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|  | CMU alumni '25 VentureBridge founders at Rackhouse Venture Capital
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The VentureBridge '25 Cohort Kicks Off in San Francisco and Headed to New York Demo Day
Carnegie Mellon University’s VentureBridge (VB) Program is excited to announce investments into 14 startups! These CMU-alumni-founders, representing the School of Computer Science, College of Engineering and the Tepper School of Business, are building across AI Infrastructure, intelligent agents, robotics, healthtech, cleantech and industrial automation—creating high impact and venture-scale solutions for the largest complex challenges.
The program kicked off last week in the San Francisco Bay Area with 2.5 days of intensive programming spanning multiple fireside chats with venture capital firms, VB alumni-founded startups, large mixers and networking events in San Francisco and Palo Alto, CA.
Special Thank You's:
Thank you to the CMU Swartz Center's incredible partners for their immense support of CMU founders and a special thank you to Smith Point Capital, Rackhouse Venture Capital, Fusion Fund, Silicon Valley Bank, AI Camp, Moon Creative Labs, CMU Tech & Entrepreneurship, 99 Tartans and the CMU Alumni Association Bay Area network.
Thanks also to CMU VB founders Abhishek Dubey - Bolster (VB ‘18), Vishakha Gupta - ApertureData (VB ‘20), Chelsie Hall - ViralMoment (VB ‘21), Miranda Nover, Zach Sussman - Mach9 Robotics (VB ‘21), Raj Tilwa - Focal (VB ‘22), Saurabh Misra - Codeflash (VB ‘23), Leo Ma and Calvin Zhou - RoboForce (VB ‘24), Bob Dimmico - Reveal AI (VB ‘24), and Vai Vishwanathan - Voxel.
Join us for CMU VB Demo Day in New York City on Monday, June 2 during NY Tech Week to meet the next generation of CMU founders and get a first look at what they're building!
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| Artian AI Co-Founder and CEO Prashant Reddy Announces $8M Fund Raise
CMU alumnus Prashant Reddy has announced that his company, Artian AI, has raised $8M in funding to accelerate the company's ambitious goal of reliable autonomous multi-agent AI systems for business-critical enterprise processes—at scale. The round was led by Work-Bench, with participation from Foxe Capital/Anthemis and a phenomenal group of early investors and domain experts.
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| 2025 Stanford Knight-Hennessy Scholar Saisri Akondi Harnessed CMU's Entrepreneurial Ecosystem to Revolutionize Care for Diabetics
After Carnegie Mellon University alumna Saisri Akondi earned her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology in India, Dave Mawhinney, founding executive director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, convinced her to pursue her entrepreneurial ambitions at
Carnegie Mellon University.
While at CMU, Akondi found the perfect ecosystem in which to build her medical device startup,
D.Sole, which develops tools that monitor foot biomechanics and provide early warnings to prevent
ulcers and infections.
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Partner, Head of TxO at Andreessen Horowitz Kofi Ampadu Named to 2025 Power100 Presented by Blueprint Capital Advisors, LLC
Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business alumnus Kofi Ampadu has recently been recognized by the 2025 Power100 Presented By Blueprint Capital Advisors LLC. "This recognition reflects the impactful work I have the privilege of doing every day alongside the a16z Talent x Opportunity team to make entrepreneurship more accessible", Ampadu shared in a recent LinkedIn post.
Kofi is also the Founder and General Partner at SKU'd Ventures and recently began hosting a new podcast, the TxO Startup Hotline Series, targeted to founders seeking answers to a wide range of questions related to startups.
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| Codeflash Founder Saurabh Misra Shares Why AI-Powered Code Optimization Is Now Essential
Carnegie Mellon University ECE '19 alumnus Saurabh Misra, founder of Codeflash, the platform working to bring AI optimization to workflows, recently shared how his company is championing the recent shift of AI not only assisting with coding, but how it's also pioneering novel, efficient solutions.
Codeflash offers a practical, accessible solution for developers with its AI-powered tool that optimizes Python codebases, ensuring high performance and efficiency.
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|  | From left: James Hill, Dan Stirrup and Alex Garcia
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| Metagigs Co-Founder and CEO Alex Garcia Returns to the Swartz Center While Seeking Early-Stage Funding
Tepper School of Business (TPR '23) alumnus and Innovation Scholar Alex Garcia returned to the CMU Swartz Center this week to work with his Pittsburgh team as they seek early-stage funding for his company Metagigs. Garcia's company is a platform that allows video game players to find and hire experts through an official marketplace natively inside the game.
Over the summer, many CMU founders will continue to work out of the Swartz Center, a welcomed space that provides conference rooms, work spaces, resources and a familiar network that alumni founders take advantage of all year long.
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| The CMU Swartz Center's Project Olympus Awards Five Spark Grants
The Project Olympus Spark Grant Fund helps Carnegie Mellon University founders kick-start their startup ideas. This Spring, five grants of up to $3K each were awarded to the following startups: Basilisk Robotics, PianoCam, Wok On, Perflection AI and SpoilSafe.
Spark Grants are funded by charitable gifts from alumni and other community donors. The next round of Spark Grant funding will take place in the Fall of 2025.
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Carnegie Mellon, Mid-Atlantic Hub Host First NSF I-Corps Cohort for AI, Robotics
The CMU Swartz Center's Project Olympus and the NSF Innovation Corps Hub Mid-Atlantic Region recently hosted entrepreneurs and researchers in AI and Robotics to help faculty, students and alumni transform their research into the next generation of companies.
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| Apply to the TiE Women Program by June 15!
Applications are now open for the TiE Women Program 2025, an incredible opportunity for women founders to showcase their innovative business ideas on a global stage.
If you are a woman entrepreneur with a passion for innovation and a drive to make a difference, you are encouraged to apply to participate in this prestigious program.
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| 2025 Innovation & Entrepreneurship Summer Kick-off!
Thursday, May 29, 2025
Step into summer with Dentons! Join us for an unforgettable evening of camaraderie, connection and celebration amidst the vibrant pulse of Pittsburgh's innovation and entrepreneurship scene.
Enjoy light hors d'oeuvres and engaging conversations as we gather to reconnect with old friends, forge new alliances and immerse ourselves in the dynamic spirit of innovation.
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The Swank Special Projects Team Invites the CMU Swartz Center and CMU/Pittsburgh entrepreneurship community to a friendly game of Pickleball on Thursday, May 29 from 7-8:30 am at Washington's Landing.
Email jaimel@swankco.com to RSVP!
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| Join us on June 2nd during NY Tech Week for the CMU VentureBridge 2025 Demo Day to watch
pitch presentations from the current cohort and select VentureBridge alumni in the portfolio, followed by a reception.
This event is open to investors and VIPs only.
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Date: Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Time: 10:00 - 11:30 AM
Join Smith Point Capital for a morning of breakfast, conversation and networking with featured speaker Dylan Fox, CEO at AssemblyAI. The following topics will be covered:
• Discuss the critical trade-offs and advantages of building specialized, best-in-class AI solutions versus leveraging broader AI platforms, and how to position your company for success in this dynamic landscape.
• Uncover how AI is fundamentally altering business models, operational efficiencies, and competitive advantages across industries, providing insights into where the greatest opportunities lie for the next generation of companies.
• Discover the specialized GTM strategies for taking deep-tech AI infrastructure to market by securing enterprise partnerships and demonstrating tangible ROI in a rapidly evolving ecosystem.
This in-person event is organized in partnership with the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and the CMU VentureBridge program. It is open exclusively to the CMU Founders community in New York City.
Spots are limited, register soon!
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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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The CONNECTS/START SMART LAW Seminars have ended for the Spring semester and will resume in the Fall.
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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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