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McGinnis/Social Enterprise Prize ~ Round 1 Submission Deadline January 13!
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Calling All Current CMU Student Entrepreneurs!
Announcing the 2026 McGinnis Venture Competition
& Social Enterprise Prize
Applications are now open for the 2026 McGinnis Venture Competition and Social Enterprise Prize!
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.
This multi-round competition begins with two virtual rounds and will culminate in a final live-round celebration on March 17, 2026.
Social Enterprise Prize
Ready to create a company that makes an impact on the world's biggest challenges? The Swartz Center's Social Enterprise Prize is designed to empower students to develop entrepreneurial solutions for social and environmental challenges.
Register for the next virtual Info Session!
Come learn about the 2026 McGinnis Venture Competition & Social Enterprise Prize. Find out important deadlines and details.
Wednesday, January 7, 2026
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Register
Advanced registration required for the info sessions. Zoom details will be sent to registered attendees the day before the event.
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Congratulations to CMU Alumni Founders Selected
for the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30!
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Trainwell Co-Founders Matt Spettel and Gabe Madonna (VentureBridge '19)
CMU alumnus Matt Spettel, CEO and Gabe Madonna, CTO of Trainwell (VentureBridge '19), a tech-enabled personal training company that has raised $18.5M in funding, have recently been selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Sports Industry. With Trainwell, users complete their workouts on their own time, with an app to guide them through the custom programming and wearable software analyzing their motion to provide live feedback.
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Refiberd Co-Founders Sarika Bajaj and Tushita Gupta (VentureBridge '20)
Sarika Bajaj, 29, Tushita Gupta, 29, co-founded Refiberd (VentureBridge '20), a startup that has developed novel AI technology to sort textiles for resale and recycling applications, in 2020. The duo, selected for the Forbes 30 under 30 in the Social Impact industry, decided to launch the company after learning that the lack of accurate information about the materials used to make clothing costs billions of dollars, affecting brands, resellers, and recyclers. Their technology is critical for sorting waste for textile recycling, resale authentication, and textile supply chain transparency.
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Mach9 Co-Founders Alexander Baikovitz, Zachary Sussman, Haowen Shi and Michael Mong
(VentureBridge '21)
Mach9 co-founders Alexander Baikovitz, Zachary Sussman, Haowen Shi and Michael Mong (VentureBridge '21) founded Mach9 in 2021. The company has been selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Transportation/Aerospace Industry.
Mach9 is building geospatial CAD software that uses AI to turn raw 3D data into precise digital maps so surveyors, engineers, and infrastructure owners can plan, design, and maintain critical assets more efficiently. They raised $15M from Quiet Capital, Overmatch Ventures, Y Combinator, Tiger Global, and among others.
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| Farm to Flame Founder Kwaku Jyamfi
(James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow '20)
Kwaku Jyamfi, founder of Farm to Flame Energy, has been selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Manufacturing Industry. Farm to Flame has commercialized combustion to make waste management accessible with a patented smokeless process that operates at half the cost of diesel. So far the startup has diverted over 5,680 lbs of CO2 from diesel and natural gas in partnership with paper company Georgia Pacific.
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| CMU Founded LittleMoochi Joins Food Helpers
LittleMoochi, an AI-powered virtual pet that encourages children to form healthy eating habits co-founded by CMU Tepper School of Business alumna and CEO Summer (Qinxian) Xia (2020), has joined Food Helpers in Pennsylvania, an organization that connects those in need with those who can help. It’s altruistic name brings our community in Washington County and Southwestern Pennsylvania together as someone who can help.
LittleMoochi also took first place in the Swartz Center's 2019 McGinnis Venture Competition.
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The DashStrom Program Cuts Screen Time by
Challenging Kids to Move
DashStrom co-founders Cristina M. Ramirez, CMU alumna Ketaki Desai, PhD and CTO Lou Biancaniello are building DashStrom, the Pittsburgh-based youth enrichment platform delivering movement-based social-emotional learning through the after-school and childcare sectors. Their tech-enabled platform trains and certifies vetted local coaches, matches them with schools and community sites, and provides a turnkey curriculum now reaching 11K kids across 41 states, including 11 schools in Pittsburgh.
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CMU Startup HexBid is Hiring Software and AIML Engineers!
HexBid is building products for construction bidding and estimating, focused on helping heavy-civil contractors bid smarter, win more projects, and cut estimating time in half.
The team was selected to join an accelerator in January, and is looking for additional technical team members to join at the ground floor. You’d be working with a Tepper MBA and an MIT PhD on a massive, underserved industry. If you’re looking to gain experience or would be excited to be part of a founding team, reach out below!
Schedule a meeting to find out more.
Questions? Contact Alex Ramos: Robertor@andrew.cmu.edu or via LinkedIn.
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Fireside Chat: Inside Corporate Venture Capital with
Jordan Garside
A conversation exploring the intersection of law, strategy, and venture investing
Date: Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Time: 1-2 PM | ET
Join an engaging fireside chat with Jordan Garside, Senior Counsel at Dell Technologies Capital (DTC), as he shares insights from his unique vantage point at one of the most active corporate venture capital arms in tech.
Open to students interested in venture capital, corporate development, startups and the legal dimensions of investment.
Co-hosted by CMU's PE/VC Club, ScottyLabs, Graduate Entrepreneurship Club and Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Association.
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| Bridging Discovery to Clinic: How AI and Digital Technologies
Are Transforming Therapeutics
Date: Sunday, January 11, 2026, 2-4 PM | PT
Location: San Francisco, CA
Are you innovating in biotech, pharma, medtech, or healthcare services—and heading to the 44th Annual J.P.M. Healthcare Conference in January?
Join the CMU Swartz Center for a special fireside chat on how AI and digital technologies are transforming drug discovery, reducing development risk and cost and opening new pathways from lab to clinic. Hear from founders, researchers and investors at the forefront of this shift.
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Apply for the Spring 2026 CSL Project Course!
Applications for enrollment in the CSL Project Course are open. Open to any Carnegie Mellon University Graduate student located in Pittsburgh. Acceptance into the course will be based on a completed application and interview with a course instructor on a rolling basis. Applications will close on Friday, December 5.
Find out more about the CSL Project course.
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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!
The CONNECTS Seminars have ended for the Fall semester and will resume in the Spring.
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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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PwC
Our purpose—to build trust in society and solve important problems—is at the core of everything we do. It guides how we serve our clients, our people and the world. To help our clients build trust and deliver sustained outcomes, PwC provides professional services across two segments: Trust Solutions and Consulting Solutions. Within these segments we bring a range of capabilities to help organizations solve faster, solve more and realize more value. These capabilities include cloud and digital, deals, ESG, cybersecurity and privacy, governance/boards, risk, transformation, tax services and much more. Across our global network of more than 295,000 professionals in 156 countries, we are committed to advancing quality in everything we do.
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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.
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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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