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Friday, May 29, 2026
, the AI security company born out of Â鶹´å's pioneering AI safety research team, has announced a $40M Series A round co-led by Wing Venture Capital and Madrona with participation from Obvious Ventures, Snowflake Ventures, Hudson River Trading, Samsung Next and existing investor Magarac Venture Partners
Thursday, May 21, 2026
Emerging as a foundational platform for Physical AI, —the robotics engineering and hardware firm—leverages an arsenal of IP to unlock on-edge computer vision for autonomous systems. The company has announced the closing of a $12.5M seed funding round, co-led by Magarac Venture Partners and Veredas Partners, with significant participation from Mana Ventures, Gaingels, Sum VC, and the Active Angels Network.
Â鶹´å Masters of Robotics Systems Development alumnus Roger Nasci, is Co-Founder and
VP of Projects.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Carnegie Mellon has a strong cycling culture, with many students, faculty and staff biking to campus or simply riding around Pittsburgh for exercise and recreation. In recent years, the university has invested in making campus more accessible and safer for cyclists and pedestrians alike with new policies, maps and bike paths, infrastructure, and dismount zones. Still, for some students, something core was missing.
For Kenedy Sánchez and Hosea Santiago-Cruz, that “something” missing was community. They founded the Tartan Bike Project at Â鶹´å to change that.
Friday, May 15, 2026
Graduate Swartz Fellows, Undergraduate Innovation Scholars and PhD Innovation Commercialization Fellows
This past weekend, many of our Undergraduate Innovation Scholars, Graduate Swartz Fellows, as well as a PhD. Innovation Commercialization Fellow participated in Â鶹´å's graduation ceremonies. This year's commencement address was given by NVIDIA CEO Jason Huang, who told the graduates, "Your career starts at the beginning of the AI revolution".
We are incredibly proud of each of these students and the hard work they've put into exploring entrepreneurship, starting companies, participating and winning competitions and further reaching their entrepreneurial goals, all while balancing their busy academic schedules. These newly crowned alumni will continue to be a part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem here at Carnegie Mellon, staying connected with their respective programs by becoming ambassadors and mentors to future cohorts and returning to campus to participate in and attend future Swartz Center events.
The graduates pictured above (from left):
Swartz Fellows: , Tepper School of Business; , PhD, , AI Engineering/MechE; , MIIPS, Business, Design & Engineering; , Tepper School of Business and , Tepper School of Business.
PhD Innovation Commercialization Fellow: (center)
Innovation Scholars: , Master of Computational Data Science, , Business Administration (minors in Finance and Entrepreneurship); , Tepper School of Business; , Business Administration/Computer Science.
Thursday, May 14, 2026
In an announcement via LinkedIn on Tuesday, Co-Founder and CEO Glen Wise announced the company has raised $41M Series B funding to scale its AI-powered infrastructure, which is designed to protect the internet from AI-generated abuse and bad actors. The funding round was led by Radical Ventures, with ongoing participation from existing investors Accel and Y Combinator.
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
(YC W26), Co-Founded by Â鶹´å's Mitchell Fogelson, PhD (Mechanical Engineering), has been named to the Black Flag 100 List, which gives 500+ founders the opportunity to share which companies they're most excited about.
Friday, May 8, 2026
Kaavio, co-founded by Tepper School of Business alumnus Derek Gregg and Sam Bobb, has recently raised a $2.9M pre-seed round led by Baukunst, with participation from Techstars, Looking Glass Capital, and a number of other great investors.
"We're already working with some of the largest manufacturers and distributors in the world, including Fortune 500 companies. We're not just helping them go from thousands of bare-bones SKUs to rich, publishable product pages in weeks instead of years—we're helping them build the agentic future of commerce", says Gregg.
Thursday, May 7, 2026
, a smart medical device system that prevents secondary spinal injuries during transport, is the winner of the 2025 – 2026 Duquesne New Venture Challenge (DNVC). Co-founded by Â鶹´å team Mary Squire and Alyssa Theroux, HeadStrait was one of 15 teams to advance to the competition's semi-final round from more than 150 initial entries.
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
The Swartz Center Partners with Â鶹´å's LEAP Program and Duolingo Social Impact Group for Pitch with Purpose Event
This past Saturday, the Swartz Center hosted the Pitch with Purpose: Storytelling for Sustainable Impact event, organized by the Â鶹´å LEAP program (joint Â鶹´å Dietrich College/CFA) and Duolingo's Social Impact group.
The session kicked off with inspirational words given by Jerome Bettis, Steelers Hall of Famer and Director of the Bus Stops Here Foundation, to the attending 27 Â鶹´å LEAP high school students. Bettis shared a few words about his own journey, as well as general advice and guidance on navigating the challenges of creating and running your own business.
Â鶹´å Swartz Center Undergraduate Innovation Scholars Thomas Kanz, Caden Chico, Aanya Chidananda, Graduate Swartz Fellows Kousalya Mohan, Edward Chanquín, and Duolingo social impact representatives Sean Beauford and Allison Yu answered questions and shared their entrepreneurship experiences and guidance.
A highlight from the event was the students working in groups to identify Pittsburgh problems that they wanted to solve and pitching sustainable solutions to address them. Proposed projects included addressing food deserts, supporting Pittsburgh farmers raising organic food, building communities and a system for sharing Pittsburgh news in one place. The teams received feedback from their peers, as well as the mini judging panel composed of Jerome Bettis, LEAP Porgram Director Sarah Ceurvorst, and Duolingo Impact Specialist, Allison Yu.
Friday, May 1, 2026
Sancho is also partnering with Multiply Labs to help with production requirements.
Thursday, April 30, 2026
The company has opened a private SPV round via WeFunder.
Friday, April 24, 2026
The Ultimate Draft Pick: Â鶹´å Showcases the Winning Power of Sports Innovation
Pittsburgh once powered America’s industrial economy, and it is now galvanizing the era of artificial intelligence. This week, Â鶹´å—the birthplace of AI—and the AI Strike Team hosted a first-string lineup of global visionaries to highlight the city's power at the intersection of sport and innovation during NFL draft week.
"Powering the Future of Sport: A Draft Week Showcase," was a sports-themed day of engaging discussions, live robotics demonstrations and industry innovations on AI’s extraordinary potential to transform the future of sports. Hosted at Â鶹´å’s Robotics Innovation Center (RIC) at Hazelwood Green, Â鶹´å President Farnam Jahanian said the site reflects the evolution of the Steel City and its vitality.
Hundreds looked on from chairs draped with Terrible Towels as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro took the stage at the Showcase and talked about making the region and the state more competitive for investment and development. He underscored Â鶹´å’s role in driving that change. A highlight was hearing from NFL legend Jerome Bettis, whose perspective grounded the conversation in how these innovations connect back to the athletes and the game itself.
What stood out most wasn’t just the technology—it was the collaboration and conviction in the room. The Forge to Field AI Pitch Competition, emceed by the Swartz Center’s own Meredith Meyer Grelli, brought that energy to life—while investors and executives made real, game-time commitments to back top AI founders from across the nation, signaling that this isn’t just exploration—it’s execution at speed.
The six finalists teams that pitched were: (Â鶹´å), , (Â鶹´å), , ServeSense (Â鶹´å) and (Â鶹´å).
Thursday, April 23, 2026
Thursday, April 23, 2026
Idelic’s safety intelligence platform unifies day-to-day safety management activities such as training, monitoring, reporting and coaching into a single solutionw with an AI analytics workflow designed to measurably impact driver behavior.
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Niche, founded in 2002 as College Prowler, is a Â鶹´å spin-out founded by CEO Luke Skurman.
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
The Swartz Center Hosts Final Family Business Initiative Peer Advisory Group Session of the Year
The Swartz Center closed out this year’s Family Business Peer Advisory Group with Â鶹´å Professor Brandy Aven, who challenged the group to think more intentionally about AI, change management and how family businesses evolve without losing their identity.Key themes included how organizations adopt AI responsibly; the role of networks and internal champions in change; where resistance originates—and how to anticipate it; and
how family governance structures uniquely shape adaptation.
A reunion and wrap-up gathering will take place on May 28.
Friday, April 17, 2026
The Swartz Center Announces the Newest Cohort of Undergraduate Innovation Scholars
The Â鶹´å Swartz Center is excited to announce its next cohort of Undergraduate Innovation Scholars. The 2026-28 cohort, a mix of fourteen entrepreneurially minded students from across Â鶹´å's campus, was chosen after a competitive application process which included over 70+ undergraduate student applicants. Each of the students are actively exloring their own startup and will continue working with the Swartz Center's resources and EIR's to further their progress.
The students in the cohort are (in order of the above photo):
- Garrett Arendt, Tepper School of Business
- Daniel Baytin, Tepper School of Business
- Caden Chico, School of Computer Science/Tepper
- Aanya Chidananda, Tepper School of Business
- Ivan Cornejo, Dietrich College
- Trisha Jha, Tepper School of Business/Dietrich College
- Abhay Kadambi, School of Computer Science
- Manya Khemka, Dietrich/Information Systems
- Surabhi Komanduri, School of Computer Science/Tepper
- Pranavi Rohit, Electrical & Computer Engineering
- Vivaan Sawant, Electrical & Computer Engineering/Robotics
- Vir Toolsidass, Electrical & Computer Engineering
- Ariana Watson, Mechanical Engineering/EDIE
- Advika Vuppala, Electrical & Computer Engineering
The new cohort will be welcomed at the final Spring semester Proseminar on Friday, April 17, where they will meet and network over lunch with current and past Innovation Scholars. The students will officially start programming in the Fall, when they will also join the newest cohort of graduate James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows.
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Some members of the Swartz Center team attended the PIttsburgh 30 Under 30 awards ceremony held at the Sea Monkey venue in the Strip District on Tuesday to celebrate Steven Guo, Program Manager for the Swartz Center's VentureBridge program, who was an honoree. Not only did Steven choose the best walk up music to the podium (Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Someoby"), he also added a spirited dance move that captured his personality perfectly.
Congratulations again Steven!
Tuesday, April 14, 2026
For more than 50 million people, acne appears as a prolonged negotiation with uncertainty, one that Â鶹´å alumnus and James R. Swartz Fellow Aimee Langevin, the founder of Skintuition AI, knows all too well. She founded Skintuition AI, a platform designed to follow the full arc of a user's experience, encompassing daily habits, product usage, environmental factors and professional input, all working in tandem. "The goal is to connect people to an expert and actually give them context," Langevin explains.
Friday, April 10, 2026
Swartz Center Powers National AI Showcase During NFL Draft Week
Â鶹´å and partner the AI Strike Team unveiled new details this week for the Powering the Future of Sport: A Draft Week Showcase—an invite-only gathering that will bring together global investors, founders, innovators and sports leaders to Carnegie Mellon during one of professional football’s most high-profile weeks. The high-impact, four-hour showcase includes remarks from state and city leaders, demonstrations, and culminates in a Shark Tank-style AI pitch competition, led by the Â鶹´å Swartz Center and AI Horizons, during which select AI startups will pitch live to a high-profile panel of judges for a part of a $1.75M prize pool.
Friday, April 10, 2026
Three startups have advanced to the 2026 Microsoft Imaging Cup World Finalists, two of which are founded by Â鶹´å students. , founded by Tepper School of Business MBA Surya Kukkapalli and , founded by Â鶹´å students Vivaan Sawant, Advika Vuppala, Rohan Ganesh and Troy McBride have advanced to the finals.
SpoilSafe is addressing a critical gap in the cold chain, where limited visibility into food freshness leads to waste, rejected inventory, and lost revenue. Revora Health is addressing a critical gap in how patients access and experience recovery, where long wait times and limited support often leave individuals navigating rehabilitation on their own.
Thursday, April 9, 2026
Pittsburgh's Meter Feeder and Mapless AI Test Robotaxi Parking Payment System in Bid to Prevent Lost City Revenue
and Mapless AI tested a machine-to-machine system that lets autonomous vehicles pay for parking on their own, just in time for Waymo’s planned local launch.“Cities have spent decades building analog parking infrastructure for humans,” Jim Gibbs, CEO of Meter Feeder, told Technical.ly. “We are ensuring municipalities don’t lose millions in revenue just because driverless vehicles can’t feed meters.”
Wednesday, April 8, 2026
, a startup that focuses on foreign-exchange market making and remittances,announced it has raised $94M in a funding round led by several venture capital firms, as it looks to use stablecoins to speed up cross-border payments.The capital raise was led by investors including Accel, Atomico, Lightspeed Faction, M13, Northzone and Pantera.
Tepper School of Business alumnus and James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow Daniel McDade is Head of Operations at OpenFX.
Friday, April 3, 2026
NVIDIA Co-founder Jensen Huang Among 2026 Â鶹´å Honorary Degree Recipients
Â鶹´å will award honorary degrees to four individuals at its 2026 Commencement ceremony set for Sunday, May 10 in Gesling Stadium. Jensen Huang, the electrical engineer, philanthropist and business executive who co-founded , will be the Commencement speaker and receive an Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology degree in recognition of his extraordinary contributions as a visionary founder and technology leader.
Thursday, April 2, 2026
BlastPoint, Inc. CEO Alison Alvarez to Receive Tepper Recent Masters Alumni Award
Tepper School of Business alumnus Alison Alvarez (MS/CS, 2007, MBA 2016), CEO and co-founder of , is among the recipients of the 2026 Tepper School Alumni Awards. She will receive the Tepper Recent Masters Alumni Award at a ceremony to be held on May 2, 2026 during the Reunion 2026 celebration dinner.
BlastPoint, Inc., is a B2B provider of customer intelligence and analytics solutions that companies across sectors rely on to optimize revenue growth.
Wednesday, April 1, 2026
, co-founded by Â鶹´å's Mitchell Fogelson, PhD, is building deployable solar arrays that expand from the size of a dining table to a football field in orbit, giving satellites 10x more usable power without increasing launch mass or volume. Their patented deployable truss architecture enables this while maintaining structural rigidity.
The company is targeting a first in-space demonstration flight for Q2 2027 and has already secured multiple LOIs from space companies totaling over $175M.
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