Columbia Entrepreneurship

Nucleate Bio Info Session
2021-05-04 18:00 UTC
RSVP Here
Nucleate Bio is a nonprofit, non-dilutive entrepreneurship program for aspiring biotech startup founders. The program is advised by George Church and Robert Langer, among 100+ world-class innovators/startup founders and investors hailing from Lux Capital, Flagship Pioneering, Polaris Partners, Alexandria, Pfizer Ventures, Bayer, and many more.
Nucleate Bio is launching in Fall 2021 in New York. Participating teams will be early-career scientists and business-minded graduate students with an ambitious biology-driven vision. Teams will meet potential co-founders, receive one-on-one mentorship, and gain opportunities for non-dilutive funding and perks valued at $200,000. See attached for additional information and brief answers to frequently asked questions.
The info session on Tuesday, May 4th at 6 PM ET is an opportunity to meet the Nucleate Bio team, learn more about the program, and prepare for the application process.

NSIN Propel Information Session
2021-04-28 12:00 - 12:30
Information Session
Applications

Technology companies new to the defense sector are now invited to apply to participate in NSIN Propel, a program delivered by Newlab, Decisive Point, and the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN). NSIN Propel program enables the development of next-generation applications of emerging dual-use technology for government and defense. Apply today. NSIN Propel is collaborating with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Information Directorate (AFRL)—the premier research organization for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) and Cyber technologies—to recruit companies new to the defense sector with technology solutions that can be adapted to address the needs of both the AFRL and the broader DoD community. We are seeking applications from technology companies working in areas including: smart cities, urban tech, mobility, agriculture, industrial automation, manufacturing, next-gen connectivity, logistics, and supply chain management.

Kickoff: Start Me Up Bootcamp Spring 2021
2021-04-26
Apply here, rolling admission
Open to Columbia (and Barnard and Teachers College)) faculty, staff, postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate student researchers.

Join Columbia Engineering’s Lean Launchpad virtual course to test your idea in the market! Participants in this free, two-week course will receive entrepreneurship training and mentor support as they virtually talk with customers to identify the best product-market fit using the lean launchpad methodology. Faculty, staff, postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate student researchers may apply with a team of one to three people. Applicants are expected to be available for all short-course sessions. Teams that successfully complete this bootcamp may become eligible to apply for the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps Teams program, which includes a $50,000 grant. Application Deadline: rolling; first come, first serve. Bootcamp Dates: April 26, 27 and May 5, 12.

2021 Columbia | IBM Launch Accelerator Virtual Demo Day
2021-04-23 10:00 - 13:00
RSVP here

You’re invited to the 2021 Columbia | IBM LAUNCH Accelerator Virtual Demo Day on Friday, April 23rd from 10AM – 1PM EST! The cohort of 9 early-stage teams are focused on a wide range of deep tech applications and have made incredible progress over the 12-week educational bootcamp leading up to this culminating event. The virtual session will feature pitches from each cohort team and a keynote address from the Chief Technology Officer of Global Industries, IBM Global Markets, Dr. Mahmoud Naghshineh.

Data Science Day 2021
2021-04-21 10:00 - 13:00
Open to the public
Register here

Data Science Day provides a forum for innovators in academia, industry, and government to connect. We hope you will join us in April for the keynote address, an interactive virtual poster session, and lightning talks by Columbia University researchers on their latest work in data science. Learn more at datascienceday.net.
The Keynote will be delivered by Pat Bajari, a Chief Economist at Amazon and Vice President of Amazon’s Core AI team. His team of software engineers and scientists in machine learning, statistics, operations research, and econometrics has helped to build scalable systems for supply chain, transportation, pricing, automated marketing, robotics, forecasting, human resources, and more.

CAVA: Spring 2021 Demo Day
2021-04-15 10:00 - 12:00
RSVP here

Launched in the fall of 2019, CAVA is a 12-week program providing promising Columbia Business School alumni-founded companies with mentorship and resources from CBS. The Spring 2021 cohort has 10 companies across the globe from Singapore to London and contains 2 recent winners of our Lang Fund Competition for alumni. The startups are typically looking to raise between $1M and $5M.
Demo Day is a great opportunity to view deal-flow from the CBS alumni network and to build relationships with talented entrepreneurs.

APPLY: Columbia Startup Lab (Deadline April 14)
2021-04-14
Grow your venture with tailored programming, subsidized space, and a vibrant community of Columbia entrepreneurs – applications are now live for the Columbia Startup Lab! We’re looking for alums who have graduated by June 1, 2021 and are ready to work on their venture full time.

Columbia Venture Competition Tournament of Champions
2021-04-13 15:00 - 17:00
RSVP Here
Open to the Public

More than 100 alumni judges from around the world ranked Columbia founders and their startups during six tracks of the 2021 Columbia Venture Competition. Now comes the moment of truth. Who is the outstanding Columbia early-stage venture for 2021? RSVP to watch it happen!

Almaworks Demo Day
2021-04-09 16:00 - 18:00
Open to the Columbia community including Barnard and Teachers College.
RSVP HERE

Columbia’s startup accelerator Almaworks is hosting its Cohort XI Demo Day on Friday, April 9 from 4-6pm. Come hear Almaworks’ incredible startups pitch to and interface with some of the top VCs across NYC. Register via Eventbrite and tell your friends! Please contact almaworks@columbia.edu with any questions.

Deadline: SUNY's 5th Annual Medical Device Innovation Challenge
2021-04-01
Learn more about eligibility and applications here.

The 5th Annual Medical Device Innovation Challenge (MDIC) hosted by SUNY Upstate Medical University’s CNY Biotech Accelerator (CNYBAC) is accepting applications through April, 2021.
The CNYBAC MDIC is an Empire State Development grant-supported 6-month program which has graduated companies such as EndoGlow, CathBuddy, Halomine, ZEPHYRx and many others. These teams have won competitions, received FuzeHub Commercialization Competition and Manufacturing grant funding, completed I-Corps courses, applied to student capstone programs, and received commercialization services through the Innovation Law Center, College of Law at Syracuse University, a key MDIC collaborative partner.

Spring 2021 Design Challenge: Upcycling out of Microplastics
2021-02-19 13:00 - 15:00
Join the Spring Design Challenge, focused on Upcycling out of Microplastics. Columbia students (including Barnard and Teachers College) are invited to join the challenge, learn about the issues in polymer use, pollution, and recycling, and to propose creative solutions. Prizes will be awarded to the best student team projects.
Sign up here
Timeline:

February 19th: Kick off, 1-3pm EST on zoom
February 20th: Team building session with course assistant
Fridays in between: Meeting with faculty leads on topics such as plastic imaging, sorting, and chemical processing. You will also hear from experts in industry and policy.
Weekly: Check in sessions with course assistant
April 2: Final meeting with student team presentations

Third Thursday - Pitch Practice
2021-02-18 12:00 - 13:00
Hosted by Columbia Engineering, this Third Thursday will feature pitch coaches, mentors, students and faculty to help you deliver the best pitch. This is a great opportunity to practice your pitch for CVC 2021!
RSVP Here

Deadline: Tamer Fund for Social Ventures
2021-02-15
Open to Columbia University students, alumni, faculty or researchers, or be advised and have significant involvement by Columbia University faculty or researchers (including Barnard and Teachers College affiliates).
APPLY HERE

The Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School is now accepting applications for the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures.
This fund provides seed grants of up to $25,000 to nonprofit, for-profit, and hybrid early-stage social and environmental ventures. Ventures must be led by Columbia University students, alumni, faculty or researchers, or be advised and have significant involvement by Columbia University faculty or researchers. Tamer Fund seed grants will be made to approximately seven ventures each year.
Normally, application deadlines are the same dates every year, August 15 and March 1. Due to the pandemic, we have shifted the spring application deadline to February 15.

Deadline: Columbia-Corning Advanced Materials Prize
2021-02-15
APPLY HERE
Open to all researchers at Columbia University (faculty, PhD students, postdocs, undergraduates) developing translational research projects in the advanced materials space. Learn more about eligible projects in the areas of life sciences, ceramics, quantum, battery technologies, photonics and display technologies, advanced coatings and paints, and more here.

Are you working on translational research/a startup in the advanced materials space? Apply by February 15 for the inaugural Columbia-Corning Advanced Materials Prize. Winners will receive up to $50,000 and mentorship from Corning and CTV’s entrepreneurial teams.

Deadline (Extended!): 2021 Columbia Venture Competition, First Round
2021-02-12
Registration for the $300,000 Columbia Venture Competition is now open! Visit StartupColumbia.org for rules, descriptions, and eligibility. New this year: Total prize pool of $300,000 * Announcing the addition of the Alliance Social Enterprise Challenge * We’ll select a “2021 Columbia Data Science Institute Startup of the Year * We’ll hold a final “Tournament of Champions” round to determine the “2021 Columbia Venture Competition Grant Champion”
DEADLINE is Feb 12th.

Deadline: Design Your Future
2021-02-10 22:00
The future can feel uncertain, so we’ve created Design Your Future as a two-session program where students learn to apply design to their careers and life after graduation. The goal of this program is to help you to better navigate your career and life choices in the face of uncertainty. The tools we cover are ones you can continue to apply whenever you find yourself personally “stuck.”
Dates and times (online via Zoom):
Wednesday, February 17th — 6:30pm to 9:00pm ET
Wednesday, February 24th — 6:30pm to 8:30pm ET
If you are interested, fill out the application below!
Please respond by 10pm on Wednesday, February 10th.
We will contact all applicants by 12pm by Friday, February 12th.
If you have any questions, email adam.royalty@columbia.edu
https://forms.gle/bxdND7aohTHBrnfg6

Kickoff: Columbia Business Design Challenge
2021-02-07
The Columbia Innovation & Design Club, a student-led organization at Columbia Business School, is organizing the inaugural Columbia Business Design Challenge. This competition will :
– introduce students and other participants to some of the most innovative companies in the country
– facilitate a robust learning experience by emphasizing the principles of human-centered design and design thinking
– foment fresh ideas in areas important to the future of work and business
– gain real-world, hands-on experience tackling some of the most salient issues facing society today
The Columbia Business Design Challenge is open to cross-disciplinary teams to facilitate diversity of thought, experience, and solutions. We hope you will consider being involved in judging the participating teams and/or facilitating a workshop for competition participants.
Participating Companies:
Fahrenheit 212
Bionic
Designit
Dates:
February 7, 2021 Challenge Kickoff Event
Competition overview, application assignment & prompt reveal
February 8, 2021 Team Registration Deadline
Registration and application assignment submission by 11:59 pm
March 19, 2021 Challenge Pitch Day
Team presentations, judging & award ceremony, & networking event
Prize:
1st prize is $2,000!

Social Enterprise Conference, Capital for Good Series: ESG Investing & Sustainable Farming
2021-02-05
Open to the Public
RSVP HERE

Deadline: Lang Center Funding for CBS Alumni Founders
2021-02-02
APPLY HERE

The first time in its 20+ year history, The Lang Fund is opening up a selection process for early-stage, alumni-founded startups from Columbia Business School. The Eugene M. Lang Entrepreneurial Initiative Fund (“The Lang Fund”) provides early-stage funding (typically $25-50K) to qualifying startups. The Lang Fund is looking for CBS alumni-founded ventures that fit the following criteria:
– Pre-seed or seed stage companies, ideally post-revenue with 6 months of customer data
– At least one member of the founding team must be a CBS alum
– The founding team must all be working full-time on their venture
– The venture must be raising, or looking to raise a round within the next 12 months
– The Lang Fund is geographically and sector agnostic

The deadline to apply is Feb 2.
Questions? Contact langcenter@gsb.columbia.edu.

Important Dates

1/11/21 – Alumni Submission Window Opens – Apply Here
2/2/21 – Alumni Submission Window Closes – Companies will be selected on a rolling basis
2/24/21 – Selected Alumni Ventures Pitch to Screening Committee
3/12 – Final Round Pitch, investment decisions are made by Lang Fund Investment Committee

CGI University 2021
2021-01-29
Open to students

The Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) program gives students access to a global community of young leaders, a social impact curriculum, personalized mentorship, seed funding opportunities through partners like Verizon and IBM, and an invitation to our student-only virtual summit in partnership with Howard University.

Almaworks
2021-01-27
Open to all Columbians, including Barnard and Teachers College.
APPLY HERE

Columbia’s student-run startup accelerator Almaworks is now accepting applications for its Spring 2021 cohort.
Please visit alma.works to learn more about our program and apply at alma.works/apply. Feel free to contact almaworks@columbia.edu with any questions. We hope you will join us!

CSL Talks: Your Life, Your Planet with Donna Sanders
2021-01-22 12:00 - 13:00
Open to the public.
RSVP HERE
Donna Sanders is founder and CEO of Virimodo, a Columbia Startup Lab and Techstars alum, on a mission to create a liveable future and helping city residents lead a low-carbon lifestyle. In this CSL Talk, Donna will walk us through carbon footprint ramifications and help us turn inward to take a look at daily life and how each personal decision matters, from the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep. Attendees will walk away knowing what simple behaviors we can change to reduce our carbon footprint in a meaningful way.

19th Annual Social Enterprise Conference Digital Series: Impact Investing and Scaling
2021-01-22 09:30 - 11:30
Open to the Public
RSVP

The 19th Annual Social Enterprise Conference, Capital for Good this year is a Digital Event Series, hosted throughout the academic year. It brings together industry leaders, investors, philanthropists, professionals, faculty, students, and alumni to share best practices and engender new ideas surrounding the intersection of capital and society.

9:30 AM-1:30 PM ET
Register now →

Institutional Investors Embracing Impact Investing
SOURCES OF CAPITAL | 10:00-11:00 AM
with John Goldstein, head of the sustainable finance group at Goldman Sachs; and Vikram Raju, head of impact investing at Morgan Stanley
This panel will explore the experience and performance of seasoned institutional investors in the growing field of impact investing. With impact investing going mainstream and many seasoned institutional investors deepening their presence in this space, this panel will offer a platform to discuss what their initial lessons have been both in terms of universe of investible opportunities and internal advocacy required to have a strong impact investing focus. We will also discuss trends that will further deepen the sustainability lens in investing, enablers required to further the presence of institutional capital in this growing field, and what are the pitfalls to avoid as one embarks on this journey of impact.
Read more →
Scaling Social Ventures
USES OF CAPITAL | 11:30 AM-12:30 PM
with Jeffrey Hollender, co-founder, CEO, and Board Chair of American Sustainable Business Council; and moderated by Vikas Raj ’10, managing director at Accion Venture Lab
So, your company has been innovating and finally has significant traction with its customer base. Now you’re faced with a whole new set of challenges as you seek to scale and grow your venture and shift from innovating to scaling. From securing funding to balancing growing revenue with growing burn rate to hiring the right team, there are hundreds of problems for startups to balance in this exciting time. This is even more challenging for social ventures that face stigma around profitability and pressures around mission drift. This panel will discuss these challenges and more, as well as possible solutions to bring social ventures to scale.
Read more →

Third Thursday: Immigration and Entrepreneurship
2021-01-21 12:00 - 13:00
Open to Columbians, including Teachers College and Barnard.

Third Thursday is a recurring open forum and networking and info session for the Columbia University entrepreneurship community. It provides students, faculty, staff, and alumni the opportunity to hear ideas from across campus, form teams, and explore career options. You’ll hear from Columbia alumni and other experts on their experiences working in the field, how they’ve applied their Columbia experience in their careers, and more.
Thursday, January 21 will feature Megan Kludt, Partner at Curran, Berger & Kludt LLP, a boutique law firm specializing in all areas of immigration, including business, achievement, investment, family, and humanitarian bases for immigration status.

Health Tech Assembly's Diabetes Technology & Innovation Series Part 1: Trang Ly, MBBS, FRACP, PhD
2021-01-19 18:00 - 19:00
Open to all Columbians, including Barnard and Teachers College
Join here.
Dr. Ly is the Senior Vice President and Medical Director at Insulet Corporation, the maker of the groundbreaking insulin patch pump called the Omnipod. Dr. Ly, a pediatric endocrinologist by training and formerly of Stanford School of Medicine, now leads Insulet’s artificial pancreas endeavors as it aims to transform what it means to live with diabetes.

Deadline: Almaworks Fellowship
2021-01-15
Apply Here
Open to students from all 4 undergraduate schools: Columbia College, Columbia Engineering, General Studies, and Barnard
The Almaworks Fellowship is a program that connects ambitious Columbia University students with select Columbia and Almaworks cohort and alumni startups. Fellows work closely with the company’s founding team to impact organizational strategy, product development, or go-to-market strategy. Furthermore, Fellows are matched with current Columbia MBA student-mentors with experience in management consulting, investment banking, and/or venture capital.

Health Tech Assembly (HTA) Scientific Founder Series Part 2: Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, PhD
2021-01-11 18:00 - 19:00
Open to all Columbians, including Barnard and Teachers College
Join here

Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic is the University Professor and Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Sciences at Columbia University and the Co-Founder of epiBone, Tara Biosystems, Xylyx Biosolutions, and Immplacate.

Info Session: Columbia’s Program for Diversity & Inclusion in Commercialization & Entrepreneurship (DICE)
2021-01-06 11:00 - 12:00
RSVP here
Open to graduate students and postdocs who identify as being from traditionally underrepresented groups in life science entrepreneurship and commercialization as defined by the NIH, DICE will provide educational programming, mentorship, networking, and funding opportunities to prepare participants for careers bringing life science innovation to market.
Applications are due January 18, by 5pm.

Applications Open for Lang Center Funding for CBS Alumni Founders
2021-01-05
The first time in its 20+ year history, The Lang Fund is opening up a selection process for early-stage, alumni-founded startups. The Eugene M. Lang Entrepreneurial Initiative Fund (“The Lang Fund”) provides early-stage funding (typically $25-50K) to qualifying startups. The Lang Fund is looking for CBS alumni-founded ventures that fit the following criteria:
– Pre-seed or seed stage companies, ideally post-revenue with 6 months of customer data
– At least one member of the founding team must be a CBS alum
– The founding team must all be working full-time on their venture
– The venture must be raising, or looking to raise a round within the next 12 months
– The Lang Fund is geographically and sector agnostic
Learn more and apply here.
Important Dates

1/05/21 – Alumni Submission Window Opens – Apply Here
2/2/21 – Alumni Submission Window Closes – Companies will be selected on a rolling basis
2/24/21 – Selected Alumni Ventures Pitch to Screening Committee
3/12 – Final Round Pitch, investment decisions are made by Lang Fund Investment Committee

Deadline: X-Force Fellows
2020-12-31
APPLY HERE
X-Force participants will engage with Department of Defense (DoD) partners for three months of applied problem solving. Participants will work on problems sponsored by their DoD hosts potentially including:
-Technical (e.g. software development, data analytics, mechanical design/prototyping)
-Strategy (e.g. communications and social media strategy)
-Research (e.g. emerging technology scouting) projects.
Participants will be expected to deliver a prototype capability to their military sponsors by the end of the program.
The full-time X-Force Fellows will be paid a stipend of around $2,500 per month and have a small budget for travel, materials, and other expenses related to the delivery of a product to their sponsor.
