Saint Louis University’s New Venture Accelerator Names Third Cohort

Saint Louis University's New Venture Accelerator Names Third Cohort

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis University's New Venture Accelerator (NVA), launched in 2024 out of the Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship (CCE), announces its third cohort of participants.

The NVA offers current SLU students and alumni who graduated within the last five years equity-free investments of up to $50,000 through a special accelerator fund supported by donors. In addition to financial support, the teams receive additional resources and mentoring from SLU experts.

"This year, the CCE received 22 highly competitive applications from across the University, reflecting the strong spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship at SLU," said Jintong Tang, Ph.D., interim director of the Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship.

The 2026 NVA will launch on May 12 and provide a rigorous 14-week program that combines curriculum, mentorship, and funding support to help participants commercialize their venture ideas. The program will culminate in Demo Day during the second week of August, when the cohort will showcase their progress to investors, mentors, corporate and community partners.

The summer accelerator is tailored to each cohort's needs, focusing on customer discovery, validation, business development, revenue modeling, and more. Modules are designed to leverage the expertise and experience of SLU faculty, mentors, and advisors to improve participants' chances of success.

Sixteen judges participated in the initial screening process, and each application received three independent evaluations. After careful review, the CCE team selected 10 finalists to advance to the Finalist Pitch Day on April 20.

Nine judges joined the Finalist Pitch Day, where they listened to each team's pitch, offered constructive feedback, and carefully evaluated the finalists. The 2026 cohort includes Mesh, CivicKit, GIA-Tech and Morph.

Mesh

Mesh is an app that pairs users with three others who have liked the same places as the user, then sends the group to one of those locations, providing an opportunity to meet new people. Users fill out a short personality questionnaire, and then an algorithm finds the best matches among thousands of people in their city, aiming to maximize the percentage of humanity that meets in real life.

Mesh currently has 3,000 users signed up and meeting in person across eight cities in the US. Mesh is launching new cities every month.

Mesh is founded by Michael Orosz-Fagen (CSB '23), Stuart Ray (SSE '24) and Izak Robles (SSE '24).

In 2024, Orosz-Fagen and Ray were awarded the Audience Choice Award at the inaugural St. Louis Regional Entrepreneurship Educators pitch competition.

CivicKit

CivicKit is a mobile app that enables community members to report civic issues, such as potholes, broken streetlights, or sanitation concerns, through geotagged posts on a shared public map. Users can upload photos, add descriptions, and track the status of issues, while community aid organizations and local groups can respond, coordinate, and update progress in real time. The platform also allows users to engage by supporting issues, volunteering, or contributing resources to help resolve them.

By creating a transparent, interactive system, CivicKit helps residents stay informed and actively participate in improving their neighborhoods.

CivicKit was founded by three members of SLU's Class of 2026. They include Briana Huelsman, Leah Bragg and Erin Kelley. All three are computer science majors in the School of Science and Engineering.

GIA-Tech

GIA-Tech is developing an electrical stimulation device to improve post-surgical patient recovery. The therapeutic device reduces muscle degradation and promotes healing by delivering neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) during immobilization. Immediately after surgery, it is applied directly beneath the surgical wrap to mitigate atrophy and swelling.

GIA-Tech was founded by three members of SLU's Class of 2026. They include Caiden Gagliano, a biomedical engineering major in the School of Science and Engineering; Vishal Vaheesan, a biomedical engineering major in the School of Science and Engineering; and Isaac Angelo Medrano Layugan, a neuroscience major in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Gagliano was named the Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship's 2025 Student Entrepreneur of the Year.

MORPH

MORPH (Modular Open-source Robotic Programming Hub) is a robotic car that can be paired with structured lesson plans to teach practical robotics skills to a wide range of experience levels. It is designed for students and educators in K-12 and higher education who need accessible, hands-on learning tools. Existing robotics kits are often either expensive and geared toward advanced users or overly simplistic with limited functionality.

MORPH addresses this gap with a customizable base kit that includes plug-and-play sensors and an integrated curriculum, enabling users to progress at their own pace.

Morph was founded by four students in the School of Science and Engineering. They include Kody Cool, mechanical engineering; Ngan (Daisy) Nguyen, computer science; Pascal Sikorski, computer science; and Jake Bounds, computer science. All four are members of SLU's Class of 2026.

About the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business

Founded in 1910, the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business at Saint Louis University has shaped the future of industry for more than a century. As one of the oldest business schools west of the Mississippi, the Chaifetz School has built a reputation as a leader in business education committed to innovation, inclusion and impact and recognized with eight undergraduate and graduate programs nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report.

About Saint Louis University

Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious Catholic research institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers more than 15,300 students a rigorous, transformative education that challenges and prepares them to make the world a better place. As a nationally recognized leader in research and innovation, SLU is an R1 research university, advancing groundbreaking, life-changing discoveries that promote the greater good.