Arch Grants, the St. Louis nonprofit that annually awards $75,000 in equity-free grants to new businesses, announced on Friday that it is providing $1.6 million in funding to 19 startups in its 2025 cohort. These companies, selected for their potential to drive economic impact and innovation, reflect the strength and growth of St. Louis’ entrepreneurial…
Thirty-three promising WashU startups have been named semifinalists in the fall 2025 Skandalaris Venture Competition (SVC). Each venture, founded by students or recent alumni, is competing for a chance to win funding from a $25,000 prize pool. This semester saw a record-breaking 131 entries into the competition, with seven schools and Beyond Boundaries represented by…
Entering college, I was eager to explore entrepreneurship. I had already consumed books like Shoe Dog, No Rules Rules, and Trailblazer, each revealing how bold ideas, resilience, and customer obsession build great companies. On a tour of Washington University in St. Louis, I discovered the St. Louis Student Enterprise Program (StEP) – a program where…
WashU’s Trusted Tap project is tackling one of the biggest challenges in public health and sustainability: how to ensure every household in America knows what’s really coming out of their tap. Backed by the National Science Foundation, Trusted Tap brings together engineers, designers, public health experts, and entrepreneurs to create a scalable, community-centered solution. Skandalaris Center’s own II…
The Skandalaris Center recently hosted its Fall Hackathon, bringing together more than 80 bright minds to tackle real-world problems through innovation, collaboration, and plenty of late-night snacks. From vibe code to no code, teams created app-based solutions to their chosen problems throughout the weekend, then presented their solutions to a panel of judges for a…
This past summer, I worked out of the Skandalaris Center as part of the Launchpad program, developing SPARC, our digital mental performance platform supporting athletic programs across the country. Mental performance is one of the most neglected areas in athletics, held back by high costs, limited access, and stigma. SPARC solves this by delivering scalable, affordable solutions to…
Prognosia, a firm founded by researchers at Washington University, has been acquired by Lunit, a publicly traded AI cancer screening firm in South Korea. Led by WashU Medicine researchers Graham Colditz and Shu “Joy” Jiang, Prognosia earlier this summer received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Breakthrough Device designation. The following article was written by…
Back in 2013, Luke Saunders, AB ’10, founded Farmer’s Fridge, a start-up with a mission to make healthy food more accessible. Today, that company operates in more than 2,000 locations and has served 13+ million meals from its vending machines nationwide. The following interview with Saunders captures the transformative combination of a WashU education and…
Sergiu Celebidachi (MBA ’25), has been recognized as one of six Inno Under 25 honorees for 2025. The annual St. Louis Inno awards program for young entrepreneurs celebrates people early in their careers in innovation and entrepreneurship. Celebidachi’s startup, SPARC Sports, aims to democratize mental performance training by building a solution that is scalable, affordable, and available…
Jeffery Clorissaint (MBA ’26) has been recognized as one of six Inno Under 25 honorees for 2025. The annual St. Louis Inno awards program for young entrepreneurs celebrates people early in their careers in innovation and entrepreneurship. Clorissaint has developed two startups, Menalated and Kayno Labs, during his time at WashU. Menalated, a hair growth oil for textured…
Sandy Montgomery (MS ’25) has been recognized as one of six Inno Under 25 honorees for 2025. The annual St. Louis Inno awards program for young entrepreneurs celebrates people early in their careers in innovation and entrepreneurship. Montgomery’s startup, CERV, is a patent-pending novel medical device that measures cervical dilation throughout labor, which was developed during a…
Joe Poole (BSBA ’26) has been recognized as one of six Inno Under 25 honorees for 2025. The annual St. Louis Inno awards program for young entrepreneurs celebrates people early in their careers in innovation and entrepreneurship. Poole’s startup, Brain Battle, is a gamified test preparation app designed to give people cheaper access to SAT…
