|
|
| CMU Lab to Market - Spring 2026 - San Francisco
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Come and hear from Carnegie Mellon University's top research spin-off companies at the third Lab to Market event with a keynote fireside chat featuring Aravind Srinivas, Co-founder, President & CEO, Perplexity and Sameer Gandhi, Partner, Accel.
This invite-only event is for deep tech investors and founders.
To request an invite, email Melanie Simko or Namrata Banerjee.
| |
| Are you a CMU alumni working on a startup? Apply to the CMU VentureBridge 2026 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.
Learn more and apply for funding here for the 2026 cycle. Feel free to attend one of our info sessions on January 23rd or March 6th to hear from the team directly.
| |
|  | Meredith Meyer Grelli (front row, left) with Sonya Ford (front row, right) with current and alumni Swartz Fellows and Innovation Scholars at Accel
| |
| | |
CMU Swartz Center Hosts Annual Entrepreneurship Trek
in Silicon Valley
The 2025-27 graduate James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows and undergraduate Innovation Scholars traveled to California's Bay Area for the annual Entrepreneurship Trek on January 5-8, 2026, led by Sonya Ford, Program Manager, and Swartz Center Managing Director & Interim Executive Director, Meredith Meyer Grelli. The purpose of the Trek is to expose the students to the vast network of Carnegie Mellon University alumni founders and local venture capital firms in an effort to network and gain exposure to resources while exploring summer internship opportunities.
Throughout the week, the students visited CMU's Silicon Valley campus—hearing from alumni founders Sean Tao, founder of Flaflow and Miranda Nover, founder of Fort (Y Combinator)—as well as several startups such as RoboForce, Artyc, Mach9 Robotics and Codeflash.ai (all participants in the VentureBridge program) along with various venture capital firms including Accel, PearVC, Jackson Square Ventures, CRV and Entrepreneurs First.
Two highlights of the Trek were a Q&A talk at Accel (Founding Partner, Jim Swartz, MSIA '66) led by partners Peter Clarke and Dan Levine, followed by the annual networking reception, and an alumni mixer at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP hosted by Matt Kirmayer, Partner.
| |
|  | RoboForce (VentureBridge) co-founders: Leo Ma, Calvin Zhou
| |  | 2025-27 Swartz Fellows at CMU Silicon Valley campus
| |  | Arvind Gupta, partner at Mayfield and Arbaaz Khan, founder/CEO, Graphon
| |
| | |
| Skild AI Raises $1.4B, Hits Valuation Over $14B
Pittsburgh-based Skild AI announced it has raised nearly $1.4B on Wednesday. According to a release from Skild, the raise was led by SoftBank Group, with participation from NVentures (NVIDIA's venture capital arm), Macquarie Capital (entities managed by Macquarie Capital), Jeff Bezos (through Bezos Expeditions), Disruptive and 1789 Capital. The latest funding brings the company's valuation to over $14B.
| |
|  | Picture credit: NovoLINC co-founder and CEO Ning Li at TDK Ventures' 100X event
(NovoLINC/LinkedIn)
| |
| | |
CMU Spinout NovoLINC Raises $10.2M Seed to Cool Overheating Data Centers
| |
Huge congratulations to the team at NovoLINC on an amazing seed round! The startup has secured $10.2M, according to a filing on June 9 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Spun out of Carnegie Mellon University, and a graduate of our Innovation Commercialization Fellowship and NSF I-Corps Regional programs, NovoLINC makes a thermal interface material (TIM) which keeps powerful chips from getting too hot. The funding will help the company scale manufacturing, expand research and development and grow the business to meet rising customer demand.
Congratulations to Ning Li, Rui Cheng, Sheng Shen and the entire team at NovoLINC!
| |
| JWX Acquires Aug X Labs, Giving Publishers a Gen AI Tool to Transform Existing Content Into Multi-Platform Experiences
JWX, the technology company that empowers media businesses to connect their content with consumers across every platform, has announced it has acquired Aug X Labs, the startup behind Augie Studio, the all-in-one AI-assisted Commercial Video Studio. Aug X Labs, a 2023 VentureBridge startup, is founded by CMU alumnus Jeremy Toeman and has been aided by two CMU alumni: Coleman Isner (Innovation Scholar, Staff Engineer) and Niranjan Salimath, Head of Engineering.
| |
Pittsburgh's Wood Wide AI Featured in Forbes Magazine
From Text To Tables: Why Structured Data Is AI’s Next
$600B Frontier
Co-founded by Varsha Raj, Pittsburgh company Wood Wide AI is featured in a Forbes deep dive recently published—Rocio Wu Dianoux highlights structured data as AI’s next $600B frontier and names Wood Wide AI as part of this emerging shift.
| |
CMU Swartz Center and Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance Co-Host Panel During 2026 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference at Obvious Ventures
| |
On Sunday, January 11, Obvious Ventures hosted an incredible panel kicking off the 2026 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference during the 'Bridging Discovery to Clinic: How AI and Digital Technologies Are Transforming Therapeutics' event, bringing together leaders across diagnostics, drug discovery and life sciences—all grappling with how computation is changing what’s possible in medicine.
The panelists included: Dr. Andreas Pfenning (Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science), Dr. Amoolya Singh (DELFI Diagnostics), Dr. Dana Watt, PhD (Breakout Ventures), Jonathan Steckbeck (Peptilogics) and moderator Megan Kahn Shaw (Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance) for an exceptional discussion on discovering how technology is transforming therapeutics, reducing time-to-market and cutting development costs.
We’re incredibly grateful to the many partners and community members who made the 2nd-ever Swartz Center presence at the JPM Healthcare Conference possible. This panel came together through a true ecosystem effort—drawing from faculty and alumni across Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science, Mellon College of Science, College of Engineering, and Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, as well as CMU-founded startups, the life sciences network of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance, trusted investors and operators, and close collaboration with our co-hosts at Obvious Ventures.
Thank you to the CMU Alumni Association team: Jesse Thill, Sing Zhang and alumni board Dr. Mary Yang, Gary Mi, Nikhil Arora, Purav Desai.
| |
| Pittsburgh Companies Take to CES to Learn from Innovators and Customers
An estimated 145,000 visitors and 4,100 companies descended on Las Vegas for the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES), one of the largest trade shows in the technology industry. Alongside them were several Pittsburgh companies. CES saw appearances from local CEOs during Nvidia's pre-show presentation and announcements, including one from AWS that will support Aurora Innovation Inc.'s self-driving freight goals.
| |
| Applications Close on January 22!
Foundry is Carnegie Mellon's startup accelerator, run by ScottyLabs. Launched in the Fall of 2025, the first nine pre-seed teams raised $1.55M in VC funding in four months. Foundry supports top CMU teams with VC access, experienced founders, weekly networking, accountability and practical startup resources. Foundry takes no equity.
Spring 2026 includes:
• Up to 15 teams
• 20+ VC talks
• Founder talks
• Weekly networking sessions
• Direct connections to startup resources
Every team member is required to commit 30+ hours/week to building and fully engaging with the program. If that fits, we'd like to meet you! Faculty, graduate and undergraduate CMU teams are encouraged to apply.
If interested, please fill out a brief interest form. The full application will follow and will close on
January 22nd, 2026.
Find out more. For questions, email foundry@scottylabs.org
| |
CMU's Scottie Ventures to Host Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) on January 31
Are you about to raise a round for your startup? CMU's Scottie Ventures is hosting the VCIC Regional Finals on Saturday, January 31, 2026. VCIC is an investment competition where undergraduate students from various universities compete and practice their VC startup evaluation skills. Startup founders get an opportunity to practice pitching, practice mock DD sessions with VCs and receive feedback. Students also perform detailed DD/research on the startup a few days before the competition, simulating DD that a real VC would do! This is a great opportunity to practice VC interactions and receive feedback.
Contact jiyag@andrew.cmu.edu if you are interested!
| |
CMU's ScottyLabs presents: Tartan Hacks!
TartanHacks is an 24-hour, in-person hackathon taking place at Carnegie Mellon University February 6-7, 2026. The event is a great opportunity to use your skills on real world projects and impress recruiters who are scouting for intern and full time technology roles. There will be a keynote talk from the creator of Mathematica, Stephen Wolfram and top-placing projects will win thousands of dollars!
Sponsors include: AppLovin, Optiver, Accenture, Sandia National Laboratories, Visa and Jane Street.
Travel reimbursements will be provided to select, accepted participants who apply before the Priority Deadline of January 17, 2026. The National Deadline is January 31, 2026.
| |
Date: Saturday, January 31, 2026
This summit is the cornerstone event for understanding today’s real estate market, locally in Pittsburgh and across major markets nationwide. This year, we’re bringing together 14 speakers from around the country and 200+ attendees, including real estate professionals, graduate students, faculty and CMU alumni.
Open to all Carnegie Mellon students and real estate professionals!
| |
Search, Buy, Build: Entrepreneurship Through
Acquisition (ETA) Seminar
Date: Saturday, March 14, 2026
Location: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper School of Business, 4765 Forbes Avenue, 3rd Floor
Join us for this curated and practical intensive for professionals ready to acquire and operate their own business. This seminar is built for anyone interested in learning how to acquire and run a small business. You will accelerate your path into ETA through panel conversations with experienced acquirers, investors and acquisition experts.
Led by Chris Cynkar and Len Caric, the audience will learn the key phases of the acquisition process and hear about searchers’ real-world experiences, get advice from experts in the field and engage in candid discussions about key acquisition topics.
For tickets and more information, visit www.scottiefetch.com or reach out to Timothy Watts at timothy.watts@scottiefetch.com.
| |
STARTUP JOB OPPORTUNITIES
| |
Join Skintuition, an early-stage
AI Powered Skincare App startup!
Skintuition is an early-stage startup building an AI-powered skincare app for people who feel stuck in trial-and-error acne care. Instead of guessing with products and routines, we help users understand their skin, track progress, and adapt routines over time based on real signals.
Skintuition is looking for someone excited about early-stage startups and growth to help us figure out how this product reaches the people who need it most. If you’re motivated by impact, interested in startups, and excited by the intersection of tech, skincare, and human-centered problems,
reach out to aimee@skintuition.ai.
| |
Design at Beacon Social, a Social App startup
that makes it easier to hang out with your friends!
Beacon is a social app that makes it easier to hang out with your friends. We connect people where they are and show them where they want to be, with fine-tuned customization, visibility, sharing, and community management settings.
We are hiring Short-Term Freelance Design Engineers. This person will own the transitions, micro-interactions, and design polish to achieve a premium feel within our core journeys and user flows.
| |
Build at Coral, a Startup
at the Intersection of Climate and Fintech!
Coral is a startup at the intersection of climate and fintech that makes sustainable building upgrades like heat pumps, batteries, and EV chargers more affordable and accessible. Our mission is to accelerate the electrification of the built environment through innovative financing solutions.
We’re seeking a full-stack engineer to join our team, building products and features to increase sales of energy-efficient solutions. This role is based in our NYC office (hybrid) and we’re open to leveling, Senior to Principal.
| |
Apply to the LifeX Accelerator by January 26, 2026!
| |
Apply by January 31, 2026!
Hosted and organized by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, which is Rice University's internationally-recognized initiative devoted to the support of entrepreneurship, and Rice Business, the Rice Business Plan Competition offers an educational program mirroring real-world experience through this multi-day event for student startups from across the world.
Student founders pitch to investors, receive feedback and advance their startup.
| |
| 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 Seminars will resume in the Fall 2026 semester.
| |
**SPRING 2026 START SMART LEGAL SERIES (Virtual)**
ALL virtual sessions held at 5-6:15 PM | ET
Tuesday, January 27
The Worst Mistakes Made By Startups
February 10
Building Your Team
February 24
Starting a Business with an F-1 Student Visa
March 24 & April 7
How to Structure Your Capital Raise | Part 2 Workshop
| |
CMU ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUBS
| |
| Click the images to find out more about each of the Clubs!
| |
|  January 21, 2026
6-8 pm | ET
Welcome to the new year! CMU T&E Boston Hub is looking to bring our Tartans in the Greater Boston area together for our first happy hour of 2026 to mingle and connect.
REGISTER
| |  January 28, 2026
5:30-8pm | PST
Join the Beta Fund in partnership with AI Valley & CMU T&E for a relaxed community meetup in Los Altos Hills.
Limited spots available!
REGISTER
| |
| | |
| 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 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.
| |
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.
| |
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!
| |
| 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 |
|
|
|
