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Welcome to the 2026-2027 Cohort of the Columbia Startup Lab!

The Lab cultivates a cohort of alumni entrepreneurs each year. Hailing from 10 of Columbia’s undergraduate and graduate schools, this community will get tailored programming, mentorship, and community while they and their teams work on their startups full time.

 

Get to know the ventures and founders below.

 

2IT

Sebastian Salas, GSAPP

Map-based solutions for organizations with territorial presence.


Arata AI

Apoorv Agarwal, Engineering


Arth – Art of Health

Ritika Patni, CBS

Arth is an AI-powered Ayurveda platform building personalized, evidence-backed wellness products and protocols for modern consumers seeking longevity, energy, and preventive care.


Axia AI

Juan Cruz Rabbat, CBS

AI Native Education Agency Company.


Battery Safety Technologies

Lucy Corthell, Engineering

AlphaFire is a retrofit, physics-informed battery safety device that detects early failure signatures in lithium-ion batteries and provides real-time, on-device alerts to prevent fires.


Bearing

Joseph Jun, Mailman School of Public Health

Bearing is an AI caregiving operating system for family caregivers that builds a living map of your caregiving journey, learning your situation from every conversation to predict what you’ll need before crisis hits.


BlockBridge

Leticia Salmon, SIPA

BlockBridge is building end-to-end financial infrastructure that makes stablecoins operational for humanitarian NGOs — enabling faster, cheaper, and more accountable cross-border aid flows.


Cadenova

Derrick Chien Huang, CBS

Cadenova is an AI-native product lifecycle management platform that helps fashion brands manage tech packs, production tracking, vendor coordination, and merchandising intelligence in one workspace.


Coffee Elf

Helen Zhang, Engineering

At Coffee Elf, we use green chemistry technologies to upcycle spent coffee grounds into value-added biomaterials for the cosmetic and textile industry.


Crosstalk Connections

Chris Chin, Mailman School of Public Health

Crosstalk Connections is a patent-pending telephony platform combatting the Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation.


Daps

Jake Klores, Columbia College

A social platform for professional and collegiate athletes to monetize exclusive content and experiences directly to fans.


FinOptiv AI

Cindy Morand, CBS

Next generation debt matching and capital intelligence platform for Millennials.


Gamsa Foods

Sarah Hwang, CBS

Gamsa is a Korean American food brand making instant, delicious, and savory oatmeal inspired by rice porridge (juk), designed for busy mornings.


Groverton

Dustin Martelo, SIPA

Financing and managing single family homes on behalf of nonprofits and low-income families.


Hoist AI

Hidayat Hamidov, CBS

AI Coworkers for Global Logistics.


Innit

Rafat Nigar, Barnard College

Operation System for event organizers.


IVY Engineering Group

Samira Ayati, Engineering

IVY Engineering Group, a WBE, DBE, and SBE-certified firm in New York, specializes in construction management and engineering services for both private and government projects, delivering precision and excellence.


Local Civics

Beverly Leon, CBS

Local Civics streamlines civics, college, and career education for K-12 schools.


MarginArc

Matt Rothberg, CBS

Vertical software provider for the $100B+ Value-Added Reseller IT space.


Matchbook Partners

Thomas van Haren, CBS

Solving succession issues for family-owned and owner-operated businesses that have created value but do not have a successor to take the reins.


Metlas

Wei Hao, Engineering


Moby Filters

Yoni Ronn, Columbia Climate School

Moby Filters is a Techstars-backed startup that helps businesses reduce utility costs by capturing and reusing microplastics.


MovementBase

Marielle Villar Martiney, SIPA

MovementBase helps social justice changemakers reclaim time, reduce burnout, and scale impact with an affordable, one-stop-shop for managing movements.


nMonica

Lewis Clements, CBS

nMonica is an AI personal assistant that turns your conversations, messages, and daily context into action items, relationship intelligence, and useful recall so nothing slips through the cracks.


OneRange

Steve Gilman, CBS | Houtan Fanisalek, Engineering

AI-powered upskilling platform.


Perpetua

Jacqueline Deprey, CBS/SEAS | Shruti Das, SIPA

Perpetua helps you navigate every step of estate settlement so you know exactly what to do next, and nothing gets missed.


Phi.AI

David Foye, CBS

Phi.AI is an AI-driven price discovery and liquidity platform for catastrophe bonds, leveraging Physics-Informed Neural Networks to unlock market efficiency, capital access, and climate justice in a historically illiquid $40B market.


Plasmole

Paul Yoo, Engineering | Aditya Kulkarni, Engineering

AI-native molecular biology platform.


Prana Health

Kosha Rakholia, Mailman School of Public Health

AI-powered recommendation engine for clinicians to design well-being plans personalized for women.


Quad A Research Labs

Aaron Chang, Engineering

Quad A Research Labs is breaking the monopoly on precision motion components for North American robotics.


Quaderer Media Group

Joseph Quaderer, Journalism

StorySavor is a biography writing services company.


Reason Technologies

Digvijay Makwana, CBS

AI-powered workflow automation for the logistics industry.


Regbase

Natalie Aresta-Katz, CBS | Ethan Shea, CBS

We track new and proposed regulations, worldwide and in any language.


Rivea

Lucas Muehleisen, Columbia College

Rivea is an AI-powered sourcing platform that automates candidate research for executive search firms by crawling thousands of websites.


RiskRemedy

Scott Lukas, Engineering

RiskRemedy is an AI-powered operating system for insurance brokers.


Rockhopper

Sebastian Perez Lawrence, CBS

Rockhopper helps enterprise finance teams audit and review their critical financial documents.


Rud-co

Sam Ruddock, CBS

We automate industrial procurement, specializing in alloy and abrasive supply chains.


Sachi Health

Daniella Ueki, CBS

Sachi Health matches women with PCOS to peer-reviewed lifestyle studies based on their symptoms, then delivers the research as a trackable daily action plan.


Santé

Mirelle Pereira, Mailman School of Public Health / SIPA


Sara Technology

Jia Zhang, CBS

Sara Technology provides AI-powered, evidence-based speech therapy for children with articulation disorders, offering personalized practice and automated progress tracking for parents and Speech-Language Pathologists.


Scoutify

Matthew Pisinski, Data Science Institute


Silhouet

Brandon Steidley, CBS

Silhouet is an AI-native PLM platform that helps emerging fashion brands capture structured product data, generate manufacturer-ready tech packs, and connect to an optimized production network.


Snova

Dora Gutierrez, CBS

Powering biology — turning waste into high-performance bioproducts.


Solano Meals

Jacqueline Green, Mailman School of Public Health

A meal delivery service targeted to individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.


Spacely

David Coker, CBS

Spacely Media is an advertising marketplace for buying and selling premium media — print, out-of-home, and in-venue sponsorships.


Steady

Emily Bargabos, CBS

Steady helps people who are directly and indirectly affected by alcohol and substance use; not just individuals in recovery, but also those around them, including family and friends.


Sumly

Maggi Heneghan, CBS | Maximo Librandi, CBS

AI-powered financial management for self-employed pros.


Terra

Raymond Heimann, Columbia College | Tom Higgins, Columbia College

Revolutionizing ‘minimulti’ real estate to bring authentic workforce housing back to the heart of America at scale.


Tesoro

Sara Gomez Horta, SIPA

Wealth management platform designed for young Latinas.


The Comp Set

Tommy Evans, CBS

Peer-based performance benchmarking for independent restaurants, investors, and real estate developers.


Tomosu

Tomotoshi Nagama, CBS

Introducing a new category of patient wear, merging luxury with medical utility to unlock untapped market potential.


Toscana

Cindy Salazar, CBS

Retailer offering handcrafted leather shoes and accessories for the modern man and woman, made in Florence, Italy.


Value Alpha

Tomasz Felpel, CBS


Vedant Capital Partners

Pulkit Agarwal, CBS

Value investing using AI tools.


Vega

Madeline Park, Engineering | Benjamin Lee, Engineering

AI-powered people search (so you always have the inside scoop on who matters).


Verteel

Brian Monga, CBS

Drone operating platform specializing in medical supply chain.


Vitality Lab

Jason Ding, Engineering

Vitality Lab is a longevity lifestyle brand providing verifiable anti-aging and wellness solutions, utilizing proprietary IVD biosensors to break through the efficacy blind spots of traditional supplements.


Vitruvius

Anshul Singhania, CBS

Startup focused on mass-customisation, generative design & additive manufacturing of luxury products.

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