7 Graduating Students Receive Polsky Founders’ Fund Fellowships to Work On Their Ventures Full Time
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The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation announced the seven recipients of the 2024 Polsky Founders’ Fund Fellowship (PF3), a program that provides funding to graduating UChicago students who are committed to working full time on their startups.
The ventures accepted into the program will receive up to $24,000 in the form of a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE), which is paid out to an incorporated entity in quarterly intervals of $6,000 over the course of a year. Fellows will also have quarterly coaching check-ins with the Polsky Center.
The PF3 is open to all graduating UChicago students completing undergraduate or graduate degree programs. They must have a full-time focus on their venture and an incorporated business that has gained credible traction.
The 2024 PF3 fellows, and their startups, are:
Athena Saldanha, MBA ’24 // Owler AI
Owler AI is a web platform that leverages machine learning to compare student submissions to an educator’s grading criteria and provide targeted feedback that helps the teacher’s review, and students grow.
Robert Csete, AB ’24 // Dan The Baking Man
Dan the Baking Man (DTBM) aims to revolutionize the way people perceive and savor a healthy cookie. It offers a plant-based option that is both accessible and utterly irresistible.
Mittul Patel, MBA ’24 and Shreya Kalva, MBA ’24 // Zaars
Zaars is a marketplace app for new and secondhand South Asian clothing and accessories that improves access to hard-to-find clothes, provides an ecommerce platform for boutique sellers, and reduces environmental impact by increasing reuse of lightly worn clothing.
Oliver Drazsky, AB ’24 and Catalina Castañeda, AB ’24 // bellie
bellie is a prebiotic drink that uses a new super-ingredient to rebuild the microbiome, providing consumers with a tasty way to improve their gut health.
Christian Gaona, MPP ’24 // TexChange Unbrokered
TexChange Unbrokered is a B2B platform for firms in hard industries to buy and sell materials and services directly without brokers.
For more information about the Polsky Founders’ Fund Fellowship, contact Gorana Kolar at Gorana.Kolar@ChicagoBooth.edu.