Duke I&E Network in the News

Durham clean energy startup NET Power (CFO Akash Patel MBA ’10) had its IPO.

Triangle investor Front Porch Venture Partners (managing partners Greggory Bordes MBA ’12, Nikin Shah MBA ’12, and Joe Mancini MBA ’12) has raised nearly $12.6 million.

Durham-based tech company Clinetic—led by CEO Tom Kaminski MBA ’07—raised a $5M Series A round of funding. The startup’s software platform helps health systems and life sciences companies conduct clinical research more efficiently.

Melissa & Doug Entrepreneurs alumnus Josh Miller ’16 is co-founder and CEO of Gradient Health, which provides pathology imaging to accelerate AI development; the company recently closed a $2.75M round of funding. Gradient Health was also featured in GrepBeat, with Miller calling the Triangle “one of the best places on Earth to start a company.”

Moonware, co-founded by CEO Javier Vidal BSE ’20, is revolutionizing air travel with automated and sustainable airfields; the company recently raised a $2.5M pre-seed funding round.

Arbol, a financial wellness platform for college students led by co-founder and President Favio Osorio MBA ’18, raised $350K in a pre-seed round.

Bonfire Analytics, led by co-founder and CEO Vinay Nagaraj E’16 and co-founder and CTO Jaya Pokuri E’17, recently launched; the AI-driven sales platform enables healthtech companies to sell more effectively to providers and health plans.

The Times of India covered a visit to The Fuqua School of Business by Namita Thapar MBA ’01 to share lessons from her entrepreneurial journey.

BBC’s StoryWorks profiled Breanna Atkinson ’16, co-founder—with fellow Duke alum Jared Golestani ’17—of Kokada coconut spread, which has expanded into Wegmans and other grocery stores nationwide.

SunFi—a fintech platform helping solar providers offer payment plans and improved services, led by CEO and co-founder Rotimi Thomas MBA ’13—was recognized on Norrsken’s list of the most 100 promising impact startups in the world.

Just Date, an organic real fruit sweetener company led by CEO Samantha Abramson ’09, expanded retail for its Organic Date Sugar and launched at Sprouts nationwide.

Mackenzie Drazan ’18, CEO and co-founder of MiResource—which curates a network of mental health providers for college students—was featured in Forbes.

Kareem Cook ’94, MBA ’00—owner and CMO of nutritional company Naturade—shared the story with REVOLT of building the company with Claude Tellis ’95.

Triangle Inno visited the headquarters of Tiny Earth Toys, a Durham-based educational toy rental company founded by CEO Rachael Classi MBA ’14 and current Duke I&E mentor in residence.

Cadence Cash, led by co-founder and COO Andrea M. Inoken ’00, was featured in WRAL TechWire for its work providing '“friendly” funding solutions for minority-owned small businesses.

Triangle Inno profiled Melissa & Doug Entrepreneurs alumna Zakiya Alta Lee MBA ’22 for her new role at venture capital firm Idea Fund Partners.

Melissa & Doug Entrepreneurs alumna Janvi Shah ’15—co-founder and CEO of Hue, which supplies brands with user-generated content—was featured in an Inc article spotlighting female founders.

GrepBeat featured Agilix Health—co-founded by Peter Meath MBA ’05—which uses digital tools to track the nutrition of cancer patients.

Stephen Colvill MBA ’23—co-founder and executive director of RISCS, a nonprofit rating and certification organization with a mission to prevent drug shortages—was invited to the White House to attend the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Cancer Drug Shortage Roundtable.

Melissa & Doug Entrepreneurs alumna Snehal Verma MEM ’23—founder of NatureDots, which provides real-time water quality updates to fish farmers—presented at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China.

GreenGear Supply Company, a sustainable sporting goods company founded by I&E Certificate alumna Monika Dharia ’19, was accepted to the 2023 MassChallenge U.S. Early Stage Program.

Durham Success Summit—a nonprofit providing professional development experiences to young Black men 16-24 in Durham, founded by Derek Rhodes PPS’15—celebrated the grand opening of its physical space in downtown Durham.

Sloane Tilley MBA ’23 (co-founder and CEO of Dia, a platform that non-invasively analyzes sweat and saliva in real time to measure biomarkers) was featured on the This Is Small Business Next Generation podcast series, which followed competitors in the Rice Business Plan Competition.

Duke I&E lecturing fellow Aaron Dinin ’05 was featured in Duke Mag for his work supporting students in building their social media brands and platforms.

Dia (a platform founded by Sloane Tilley MBA ’23 that non-invasively analyzes sweat and saliva in real time to measure biomarkers) and Thumbnail Game (a web game co-founded by Tim Jang ’23) won funding in the TriVent showcase.

GrepBeat profiled Belden Long OTD ’24, co-founder of justb, an evidence-based movement and mindfulness platform designed for teachers to help students with developmental disorders like autism. 

Melissa & Doug Entrepreneurs alumna Mila de Souza ’21, CEO and founder of secondhand clothing rental subscription service The Clothing Library, spoke to Alabama Life & Culture about her business.

Duke has selected two teams to send to the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge finals in June: GreyGreen, led by Mason Sufnarski E ’26, provides water resource management for low-income individuals; and Nuru, led by research assistant Judith Mwobobia, is a knowledge and motivational resource for people fighting cancer.

Duke I&E teaching faculty Aria Chernik and Kevin Hoch, Duke I&E’s Director of Educational Programs, will begin work on one of seven projects selected by the Office of the Provost for funding by The Duke Endowment to engage with “Racial and Social Equity in Local Context.”

Amy Linnane, Duke I&E’s Managing Director for Experiential Programs, was spotlighted in Triangle Inno for her role in shaping Duke’s entrepreneurial programs.

Jaylen Coleman E ’25, founder of the Infinity Portal, shared insights from an independent study with Professor Jason Luck that combines his knowledge of mechanobiology and biophysiology with his football experience.

Arya Diwase MPP/MBA ’23—founder of Himayat, a benefits platform supporting female domestic workers in developing countries—wrote about how she has benefited from Duke’s rich entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Emma Leventer ’19, founder and CEO of Cuiscene Studio—which provides food photography and video, brand development and strategy, and web development—talked to Duke I&E about her recipe for business and creative magic.

Melissa & Doug Entrepreneur Snehal Verma MEM ’23, founder of NatureDots, which provides real-time water quality updates to fish farmers, wrote about the potential for tech-based innovations to improve water security in The Times of India.

Sloane Tilley MBA ’23, co-founder and CEO of Dia, was featured in Bizwomen; Dia (formerly E-Sentience) is a platform that non-invasively analyzes sweat and saliva in real time to measure biomarkers, especially the stress hormone cortisol.

Student founders from across Duke presented their ventures in the Duke Startup Showcase. The three winners of the audience choice vote were Allergood (founded by Michelle Addison MBA ’23 to help those with allergies shop and dine out safely), CONTACT Line (a platform co-founded by Aishani Saha ’23 and Ying Yu ’23 to provide crisis de-escalation via human connection), and Truffa (“dog snout” in Spanish, a vet-tech founded by Diego Silva MBA ’23 that’s working to improve veterinarians’ mental health and optimize veterinary administrative practices).

Michelle and Allergood were also featured in Triangle Business Journal.

The students in I&E course New Ventures: Climate shared their experiences working to create strategies for promising climate-related startups.

Teamworks, (co-founders Zach Maurides ’07 and Mitch Heath ’11 MBA ’16), closed a $65 million Series E funding round. Teamworks is an enterprise SaaS company serving elite sports and tactical organizations globally.

The Social Institute (co-founded by Laura Tierney ’09 and Shayna Heinrich ’08) was named as a finalist for the 2023 EdTech Awards for their #WinAtSocial Insights program.

Katie Gailes MBA ’91, a director of the North Carolina Business Council and an entrepreneurship mentor, was the featured guest on GrepBeat podcast Friday Nooner, where she spoke about funding ideas for new entrepreneurs.

During the recent Duke Private Equity & Venture Capital Conference, keynote speaker David Rubenstein ’70, co-founder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group, shared insights from his decades in business and philanthropy.

The Duke Entrepreneurial Leaders Network (ELN), a select group of Duke alumni who are committed to founding or leading an innovation-drive startup, has announced its 2023 cohort, which includes eight Duke students in their final year of study in law, business, chemistry, pharmacology, and electrical and computer engineering, along with eight alumni founders and executive leaders working in software, AI, healthcare, biotech, med tech, and legal counsel. ELN is a partnership between Duke I&E and the Office for Translation and Commercialization, with support from Duke Capital Partners.

Duke I&E instructor Aaron Dinin’s Building Global Audiences course was featured on the Today Show, with many student creators sharing their class experiences; Dr. Dinin also spoke with the Wall Street Journal about the evolving creator economy and how Duke students are building social media business skills.

Real, a fan engagement platform for the next generation of sports fans, co-founded by John Antonelli ’23, closed an undisclosed seed round of funding to support their growth.

Sloane Tilley MBA ’23, co-founder and CEO of E-Sentience, was named a finalist in the Rice Business Plan Competition and was recently featured in Grepbeat; E-Sentience is a platform that non-invasively analyzes sweat and saliva in real time to measure biomarkers, especially the stress hormone cortisol.

Molly Montgomery MBA ’23 has been named a finalist in the Microsoft World 2023 Imagine Cup for her venture, Outset, a digital wardrobe management platform that allows users to monetize their closets with the click of a button.

Abby Huang ’23 was featured in Grepbeat for Dime, the marketplace she founded to help brands reach Gen Z consumers.

Arya Diwase MPP/MBA ’23 swept Wednesday’s Fuqua Fast Pitch competition, winning all three prizes with her venture Himayat, a benefits platform supporting female domestic workers in developing countries.

Duke entrepreneurs are building their startups locally and making a meaningful impact on the regional economy, as evidenced by our strong presence at the CED Venture Connect Summit, which brings together high-growth tech and biotech companies in the Southeast. More than 40 Duke students and alumni presented at Venture Connect; Duke I&E highlighted many of the founder and CEO presenters on our LinkedIn page.

Isolere Bio, founded by Entrepreneurial Leaders Network member Kelli Luginbuhl PhD ’17, was acquired by Donaldson Company, a leading worldwide provider of innovative filtration products and solutions; Isolere’s novel and proprietary reagents and filtration processes are used for the purification and streamlined manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals.

Gavin Jocius MBA ’20, co-founder and COO of Mosi Tea, pitched Mosi to Alex Lieberman while wakeboarding.

Ben Abram BSE ’07, CEO of Modern Energy, spoke about the Durham-headquartered company’s work with entrepreneurs in the clean energy space to launch, scale, and operate emerging platforms.

Olivia Coletta ’21 discussed her role as Head of Engagement at Caraway, which provides mental, physical, and reproductive health services and support for people ages 18+, with a focus on women and individuals assigned female at birth.

Alumni working at Triangle-area startups returned to Duke for StartupConnect Networking Fair to recruit students and share insights about startup life.

Duke Magazine featured my New Ventures: Develop class and spotlighted some alumni of the course: Michelle Addison MBA ’23, founder and CEO of Allergood (which helps those with food allergies shop and dine out safely); Agbai Eke Agbai, Jr MBA ’22 (who used entrepreneurial skills to organize an African tribal art exhibit); Joe Robertson ’21, co-founder of Revenite.ai (an iOS application that harnesses AI to analyze body movements and provide personalized health insights); and Gordon Silverman MBA ’21 and Mahek Chhatrapati MBA ’21, co-founders of DocNexus (whose NeuroGraph Search platform aggregates and organizes healthcare industry data essential to pharmaceutical and medical device businesses).

A team of Duke MBA students won the regional Venture Capital Investment Competition (beating previous Global Champions from University of Chicago and Georgetown University) and will head to the Global Final at UNC next month.

Arya Diwase MPP MBA ’24 was accepted to be a delegate for the 2023 Global Engagement Summit for her venture Himayat, a benefits platform supporting female domestic workers in developing countries.

Michelle Addison MBA ’23 expanded the pilot for her venture Allergood—which helps those with allergies dine out and shop safely—into local eatery Nanasteak.

Sloane Tilley MBA ’23, co-founder and CEO of E-Sentience—which diagnoses, monitors, and treats whose suffering from physical and mental stress using wearable technology—was selected to present at TEDxDuke.

Flavio Caffarello MBA ’23 shared how he built his knowledge of private equity in Fuqua’s Leveraged Buyouts Lab, a collaboration between Duke I&E and Fuqua’s PE Club.

Monica Vendituoli MBA ’23 described how Duke’s entrepreneurial ecosystem supported her in launching Mav Media & Messaging, a marketing and media relations business.

ShiftMed, a health care workforce marketplace helmed by founder and CEO Todd Walrath MBA ’93, raised $200 million in fresh funding to tackle the nurse shortage in the U.S. health care system.

SunFi, led by co-founder and CEO Rotimi Thomas MEM MBA ’13, has raised $2.3 million in seed funding. The Nigerian clean tech startup connects people and businesses who want solar energy access to payment plans matching their needs.

Hannah Wilen BSE ’20, MSQM:BA ’22, founder and CEO of Capd Period, was named a $40K winner at the 2023 Westly Prize event for the CapdCup, the first menstrual cup that can be emptied without being removed; the prize will enable Capd Period to distribute 10,000 CapdCups to women in Uganda. Hannah also shared some insights with Duke I&E regarding her founder’s journey and lessons learned so far.

Elizabeth Clayborne ’05—emergency room physician and founder and CEO of NasaClip, which helps stop nosebleeds—was featured in a CNBC piece about the funding challenges faced by Black entrepreneurs and founders.

Monika Dharia E’19, founder of GreenGear Supply Company—which makes reusable, recyclable rain ponchos—has been awarded the 2023 Rising Leader Award by She Raises Capital.

Bobby Sharma ’95, Law ’98 launched Bluestone Equity Partners, a sports, media, and entertainment-themed private equity firm with a first $300 million fund. 

Melissa & Doug Entrepreneur Snehal Verma MEM ’23, founder of NatureDots—which provides real-time water quality updates to fish farmers—was selected as a winner of the @UpLink World Economic Forum and @HCL Enterprise Global Freshwater Challenge.

Duke I&E Certificate student Brian Young ’24 is part of [ stage ], an innovative pop-up restaurant that brings fine dining to a small group of Duke students each week.

Duke I&E Certificate student Sarah Houston ’24, who was awarded the 2022 Rasheed A. Wiggins Entrepreneurial Prize, is the founder of Aurganics Skincare, which makes plant-based, gentle skincare products for Black and brown women; she will be working on Aurganics Skincare in this semester’s New Ventures: Develop class.

Teamworks, led by founder and CEO Zach Maurides ’07, is an enterprise SaaS company serving collegiate and professional sports organizations; Teamworks recently acquired four best-in-class technologies including NextPlay, founded by Kyle Mumma BA ’13, MBA ’18.

Tiny Earth Toys, a Durham-based educational toy rental company founded by CEO Rachael Classi MBA ’14, raised $1.6 million and plans to hire additional workers in the Triangle.

Releaf, a Nigerian agritech startup that supplies ingredients to consumer goods manufacturers and their food factories, raised $3.3 million in an oversubscribed pre-Series A round. Uzoma Ayogu ’17, Releaf’s co-founder and CTO, worked on the company at Duke in the Melissa & Doug Entrepreneurs program.

Baton, led by co-founder and CEO Chat Joglekar MBA ’04, provides free valuations to small businesses, allowing them to know their worth before passing the baton to a new owner; the startup recently announced $2.8 million in pre-seed funding.

Katherine Manuel MBA '04 is COO for House of Blueberry, which makes digital fashion assets for the multiverse; the company recently raised $6 million and spoke with Triangle tech publication Grepbeat about the popularity of digital fashion.

Butter Payments, led by founder and CEO Vijay Menon ’11, raised $22M in its Series A funding round; Butter Payments drives revenue growth for subscription-based services by optimizing payment processing.

Truss Vet, co-founded by CJ Casseli MBA ’19, opened its first location in Cary; the urgent care center for cats and dogs aims to fill the gap between pets’ veterinarians and 24-hour emergency animal hospitals.

In a New York Times piece about the strength of climate startups, Josh Felser BA ’86, MBA ’90—co-founder of Climactic, a VC firm—said that the eleven climate tech companies the firm has invested in over the past two years are now worth 2.5 times more than at the time of investment.