Kresge Auditorium came alive Friday as MIT entrepreneurs took center stage to share their progress in the delta v startup accelerator program.
Now in its 14th year, delta v Demo Day represents the culmination of a summer in which students work full-time on new ventures under the guidance of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship.
It also doubles as a celebration, with Trust Center Managing Director (and consummate hype man) Bill Aulet setting the tone early with his patented high-five run through the audience and leap on stage for opening remarks.
“All these students have performed a miracle,” Aulet told the crowd. “One year ago, they were sitting in the audience like all of you. One year ago, they probably didn’t even have an idea or a technology. Maybe they did, but they didn’t have a team, a clear vision, customer models, or a clear path to impact. But today they’re going to blow your mind. They have products — real products — a founding team, a clear mission, customer commitments or letters of intent, legitimate business models, and a path to greatness and impact. In short, they will have achieved escape velocity.”
The two-hour event filled Kresge Auditorium, with a line out the door for good measure, and was followed by a party under a tent on the Kresge lawn. Each presentation began with a short video introducing the company before a student took the stage to expand on the problem they were solving and what their team has learned from talks with potential customers.
In total, 22 startups showcased their ventures and early business milestones in rapid-fire presentations.
Rick Locke, the new dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management, said events like Demo Day are why he came back to the Institute after serving in various roles between 1988 and 2013.
“What’s great about this event is how it crystallizes the spirit of MIT: smart people doing important work, doing it by rolling up their sleeves, doing it with a certain humility but also a vision, and really making a difference in the world,” Locke told the audience. “You can feel the positivity, the energy, and the buzz here tonight. That’s what the world needs more of.”
A program with a purpose
This year’s Demo Day featured 70 students from across MIT, with 16 startups working out of the Trust Center on campus and six working from New York City. Through the delta v program, the students were guided by mentors, received funding, and worked through an action-oriented curriculum full-time between June and September. Aulet also noted that the students presenting benefitted from entrepreneurial support resources from across the Institute.
The odds are in the startups’ favor: A 2022 study found that 69 percent of businesses from the program were still operating five years later. Alumni companies had raised roughly $1 billion in funding.
Demo Day marks the end of delta v and serves to inspire next year’s cohort of entrepreneurs.
“Turn on a screen or look anywhere around you, and you’ll see issues with climate, sustainability, health care, the future of work, economic disparities, and more,” Aulet said. “It can all be overwhelming. These entrepreneurs bring light to dark times. Entrepreneurs don’t see problems. As the great Biggie Smalls from Brooklyn said, ‘Turn a negative into a positive.’ That’s what entrepreneurs do.”
Startups in action
Startups in this year’s cohort presented solutions in biotech and health care, sustainability, financial services, energy, and more.
One company, Gees, is helping women with hormonal conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) with a saliva-based sensor that tracks key hormones to help women get personalized insights and manage symptoms.
“Over 200 million women live with PCOS worldwide,” said MIT postdoc and co-founder Walaa Khushaim. “If it goes unmanaged, it can lead to even more serious diseases. The good news is that 80 percent of cases can be managed with lifestyle changes. The problem is women trying to change their lifestyle are left in the dark, unsure if what they are doing is truly helping.”
Gees’ sensor is noninvasive and easier to use than current sensors that track hormones. It provides feedback in minutes from the comfort of users’ homes. The sensor connects to an app that shows results and trends to help women stay on track. The company already has more than 500 sign-ups for its wait list.
Another company, Kira, has created an electrochemical system to increase the efficiency and access of water desalination. The company is aiming to help companies manage their brine wastewater that is often dumped, pumped underground, or trucked off to be treated.
“At Kira, we’re working toward a system that produces zero liquid waste and only solid salts,” says PhD student Jonathan Bessette SM ’22.
Kira says its system increases the amount of clean water created by industrial processes, reduces the amount of brine wastewater, and optimizes the energy flows of factories. The company says next year it will deploy a system at the largest groundwater desalination plant in the U.S.
A variety of other startups presented at the event:
AutoAce builds AI agents for car dealerships, automating repetitive tasks with a 24/7 voice agent that answers inbound service calls and books appointments.
Carbion uses a thermochemical process to convert biomass into battery-grade graphite at half the temperature of traditional synthetic methods.
Clima Technologies has developed an AI building engineer that enables facilities managers to “talk” to their buildings in real-time, allowing teams to conduct 24/7 commissioning, act on fault diagnostics, minimize equipment downtime, and optimize controls.
Cognify uses AI to predict customer interactions with digital platforms, simulating customer behavior to deliver insights into which designs resonate with customers, where friction exists in user journeys, and how to build a user experience that converts.
Durability uses computer vision and AI to analyze movement, predict injury risks, and guide recovery for athletes.
EggPlan uses a simple blood test and proprietary model to assess eligibility for egg freezing with fertility clinics. If users do not have a baby, their fees are returned, making the process risk-free.
Forma Systems developed an optimization software for manufacturers to make smarter, faster decisions about things like materials use while reducing their climate impact.
Ground3d is a social impact organization building a digital tool for crowdsourcing hyperlocal environmental data, beginning with street-level documentation of flooding events in New York City. The platform could help residents with climate resilience and advocacy.
GrowthFactor helps retailers scale their footprint with a fractional real estate analyst while using an AI-powered platform to maximize their chance of commercial success.
Kyma uses AI-powered patient engagement to integrate data from wearables, smart scales, sensors, and continuous glucose monitors to track behaviors and draft physician-approved, timely reminders.
LNK Energies is solving the heavy-duty transport industry’s emissions problem with liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs): safe, room-temperature liquids compatible with existing diesel infrastructure.
Mendhai Health offers a suite of digital tools to help women improve pelvic health and rehabilitate before and after childbirth.
Nami has developed an automatic, reusable drinkware cleaning station that delivers a hot, soapy, pressurized wash in under 30 seconds.
Pancho helps restaurants improve margins with an AI-powered food procurement platform that uses real-time price comparison, dispute tracking, and smart ordering.
Qadence offers older adults a co-pilot that assesses mobility and fall risk, then delivers tailored guidance to improve balance, track progress, and extend recovery beyond the clinic.
Sensopore offers an at-home diagnostic device to help families test for everyday illnesses at home, get connected with a telehealth doctor, and have prescriptions shipped to their door, reducing clinical visits.
Spheric Bio has developed a personal occlusion device to improve a common surgical procedure used to treat strokes.
Tapestry uses conversational AI to chat with attendees before events and connect them with the right people for more meaningful conversations.
Torque automates financial analysis across private equity portfolios to help investment professionals make better strategic decisions.
Trazo helps interior designers and architects collaborate and iterate on technical drawings and 3D designs of new construction of remodeling projects.