|
|
We're Celebrating!
Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business Ranked #10 for Entrepreneurship in This Year's US News Rankings for Entrepreneurship!
| |
| CORE SWARTZ CENTER EVENTS, PROGRAM DEADLINES & ANNOUNCEMENTS
| |
| Corporate Startup Lab Hosts ROAI Event, April 16
CMU’s Corporate Startup Lab is excited to invite you to the next event, ROAI on April 16, 2026 at the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. Sponsored by Deloitte, this in-person event will explore how companies are translating AI investments into meaningful business outcomes. ROAI brings together leaders from industry, venture and academia to share what’s working, what’s not and what’s next.
Find out more, including the upcoming speaker announcements.
Email Sean Mawhinney, smawhinn@andrew.cmu.edu with questions.
| |
| Swartz Center Powers National AI Showcase During
NFL Draft Week
| |
Carnegie Mellon University and partner the AI Strike Team unveiled new details this week for the Powering the Future of Sport: A Draft Week Showcase—an invite-only gathering that will bring together global investors, founders, innovators and sports leaders to Carnegie Mellon during one of professional football’s most high-profile weeks. The high-impact, four-hour showcase includes remarks from state and city leaders, demonstrations, and culminates in a Shark Tank-style AI pitch competition, led by the CMU Swartz Center and AI Horizons, during which select AI startups will pitch live to a high-profile panel of judges for a part of a
$1.75M prize pool.
| |
OpenFX Lands $94M Amid Cross-Border Stablecoin Push
OpenFX, a startup that focuses on foreign-exchange market making and remittances,announced it has raised $94M in a funding round led by several venture capital firms, as it looks to use stablecoins to speed up cross-border payments.The capital raise was led by investors including Accel, Atomico, Lightspeed Faction, M13, Northzone and Pantera.
Tepper School of Business alumnus and James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow Daniel McDade is Head of Operations at OpenFX.
| |
CMU's Revora Health and SpoilSafe Named 2026
Imagine Cup World Finalists
Three startups have advanced to the 2026 Microsoft Imaging Cup World Finalists, two of which are founded by CMU students. Revora Health, founded by Tepper School of Business MBA Surya Kukkapalli and SpoilSafe, founded by CMU students Vivaan Sawant, Advika Vuppala, Rohan Ganesh and Troy McBride have advanced to the finals.
SpoilSafe is addressing a critical gap in the cold chain, where limited visibility into food freshness leads to waste, rejected inventory, and lost revenue. Revora Health is addressing a critical gap in how patients access and experience recovery, where long wait times and limited support often leave individuals navigating rehabilitation on their own.
| |
 | Jim Gibbs, founder, Meter Feeder
|
| Pittsburgh's Meter Feeder and Mapless AI Test Robotaxi Parking Payment System in Bid to Prevent Lost City Revenue
Meter Feeder and Mapless AI tested a machine-to-machine system that lets autonomous vehicles pay for parking on their own, just in time for Waymo’s planned local launch.“Cities have spent decades building analog parking infrastructure for humans,” Jim Gibbs, CEO of Meter Feeder, told Technical.ly. “We are ensuring municipalities don’t lose millions in revenue just because driverless vehicles can’t feed meters.”
| |
Tepper School of Business & Innovation Scholars Alumna
Milan Minott Selected to GoingVC 2026
CMU Tepper School of Business alumna and 2023-25 Innovation Scholar Milán Minott has been selected for the GoingVC 2026 cohort. Milan is Accelerator Operations Lead at Pittsburgh's AlphaLab, an important role on the team. "This recognition reflects the hard work, talent and leadership that Milan brings to the venture ecosystem", says Aaron Tainter, Director of Accelerator Programs at Innovation Works, in a recent LinkedIn post.
GoingVC is a selective program for emerging investors and operators looking to deepen their understanding of venture capital and expand their networks in the industry.
Congratulations, Milan!
| |
STARTUP JOB OPPORTUNITIES
| |
| CMU Startup Seeks Business Minded Co-Founder
CollAI, an early-stage CMU startup building an autonomous AI Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) tool, is looking for a business minded co-founder to join the team. If you have a good understanding of dev tools, B2B SaaS, Enterprise Sales and have experience with GTM, feel free to reach out to siddharthav2601@gmail.com (Siddhartha Vanjari).
| |
OTHER APPLICATION DEADLINES
| |
| Apply by April 21!
Apply for this summer’s Patient Safety Fellowship, focused on advancing the blueprint for an Ambition Health System—an ideal yet feasible health system that prevents harm before it occurs.
| |
CMU Innovation Institute Webinar: Monday, April 13
Join Meredith McDermott (Human Experience Lead at Gray Swan AI) and Susanna Zlotnikov (CMU Professor & Design Practitioner) for a candid conversation about career resilience. Susanna and Meredith will share experiences from their own career journeys with a focus on the habits, behaviors and tangible skills that have made change and uncertainty easier to face.
| |
| CONNECTS/START SMART LEGAL SEMINARS
| |
| Can't make a CONNECTS? Watch on our YouTube channel.
See the full schedule and register for ALL of the seminars here!
The CONNECTS/START SMART Legal Seminars will resume in the
Fall 2026 semester.
| |
CMU ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUBS
| |
| Click the images to find out more about each of the Clubs!
| |
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.
| |
The following companies help directly support our programming and entrepreneurs.
| |
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
| |
|
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.
| |
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.
| |
| HOW TO WORK OUT OF THE SWARTZ CENTER
| |
|
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.
| |
COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITIES/RESOURCES
| |
FIND OUT WHAT OUR PARTNERS ARE DOING
| |
|
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.
| |
|
|
|
Carnegie Mellon University Swartz Center For Entrepreneurship
5000 Forbes Avenue | Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 |
|
|
|
