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The 7th Annual CSL Corporate Entrepreneurship Forum!
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Join us for the 7th annual CSL Entrepreneurship Forum on October 22, 'Age of NexT: Beyond Use Cases, bringing together leaders and innovators to explore transformative technologies and strategies driving scalable growth!
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| CMU Startup Week Recap!
In a matter of five weeks, the CMU Swartz Center team—with over 35 organizing partners—pulled together the largest, most ambitious entrepreneurship event in Carnegie Mellon History—CMU Startup Week—with 25 programs (17 on waitlist) over 3.5 days and 2,000 unique registrants the week of September 23-26. From intimate investor roundtables for faculty founders, to closed door visa strategy sessions with immigration attorneys, to 3x standing room only events in Carnegie Mellon’s largest auditoriums. The Swartz Center team, along with founder, alumni, investor, corporate and University partners, flooded campus with entrepreneurial energy like never before.
In the end, over 400 meetings between founders and investors were facilitated. Additionally, a thousand of the most talented students in the world were introduced to CMU startups looking to hire. Over 200 venture funds, corporate innovation groups and institutional investors participated.
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|  | AI & Robotics Venture Day audience
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| The AI & Robotics Venture Day event, organized in partnership with Pittsburgh's Innovation Works, took place on September 24, which included startup pitch presentations and a panel discussion. A networking event, closed only to Investors and presenting startup presenters, took place at the Swartz Center to
wrap up the day.
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|  | AI & Robotics Venture Day
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The Lab to Market event on September 25 was a curated gathering of deep tech investors for an exclusive look at CMU's bleeding edge research and promising research-driven startups. The day-long event spotlighted breakthrough ventures emerging from CMU labs, including those led by CMU faculty, PhDs and postdocs—advancing the frontier in AI, robotics, cybersecurity, healthcare and beyond.
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|  | CMU's Duncan Winters playing the bagpipes as he led Investors and presenting startup presenters to the Swartz Center for the AI & Robotics Venture Day networking event.
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Seegrid Raises $25M in New Funding Round
Seegrid, a Pittsburgh developer of autonomous forklifts and other warehouse robotics backed by the region's largest supermarket chain has raised almost $25M, halfway to a $50M goal, according to the company's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It came shortly after Seegrid announced a new CEO.
The technology behind the self-driving vehicles, Seegrid Vision, is the brainchild of world-renowned, visionary roboticist Dr. Hans Moravec. After decades of perfecting vision technology at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon, Hans founded Seegrid in 2003.
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| BlastPoint Secures $10.6M Growth Funding
BlastPoint, an AI-driven customer intelligence platform co-founded by CMU alumni Alison Alvarez and Tomer Borenstein, has announced this week that it has secured $10.6M in growth funding. The investment was led by MissionOG, with participation from Curql Fund, Michigan Capital Network and other existing investors.
The funding comes as demand for AI-powered customer engagement tools continues to surge, and BlastPoint will use the funding to further develop and deploy its next-generation prediction technology.
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CMU's Graduate Entrepreneurship Club Hosts: Hack-A-Startup!
The CMU Graduate Entrepreneurship Club (GEC) is thrilled to launch its flagship series, Hack-A-Startup, designed to take you from curious student to confident founder in less than five months! No idea? No team? No problem! This program is built to help you explore, build and launch.
Mark your calendars for these upcoming events:
• Hack-A-Startup Information Session – Oct 24
• GEC Mixer: Pitch, Play & Connect – Oct 27
• Hack-A-Startup Kick-Off Weekend – Oct 31 – Nov 2
• Mentorship Workshops – Nov 5 – 11
• Hack-A-Startup Finale – Nov 15
• Venture Capital Investment Competition – TBD
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2025 Corporate Innovation &
Entrepreneurship Fall Social
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Date: Thursday, October 16, 2025
Time: 5:00-7:00 PM | ET
Celebrate the Fall season with a evening hosted by Dentons! Join us for a networking event among the city's innovation and entrepreneurship community. Enjoy light hors d'oeuvres and engaging conversations while gathering to reconnect with old friends, forge new connections and immerse yourself in the dynamic spirit of innovation, entrepreneurship and technology.
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Webinar: How are AI-embedded Products Changing the Way
We Think?
Date: Monday, October 20
Time: 8-9 PM | EDT
Location: Zoom
Join professors Susanna Zlotnikov and Arthur Sugden in a conversation exploring how AI-embedded products and services are reshaping how people think and create.
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| Evening of Entrepreneurship: Sustaining the Resilience
of Innovation
Date: Wednesday, October 29
Time: 4-7 PM | PST
Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley warmly invites you to our signature Evening of Entrepreneurship, this year themed “Sustaining the Resilience of Innovation.”
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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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|  10/28
REGISTER
Pitch With Production Value (Brian Staszel, CMU)
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REGISTER
What Every Startup Needs to Know About Cyber Security (John Funge, DataTribe)
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CMU ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUBS
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| Click the images to find out more about each of the Clubs!
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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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| Microsoft for Startups is a digital platform that provides free access to the latest AI tools and 1:1 guidance from experts to help founders solve challenges as they grow their business. We provide the right resources at the right time in a startup’s journey so founders can build faster and dream bigger.
Sign up for Microsoft for Startups!
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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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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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