After meeting at MIT, alumni Honghao Deng and Jiani Zeng founded Butr, which makes anonymous people-detecting sensors to measure movement inside buildings, reports Zoya Hasan for Forbes. The sensors could help address staffing challenges in senior living communities, and alert staff of falls or other medical issues.
Edwin Olson '00, MEng '01, PhD '08 founded May Mobility, an autonomous vehicle company that uses human autonomous vehicle operators on its rides, reports Gus Alexiou for Forbes. “May Mobility is focused above all else on gradually building up the confidence of its riders and community stakeholders in the technology over the long-term,” explains Alexiou. “This may be especially true for certain more vulnerable sections of society such as the disability community where the need for more personalized and affordable forms of transportation is arguably greatest but so too is the requirement for robust safety and accessibility protocols.”
Found Energy, co-founded by Peter Godart '15, SM '19, PHD '21, has developed a method for transforming aluminum scrap metal into energy, reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. “The Found Energy system could replace fossil fuel with aluminum-generated hydrogen, a gas that burns at up to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, but produces no waste carbon,” writes Bray.
Plonts, a plant-based cheese company co-founded by Nathaniel Chu PhD '19, uses microbes to develop “nutritious, inexpensive and sustainable” cheese alternatives, reports Christine Hall for TechCrunch. Chu says “microbes, whether mold, bacteria or yeast, are important to create that flavor. The microbes themselves are tiny sacs of hundreds of different enzymes with many different combinations,” writes Hall.
Let’s Get Set, a company founded by Clare Herceg MBA '20 aims to tackle “financial challenges low-and moderate-wage households face,” reports Geri Stengel for Forbes. “Based on extensive user research, the company's innovative savings account allows borrowers to access emergency funds without falling into a debt trap,” writes Stengel. “This approach addresses a critical need highlighted by national data on financial shocks and inadequate savings.”
Amrita Saigal '10 is the founder and CEO of Kudos, a company that has developed a “sustainable diaper that uses some plastic but is 100% lined with cotton and incorporates other degradable materials like sugarcane and trees,” reports Gabrielle Fonrouge for CNBC. “I care so much about being premium, but accessible,” says Saigal. “That is exactly what I want to do, so that we are accessible to as many people, and cleaner materials are not out of reach.”
Prof. Kripa Varanasi and Vishnu Jayaprakash SM '19, PhD '22 founded AgZen, a company aimed at reducing pesticide use by employing a feedback-optimized spraying system, reports Steven Savage for Forbes. Savage notes that for the researchers behind AgZen, “MIT turned out to be a good place to work on the specific imaging technology and on the AI needed to translate that into a practical solution for farmers.”
Intelmatix, an AI startup founded by by Almaha Almalki MS '18, Anas Alfaris MS '09, PhD '09 and Ahmad Alabdulkareem PhD '18, aims to provide businesses in the Middle East and North Africa with access to AI for decision-making, reports Annie Njanja for TechCrunch. . “The idea of democratizing access to AI has always been something that we’ve been very passionate about,” says Alfaris.
Dean Anantha Chandrakasan, MIT’s Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer, and Pavlos-Petros Sotiriadis PhD '02 sit down with Tassoula Eptakili of Kathimerini to discuss MIT’s unique approach to entrepreneurship, the future of AI and the importance of mentorship. MIT’s approach to education “focuses both on foundational knowledge and its practical application. This prepares [students] to tackle even the most challenging problems,” says Chandrakasan. “It is no coincidence that MIT’s impact on the world has been immense over time: In recent decades, behind almost every significant discovery or new lifesaving technology, you will find our graduates leading or contributing decisively to these efforts.”
Writing for Fortune, Prof. Fiona Murray emphasizes the importance of strengthening transatlantic venture capital investments to strengthen ties among NATO members. “By investing in and adopting emerging dual-use technologies, NATO can leverage the private sector’s innovation power and its transatlantic talent pool, while countering our strategic competitors’ influence and ambitions,” Murray writes.
Under the direction of CEO Noubar Afeyan PhD '87, a member of the MIT Corporation, Flagship Pioneering is using its resources to back life sciences companies, seeking to vertically integrate the processes of scientific discovery, reports Scott Kirsner for The Boston Globe. “Afeyan’s latest vision involves artificial intelligence and how it will change the way science and drug development are done,” he writes. “Afeyan says that AI could eventually become a tool that does much of the work of scientific discovery.”
MIT spinout, Cogito, uses “advanced voice analytics to scrutinize voice tons and speech patterns, not just during customer interactions but also within internal team communications,” reports Andre Shojaie for Forbes. “By providing real-time feedback to representatives, Cogito helps them adjust their emotional tone and empathy levels accordingly,” explains Shojaie. “This application significantly reduces stress and cultivates a supportive work environment by enhancing interpersonal interactions among team members.”
Ivan Casadevantre MS '15 and Hasier Larrea MS '15 co-founded ORI Living – a furniture company that uses electromechanics to develop furniture systems designed for space efficiency. “You have to make those small spaces feel and act as if they were much larger,” says Larrea. “And that’s when we started thinking about robotics, thinking about engineering, and how we bring all those technologies to make it possible to live large in a smaller footprint.”
Prakash Govindan PhD '12 and Anurag Bajpayee SM '08 PhD '12 co-founded AlkaLi, a startup working to extract lithium from brine and process it for use in batteries, reports Amy Feldman for Forbes. AlkaLi uses resins and membranes to more easily extract the lithium from brine, then relies on its own technology to concentrate the mineral, which ultimately is precipitated into a solid for use in batteries,” writes Feldman.
The Engine Ventures' CEO and Managing partner Katie Rae talks to Forbes’ Alex Knapp about its recent round of fundraising for investments in startups focused on sustainability, health and infrastructure. Rae also sees opportunities in quantum computing and other new hardware, saying “power and climate and compute all go together.”