasing our full-cycle intake team that takes inbound callers from confused to closed. Our main AI intake agent, Luna, is coupled with our top-tier in-house human closing team comprised of intake specialists from top firms across the US to provide the highest conversion rates possible", says Hilton.
Luna is currently assisting firms across the nation, closing inbound callers with issues ranging from car accidents to C-suite scandals.
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| Apply to the Forge AI Pitch Challenge by August 8!
Spotlighting Pennsylvania’s most promising AI and AI-adjacent startups, the Forge AI Pitch invites deployment-ready ventures to showcase their solutions live on stage. Six finalists will pitch their solutions in front of national investors, tech leaders and media—showcasing how Pennsylvania startups are delivering real-world AI deployment, while competing for $50K in funding.
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| Save The Date!
Swartz Center Entrepreneurship Bootcamp
Date: Friday, September 5, 2025
The Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship is excited to announce this year's Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, a one-day glimpse into entrepreneurship at CMU and around Pittsburgh, which is set for
Friday, September 5.
Learn about what CMU has to offer regarding entrepreneurship, funding and programming, while enjoying snacks, networking and a keynote speaker.
Sponsored by: CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Graduate Entrepreneurship Club, Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Association, Scottie Ventures, Sigma Eta Pi and ScottyLabs
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Date: Thursday, August 7, 2025
Time: 7:00 PM | PT
Location: 1525 Cortland Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110
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Date: Friday, August 8, 2025
Time: 3:00-7:00 PM | ET
Location: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship
Welcome to the series of events with PITTSBURGH UNLOCKED, where you will learn from various community leaders and startups about their Startup Ecosystem. Pittsburgh Unlocked connects entrepreneurs with innovation centers and entrepreneurs across the region to increase knowledge and access.
Founders can apply to pitch for the Dell Business Partnerships Pittsburgh Demo Day.
Apply to pitch by July 25th!
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| Date: September 11-12, 2025
Location: Bakery Square and Hazelwood Green, Pittsburgh
The race for AI adoption, commercialization and market leadership is on. Join the world’s leading researchers, innovators and adopters and explore how AI is transforming healthcare, manufacturing, defense, finance, robotics and beyond!
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| CONNECTS/START SMART LAW SEMINARS
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| Can't make a CONNECTS? Watch on our YouTube channel.
See the full schedule and register for ALL of the seminars here!
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The CONNECTS/START SMART LAW Seminars have ended for the Spring semester and will resume in the Fall.
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The mission of 99 Tartans is to partner with the highest potential, early-stage CMU alumni companies and accelerate their success through access to capital and networks. Find out more.
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CMU ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUBS
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| Click the images to see upcoming Club events!
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| The CMU T&E has a jobs board, available for people across the community to share and seek new opportunities in the startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Find out more and visit the website here.
The CMU Tech & Entrepreneurship group aims to build a bridge between CMU students and alumni across the startup and tech continuum. With main chapters in NYC, Pittsburgh, and SF, we offer a range of in-person and online events and programming in the form of panels, workshops, founder/investor engagements, startup support, and socials to foster collaboration, innovation, and networking opportunities.
Join 7,000+ Tartans on our Slack workspace and mailing list for resources and updates on how you can engage in the community and CMU entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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The following companies help directly support our programming and entrepreneurs.
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| Pillsbury and Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC are holding office hours for the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. The office hours are for any interested CMU graduate, undergraduate or alumni interested in entrepreneurship or connecting with members of the Swartz Center network.
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Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
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Legal Services Weekly Virtual Office Hours with Matt Kirmayer
Mondays 1:00-3:00 PM ET (10-12 PT)
Matt Kirmayer of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, is offering office hours for newly established startup and emerging companies. Matt specializes in representing technology startups and emerging growth companies, assisting with entity formation, fundraising and overall growth needs. Startup companies with a founder who is a CMU graduate, undergraduate or alumni is eligible to register for
an appointment. Complete the Signup Form for a 30 minute session by the Thursday prior to your
desired appointment.
Contact Daria Stokes or Sean Mawhinney for office hours outside of these regular hours.
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Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
Steptoe & Johnson PLLC is a multi-jurisdictional, full-service law firm that takes a progressive approach to providing counsel at each stage of a client’s life cycle. Our dedicated team works closely with our clients to form entities, advise on the most advantageous entity type, and design and negotiate joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions. If a client has a dispute, Steptoe & Johnson has a team of business and product liability litigators and labor and employment lawyers to guide clients through these often stressful and disruptive situations.
Steptoe & Johnson brings a strong skillset for data privacy, cyber security and intellectual property matters which are frequent concerns for startups and technology companies. We offer competitive and flexible rates and aim to provide value to our clients.
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HOW TO WORK OUT OF THE SWARTZ CENTER
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Swartz Center Education and Resources
No matter what phase of the entrepreneurship cycle you're in, there are programs and resources at the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship that will take your idea to the next level. Find out more.
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Project Olympus Incubator Program
Want more help with finding product/market fit, developing your business model, making connections and attracting funding? Project Olympus will team you up with a business coach to develop a personalized ‘roadmap. Find out more.
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COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITIES/RESOURCES
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FIND OUT WHAT OUR PARTNERS ARE DOING
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Have startup news or opportunities to share? Have questions about the Swartz Center Weekly Bulletin? Send news, opportunities or questions to Sonya Ford, Program Manager.
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Carnegie Mellon University Swartz Center For Entrepreneurship
5000 Forbes Avenue | Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 |
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