The Harvard Innovation Labs is welcoming 18 ventures into Launch Lab X GEO, a virtual startup program designed to help early-stage, Harvard alumni-led ventures grow into sustainable and disruptive businesses.
“The Harvard Innovation Labs is committed to supporting Harvard alumni innovators from around the world as they build the next generation of for- and nonprofit organizations across industries,” said Matt Segneri, Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Executive Director of the Harvard Innovation Labs. “Launch Lab X GEO takes a comprehensive, tailored approach to supporting alumni-led ventures — connecting them with the advising, resources, and community that can lay the foundation for scaling their businesses.”
Ventures accepted into LLX GEO, which come from nine Harvard schools, will participate in a six-month program based on five central pillars:
- Knowledge sharing — From designing a product roadmap to defining culture, the Harvard Innovation Labs will connect LLX GEO venture teams with world-class experts and founders.
- Founder talks — Teams will learn from leaders with incredible entrepreneurial stories. These talks will feature founders across industries and backgrounds who have built and scaled successful startups.
- Leadership circles — Led by later-stage entrepreneurs and leaders within the Harvard Innovation Labs, these facilitated conversations allow founders to share their entrepreneurial challenges openly while also receiving frameworks and strategies to work though their challenges.
- Pitch sessions — Venture teams will learn how to pitch in front of founders, investors, and peers, in both 1:1 and group environments.
- President’s Innovation Challenge — In the spring of 2022, LLX GEO ventures will participate in the Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge, a competition designed to bring together the Harvard community to work on compelling solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.
"This year’s LLX GEO cohort is working on a wide range of products and services across industries, such as construction, cybersecurity, digital health, energy, fintech, nutrition, and real estate, to name a few,” said Thara Pillai, Director of Alumni Programs and Engagement at the Harvard Innovation Labs. “Regardless of industry, these founders are mission-driven while sharing the drive, curiosity, and compassion needed to build a thriving organization.”
The 18 ventures selected to participate in LLX GEO include:
- Achilleion: Managing and monitoring cybersecurity and privacy, backed by over $1M in insurance per user.
- Adaptilens: Developing an intraocular lens that will allow people to have clear near, intermediate, and distance vision without glasses or contacts.
- Aurie: Building a reusable intermittent catheter system to improve quality of life and health outcomes for people living with urinary retention.
- Burq: Allowing businesses to offer delivery to their customers through a single API integration.
- CaviSense: Developing a personalized oral care platform anchored by proprietary at-home diagnostics.
- Clockwork: A virtual chief of staff for managers to automate their repetitive business processes and run more efficient teams and projects.
- Concerto Biosciences: Building custom microbial combinations to accomplish novel functions in agriculture and human health.
- Concord Materials: A SaaS-enabled B2B marketplace with embedded fintech features for bulk materials in the construction industry.
- Delfina: Offering pregnant women and their physicians a real-time intelligent monitoring system to predict fetal risk and guide clinical decisions.
- Empowered Homes: Using tech to help homes easily transition from coal-fired grid energy to renewable solar energy and supporting them to maximize returns from solar systems.
- Imago Rehab: Enabling superior recovery outcomes for stroke survivors through a combination of home-use wearable robotics and digital health.
- Kiwi Biosciences: Developing novel enzymes to make food a painless experience for at least one in eight people who cannot enjoy the most common and nutritious foods.
- Metric: Providing analytics software to help private market investors measure their portfolio's environmental, social, and governance performance.
- Naya Studio: Helping entrepreneurs and enterprises turn concepts into real products for their customers.
- Promakhos Therapeutics: Developing therapies for inflammatory diseases, with a lead indication for Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory disorder affecting the digestive tract.
- RentDrop: Offering payment and property management solutions to independent landlords and their renters.
- Think Biosciences: Utilizing synthetic biology for small molecule drug discovery for hard-to-drug targets.
- Snapi Health: Developing personalized nutrition for your baby's first 1,000 days.
