
The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship is proud to announce its fourth cohort of the Terp Startup Fellows program, made possible by a generous donation from Dingman Center board member Bill Boyle ’81. This program was created due to the success of Terp Startup Accelerator, the center’s eight-week summer program which has been running for eight years. Terp Startup Fellows aims to further advance the most promising student startups and selects student founders from the accelerator program who have demonstrated a strong commitment to their ventures and the ability to innovate as they push toward commercialization. The Dingman Center has named three Terp Startup Fellows ventures for the 2023-24 academic year: Wise Cities, Mindgrasp, Korion Health, and Platybase.
The founders of these three ventures will receive up to $20,000 in non-dilutive funding, coaching, and co-working space to work on their businesses for 10 hours a week with the Dingman Center. These founders have all been heavily involved with the Dingman Center’s programs and have all participated in the Terp Startup Accelerator. The founders have also w966.on several awards and accolades outside of the university through the entrepreneurial community.
Throughout the next year, the Dingman Center team including Tsega Tadesse Belachew, Lottie Byram, MPH, Michael Hoffmyer, MPA, and Alex Onufrak ’21, will work directly with the selected fellows and their ventures.
“During the last few years, the Terp Startup Fellows program has provided individualized support and funding for our most advanced founders,” said Belachew, director of venture development at the Dingman Center. “The fellowship has enabled founders to grow their ventures by capitalizing on initial business traction and securing additional funding. We are excited about a strong and diverse cohort of founders this year leading technology ventures that are working to solve problems across industries: mental health, food delivery, and architecture.”
Student ventures selected to participate in the 2023-24 Terp Startup Fellows
Korion Health, founded by Akshaya Anand 23′ and Anna Li, is developing an electronic stethoscope and guided user interface to allow anyone to record their heart and lung sounds independently from the comfort and convenience of their own home. Korion Health has accomplished several milestones, most notably the submission of its non-provisional patent. This past summer, Korion Health grew a large community of over 900 supporters and surpassed its crowdfunding goal, raising over $150k from 176 investors. Additionally, Anna and Akshaya received top awards in several pitch competitions such as the Johns Hopkins Healthcare Design Competition and Terp Startup Demo Day. They are also finalists in the American Heart Association and BNY Mellon UpPrize Social Innovation Challenge pitch competitions. Live Streaming of the American Heart Association pitch competition will be available on Oct 19!
Mindgrasp, founded by Thai Cao ’24 and Shayan Khanlarbeik year 22’, is a platform that aims to make learning easy, fun, and accessible for students. Mindgrasp provides a suite of tools that will personalize your learning experience – granting you the ability to create AI-powered flashcards, notes, and quizzes, and get answers based on any content you upload. Mindgrasp had its official launch in November 2022 with 0 subscribers to their platform. Since then they have reached 15k+ active subscribers. Mindgrasp has amassed over 50 million views on social media and plans to refresh its entire product to service even more of its total addressable market.
WISE Cities, founded by Marie Brodsky ’24 and Katherine-Aria Close ’23, is a women-run startup creating accessible technology for seniors experiencing social isolation to connect with their communities. The team completed the design and development of their Version 1 web platform and is now onboarding their first cohort of older adult users, community centers, and local businesses. WISE Cities participated in the Terp Startup Accelerator, working full-time on the venture. WISE Cities won 3rd place in both Pitch Dingman and the Do Good Challenge, Top 10 in the US in the Smith Draper Competition for Collegiate Women, and 2nd place in the TiE DC University Pitch Competition. The venture earned the award for “Most Potential” in the international U21 RISE Sustainability & Social Innovation Showcase.
Platybase, founded by Colleen Baldwin and Olivia Bruno, is a HIPAA-compliant visual diary that celebrates milestones between families and providers of autism care centers while increasing behavioral outcomes, creating community, and allowing center operations to emerge competitively from a historically analog industry. Platybase is a company founded exclusively by disabled women, for the disability community. With approximately 500 users actively engaged on their platform and three organizations utilizing their services, Platybase has established a substantial user base, demonstrating its value and relevance in the industry. The successful development of both iOS and Android mobile applications, as well as a web portal, showcases their commitment to accessibility and convenience for users across various devices. Notably, each new product release has proven to be a catalyst for increased engagement rates, underscoring Platybase’s dedication to continuous improvement. Furthermore, the heartwarming testimonials from caregivers and parents, highlighting specific stories of how Platybase has enhanced the individual care of children, serve as a testament to its real-world impact and the trust it has garnered from its user community.