As we get ready for the new year, we want to thank you for your generosity in support of Startup UCLA. In 2019, UCLA turned 100 years old. Now thanks to you, Startup UCLA will be able to launch UCLA into the next century with a commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship from students, alumni, and faculty across campus. One of our newest projects supporting this effort is the Faculty Innovation Fellows. 

UCLA's Faculty Innovation Fellows program is a campus-wide program aimed at advancing entrepreneurial excellence and startup culture among faculty from all disciplines. Open to all UCLA faculty, we seek to identify 8-10 faculty-led teams to participate in dedicated mentoring with Startup UCLA. Through Startup UCLA, Fellows will collaborate with colleagues across the University, with program leaders and venture consultants helping to hone and advance their ideas into action. Each Fellow will meet with a mentor with relevant experience to their area of interest. The program will culminate in a public Pitch Showcase (Spring 2020) to a network of local entrepreneurs and investors, where the most commercially viable projects/startups may receive support by TDG's Innovation Fund.

Your support, vision and engagement has made it possible for us to develop and grow our services to meet the academic and practical skills needed for an ever changing business climate. ​Thank you and have a Happy New Year!

AMAZING!

First, you helped us exceed our goal of $10,000, and then helped us exceed our stretch goal of $15,000. Because of your generous giving, six out of this years nine Summer Accelerator teams were funded!

Thank you for your support and for making our very first online giving campaign such a massive success!

CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Because of you, we have surpassed our campaign goal of $10,000! With FOUR DAYS still left to give before the campaign closes, we are excited to announce a new stretch goal of $15,000 to fund a third team!

You can help us get there by continuing to share our campaign link: spark.ucla.edu/startup and adding your story about why entrepreneurship matters to you. 

Thank you for your supporting our talented entrepreneurs!

UCLA alum Aaron Yih is the founder of Eternalist, a web app that helps you remember your life by making it easy and fun to browse your digital footprint. He stumbled across this idea when he came to the realization that big companies like Google and Facebook are already using your digital footprint to construct a story of your life—which they then sell to advertisers. Eternalist takes the same data and makes it easy for YOU to benefit from it. Aaron and his team are building towards a future of data equality, by developing Eternalist on the blockchain, guaranteeing that users own their data and that no one else can ever see it. In the future, Aaron hopes to allow you to rediscover the first time you messaged your best friend, the song that you played on repeat in high school, and other forgotten, but meaningful, details of your life.

Thank you for supporting the 2019 Summer Accelerator teams!

Thank you so much for making your gift to the 2019 Startup UCLA Summer Accelerator! Thanks to your generosity, we are now nearly halfway there! There are still 10 days left, so please keep spreading the word by sharing the link to this campaign: spark.ucla.edu/startup. With your help, we can reach the $10,000 goal in support of promising young entrepreneurs, like Oliver Micklewright of LILO:

Oliver Micklewright is an international student from Hong Kong who recently graduated from UCLA last spring. With the idea of creating the world's best floating furniture, Oliver founded LILO in order to improve the durability, practicality, and aesthetics of inflatable products. When Oliver was younger, his favorite thing to do during the summer was to relax on pool floats—called “lie-lows”—with his father. Years later, he is now innovating in the inflatable/pneumatic space by applying long-lasting, durable, and rigid inflatable materials and manufacturing techniques to the flat-pack furniture industry. Eventually, Oliver wants to develop a lab to research and develop new materials, new manufacturing techniques, and new applications.  

Thank you for supporting the 2019 Startup UCLA Summer Accelerator! Keep spreading the word about supporting our amazing teams and by sharing spark.ucla.edu/startup on your social media accounts today. We have less than two weeks left to reach the $10,000 goal, but we're confident we can get there with your help!

Learn more about another one of our outstanding Accelerator Teams, MATA Inventive:

Founded by UCLA alumni Anthony Chang and Yen-Chi Chang, MATA Inventive brings a hassle-free, AI-enabled manufacturing solution to any factory, regardless of its size. The solution leverages devices such as Raspberry Pi to collect vibration, acoustic emission data, and other machining parameters from Computer Numerical Control machines. Anthony and Yen-chi hope to encourage front-line employees to raise issues to their management, so that management can focus on key drivers of lost production time and help their front-line employees become more productive. They advise all aspiring entrepreneurs to make sure that they are passionate about their company.

Thank you for your ongoing support of the 2019 Startup UCLA Summer Accelerator! 

Last night, Summer Accelerator teams had a VERY special opportunity at the home of Meredith and Barry Eggers '85. Barry Eggers is founding partner of Lightspeed Venture Partners and one of the earliest investors in Snapchat. Our teams pitched their startups and had an exclusive networking opportunity with fellow UCLA affiliated entrepreneurs and investors. It was a wonderful way to end our day in the Bay area!

There are still two weeks left to reach our $10,000 goal to support these teams, so don’t stop now! Keep inviting people to join in giving, every gift will make a difference! Spread the word by sharing the link to this page: spark.ucla.edu/startup

Thank you for supporting our 2019 Startup UCLA Summer Accelerator teams! Their first night in the Bay Area was a success! The teams got great feedback after pitching for our legal sponsor, Fenwick & West. We are so happy to have their advice and expertise available to our Summer Accelerator teams.

With only 11 days to go, please help us share this campaign with your friends and family on social media using this link: spark.ucla.edu/startup

With your help, we can reach our $10,000 goal to fund this year's teams!

Audra Huffmeyer is the embodiment of a girl boss! Not only is she a National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellow and a UCLA PhD Candidate in Biology, but she is also the founder of Fil2r, a sustainable water filter that uses activated carbon pods to filter water in your current water pitcher. Fil2r is a more convenient and cost-effective alternative to current water filters in the market, as Audra plans to disrupt the water filter industry by providing consumers with sustainable water filter pitchers and filters via an eCommerce subscription service. Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs? Take a chance on yourself and your idea! Your ambition and hard work will take you far as long as you are committed. #startupucla