Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is awarding a total $800,000 to 16 startups. The money is being invested through the Open Field Entrepreneurs Fund (OFEF).
OFEF was set up in June 2012, and since then has supported five cohorts, equalling 37 companies and a combined funding of $1.85m. Each selected startup receives $50,000 in investment, as well as the opportunity to be mentored by both CMU faculty and alumni.
The fund is administered by the university’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and was created by alumnus Jonathan Kaplan and wife Marci Glazer. Kaplan is the inventor of the Flip camera, acquired by Cisco in 2009 and the brains behind grilled cheese fast food chain The Melt, which he set up in 2011. The fund supports early-stage startups by alumni who have graduated from CMU within the last five years.
The range of companies invested in is very wide. Among the latest cohort, cycles four and five, is Digital Dream Labs which teaches children coding and basic computer science through videogame puzzles. Midnight Madness Distilling produces absinthe with Swiss herbal liqueur. SolePower builds shoes that use the kinetic energy generated through walking to charge portable devices.
Dave Mawhinney, co-director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said: “The Open Field Entrepreneurs Fund is one of the programmes that makes Carnegie Mellon a destination of choice for students, faculty and staff who are serious about entrepreneurship. It provides newly founded companies with critical resources at the right time in their startup development, enabling them to grow to the next level. Plus, connection with elite entrepreneurs like Jonathan Kaplan is vastly beneficial to both our students and alumni entrepreneurship community.”
