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| Wishing you a joyous holiday season and a prosperous New Year!
The next Weekly Bulletin will publish on January 6, 2023.
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Shield AI Boosts Series E to $225M
Shield AI, a fast-growing defense technology company building AI pilots for aircraft, has announced it has raised additional equity capital from the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (USIT).
This additional raise was done at the company’s Series E price and closes out the round at $225M, with $150M in equity and $75M in debt. The initial part of Series E was closed in June, which made the company the fourth venture-backed, multi-billion-dollar defense-technology startup in 20 years.
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Aug X Labs Raises $1M For AI-based Video Tool for
Content Creators
Aug X Labs, founded by CMU alumnus Jeremy Toeman, has raised $1M in seed funding to use AI to democratize video creation by content creators. The New York company is building an AI-based visual storytelling platform that automatically transforms text or audio prompts into purpose-driven videos that catch your attention.
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TalkMeUp Wins Three Brandon Hall Group Gold Awards
TalkMeUp, a leader in innovative communication effectiveness technology founded by Tepper School of Business alumna JJ Xu, has won three coveted Brandon Hall Group Gold awards for Excellence in Technology. The recognition was for entries in the following categories:
• Best Advance in Unique Learning Technology (Learning and Development)
• Best Advance in Sales Enablement and Performance Tools (SEP)
• Best Advance in AI for Business Impact (Future of Work)
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| Deserve Announces Partnership with AMC Theatres
AMC Theatres® (NYSE: AMC and APE), has announced that it will launch the AMC Entertainment Visa Card—the only co-branded movie theatre credit card in the United States. In partnership with Visa, a world leader in digital payments, and Deserve, a modern credit card technology platform founded by Tepper School of Business alumnus Kalpesh Kapadia, the AMC Entertainment Visa Card is expected to be available in early 2023.
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Toyz Electronics Accepted Into AlphaLab
Toyz Electronics, LLC, co-founded by Damola Idowu and his son CMU alumnus Wole Idowu, has been accepted into AlphaLab. Toyz Electronics is an Education Technology company based in Pittsburgh that is focused on building a more diverse workforce for the future. The platform uses game theory, mechanics, and advanced manufacturing to encourage students to create, sell and tell stories of superhero
TOYZ or themselves.
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CMU Africa Hosts Inaugural Entrepreneurship Forum in Partnership with The Swartz Center
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| Carnegie Mellon University - Africa hosted its inaugural Entrepreneurship Forum on December 8-9, 2022 where students, universities and business leaders across the continent gathered to promote new business formation and economic growth throughout the region.
CMU Swartz Center representatives helped student teams formulate their business pitches for the World Bank and UN Rwanda startup competition. Additionally, CSL Fellow Brian Feldman spoke with Allen Robinson about the potential for partnerships to accelerate new venture growth in the region.
Interested in learning more about the forum or getting involved? Register your interest to
receive more information.
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| CMU's Graduate Entrepreneurship Club Hosts Annual Venture Capital Investment Competition
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The CMU GEC hosted its annual local round of the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) on December 10, 2022 at the CMU Swartz Center. VCIC is an international student competition where students role-play as VC investors and evaluate investments in three, real startup companies. Teams are judged by real VC's and the team with the best due diligence process and term sheet is selected as the winner. In this internal round, six CMU student teams competed to earn a spot representing CMU at the VCIC Regional round at Jones Graduate School of Business in Houston.
Congratulations to the winning team: Shaunak Kulhalli (MBA '25), Houtan Bozorghadad (MBA '25), Kristina Barounis (MBA '25), Eva Chen (MISM '23), Jue Zhou (MBA '24) and Kjell-Andreas Pu (MBA '25)
on their victory!
A special thank you to the judges: Craig Blank (Woodland Management), Davit Davitian (412 Ventures), Gaby Istruiz (The Fund XX), Jim Nolan (Institutes for Pharmaceutical Discovery), Luke Deasy (IgniteXL Ventures), Matt Harbaugh (Mountain State Capital), Phil Brooks (Brooks Consulting), and Robb Myer (99 Tartans). And thank you to the three startups: Advanced Optronics, Agni and Nollapelli.
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| CMU Bangalore Event with Namrata Banerjee
Date: Monday, December 19, 2022
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 PM | IST
Location: Accel LaunchPad Office
Are you a Carnegie Mellon alumni located in Bangalore and interested in learning how CMU supports alumni startups? Join fellow CMU alumni, Barath Shankar Subramanian (TPR 2011), Partner at Accel, and Namrata Banerjee (DC 2004), Director of the VentureBridge program, part of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, for an evening of talks and networking.
This event is made possible by generous support from alumnus Barath Subramanian (TPR 2011).
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| Calling All Current CMU Student Entrepreneurs!
Compete for $60K Investment at the 2023 McGinnis
Venture Competition
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| The CMU Swartz Center is excited to announce the 2023 McGinnis Venture Competition.
The McGinnis Venture Competition is a platform exclusively for Carnegie Mellon University’s global community of student entrepreneurs, bringing together the best and brightest to compete for $60K in investments. All participants receive coaching, valuable feedback and an opportunity to raise capital. The multi-round competition begins with two virtual rounds and will culminate in a final live-round celebration on March 21, 2023. Read the requirements and guidelines here.
Attend A Virtual Info Session
Come learn about the 2023 McGinnis Venture Competition, find out important deadlines and details and hear from past winners about their experiences. Advanced registration is required. Zoom information will be sent to all registered attendees the day before the event.
Register for the next information session on January 11, 2023.
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Patron Office Hours at the Swartz Center
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| Pwc and Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC are holding office hours in person at the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship for any interested CMU graduate, undergraduate or alumni interested in entrepreneurship or connecting with members of the Swartz Center network.
Upcoming 'In Person' Office Hours
Location: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad, 3rd Floor,
Suite 3700
PwC Office Hours - Trust and Consulting Solutions
When: The following Wednesdays at 12-5PM | ET
January 4, 2023
February 1, 2023
March 1, 2023
April 5, 2023
May 3, 2023
June 7, 2023
Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC - Legal Services Office Hours
When: Every Thursday between 12-4pm | ET
Walk-ins accepted. Registration NOT required!
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CONNECTS/START SMART LAW Seminars
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| See the full Fall 2022 schedule here.
Can't make a CONNECTS? Watch on our YouTube channel.
All CONNECTS events will be hosted in-person at the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad, 3rd Level. A virtual option will also be available.
Advanced registration is required. Zoom information will be sent to all registered attendees the day before the event. Please note that the sessions will be recorded.
The CONNECTS seminars for the Fall semester have ended. The Spring CONNECTS seminar series will be announced soon.
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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. Please visit and find out more.
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CMU ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUBS
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The CMU Tech & Entrepreneurship group connects the CMU community, alumni and students, to build an entrepreneurial culture and provide resources for the community to succeed. There are multiple region-based chapters within the group. Find out more and join the CMU T&E blog,
The CMU Tech Entrepreneur!
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SWARTZ CENTER PATRONS
The following companies help directly support our programming and entrepreneurs.
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| PATRON SPOTLIGHT
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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McGinnis Venture Competition
The McGinnis Venture Competition, a platform exclusively for Carnegie Mellon University's community of student entrepreneurs, brings together Carnegie Mellon's best and brightest student entrepreneurs to compete for $60K in investments. All participants receive crucial interaction with alumni entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, an opportunity to raise capital and valuable feedback about ventures.
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FIND OUT WHAT OUR PARTNERS ARE DOING
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Carnegie Mellon University Swartz Center For Entrepreneurship
5000 Forbes Avenue | Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 |
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