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Celebrating the 2025 McGinnis Venture and
Social Enterprise Prize Competitions!
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:
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Undergraduate Team Winners:
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|  | 1st place: Thursday Thrift, Inc.
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| Introducing 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).
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|  | Social Enterprise Prize winner, graduate track: OctaPulse
| |  | Social Enterprise Prize winner, undergraduate track: Avalon
| |  | Social Enterprise Prize winner, undergraduate track: AdaptED
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Special Honor!
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.
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Also new this year was the Fighting Spirit Award, presented by Ed Engler, Managing Partner at 3 Points Rising Ventures and a long time judge for this event, which he created in recognition of 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. The prize consists of a single, custom imprinted left hand boxing glove and a $1K grant funded by myself", said Engler.
The winner of the Fighting Spirit Award was Kaitlyn Chow, founder of BAM!.
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|  | Ed Engler presents the Fighting Spirit Award to Dave Mawhinney
| |  | Kaitlyn Chow, founder of BAM! accepting the Fighting Spirit Award with her team
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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.
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|  | Christina Ramirez, CEO (left) with Ketaki Desai, PhD
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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."
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Tepper School of Business Alumna Serena Dao Holds Cleantech Open Northeast Kickoff Event at the
Swartz Center
Last week, Tepper School of Business alumna and James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow Serena Dao, along with Stephen Moritz from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and founder of Encentive Energy, held the Pittsburgh kick off for the Cleantech Open Northeast ACT Accelerator at the CMU Swartz Center.
The event, which is co-hosted with CMU's Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, provided opportunities to network and a panel discussion while Serena and Stephen listened to entrepreneurs share their experience with the program and share their ideas in energy, textiles and infrastructure.
"Both Stephen and I shared our experience being mentors for CleanTech Open and how rewarding it was to work with these impactful teams", says Serena in a recent LinkedIn post.
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| Ask Gigascale Anything: Climate Founder Office Hours
w/ Philipp Hoffmann
Date: Monday, March 24, 2025
Time: 12-1:30 PM ET
Location: Swartz Center, 4765 Forbes Avenue, Tepper Quad, 3rd Floor
Gigascale Capital is a trusted partner in scaling scientifically-sound climate solutions for impact. The company backs founders transforming the world's largest sectors and making clean solutions the obvious choice. Join Gigascale's Research & Venture Scout, Philipp Hoffmann, to get your questions answered in a special small, group office hours session over lunch.
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| Register for CMU Energy Week 2025
March 25-27, 2025
CMU Energy Week 2025 will take place March 25-27. The event will bring energy and sustainability leaders, including scholars, investors and entrepreneurs from across the nation to CMU to combine forces and exchange ideas on the intersection of AI + Energy. See the full agenda for Energy Week and register by March 14, 2025.
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| Apply to the VentureBridge 2025 Accelerator by March 31!
Are you a CMU alumni working on a startup? Apply to the CMU VentureBridge 2025 accelerator in Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and New York for funding, 1:1 support, founder roundtables, weekly talks with VCs and introductions to mentors and advisors.
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CMU Pittsburgh Alumni Founders!
Apply to the Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund by April 11
CMU Alumni Founders based in Pittsburgh building startups with unicorn potential, apply to the CMU Swartz Center's new Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund to receive $100K in funding over 2 years along with mentorship and guidance. Apply by April 11, 2025 to be considered.
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CMU Student Founders!
Apply to the Gebhardt Sandbox Fund by March 31
The CMU Swartz Center is proud to announce the Gebhardt Sandbox Fund. Current Carnegie Mellon University undergraduate and professional master student founders are eligible to apply to this new fund and receive idea stage funding of $1K with opportunities for follow-on funding.
Applications will be open through March 31, 2025.
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Apply to the 2025-2026 Innovation Commercialization Fellows Program by March 31!
The CMU Swartz Center has opened applications for the next cohort of Innovation Commercialization Fellows. This is an exciting opportunity for CMU graduate students and postdoctoral fellows working with faculty investigators who are interested in driving the commercialization efforts for their Carnegie Mellon University research-based startups. Previous Fellows have collectively received nearly $70M in follow-on funding for their ventures.
Innovation Commercialization Fellows is a year-long program beginning July 1, 2025. Along with cohort-based educational opportunities and expert one-on-one mentoring, Fellows will receive a $50K contribution from the Swartz Center, contingent on a $50K match from another source, to support them while they explore the commercialization process.
Register for the next virtual information session on Monday, March 24 at 10:00 am ET.
Applications are due by Monday, March 31, 2025 at 12am ET. Send questions to Melanie Simko.
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|  | 2024-26 Innovation Scholars at Google Vetnures during the 2025 Entrepreneurship Trek
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| CMU Undergraduate Students!
Apply to the Innovation Scholars Program by April 5
The undergraduate Innovation Scholars program, open to rising juniors, fosters innovation and entrepreneurship and seeks to increase the number of successful startup companies initiated by or involving Carnegie Mellon University’s undergraduate students. Innovation Scholars complete a two-year program integrating academic coursework, work experience at a startup company, networking and mentorship—given as well as received. Students are also eligible for a $6K stipend to work on their own startup over the summer of 2025.
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until Saturday, April 5 at 11:59 PM ET. Due to the competitive nature of the program, early applications are encouraged.
Open to CMU sophomores going into their junior year.
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| Apply by March 31 for the NSF I-Corps
AI/Robotics Regional Cohort!
This special AI/Robotics focused NSF I-Corps Regional cohort is run by the CMU Swartz Center's Project Olympus and the Mid-Atlantic I-Corps Hub. The program is open to deep tech research and academic based teams/entrepreneurs who are looking into commercializing innovations in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. The cohort will integrate industry specific guidance and expertise for AI/Robotics with traditional I-Corps Training. All sessions are virtual and in eastern time.
Session 1: April 11th, 9am-12pm
Session 2: April 18th, 9am-12pm
Session 3: April 25th, 9am-12pm
The deadline to apply is March 31. Apply early, space is limited!
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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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|  4/3
REGISTER
CONNECTS: Digital Health and Healthcare Technology (Nick Shapiro, Principal, UPMC Enterprises)
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START SMART LAW SEMINARS (Virtual)
4/3
REGISTER
Startups vs. Investors: How to Structure your Capital Raise Part II: Negotiating the Term
Sheet Workshop
4/17
REGISTER
The Worst Mistakes Made by Startups
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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 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. Find out more and get involved!
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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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