• Friday, February 20, 2026 Swartz Center strengthened CMU’s Silicon Valley connections at Lab to Market investor summit Carnegie Mellon University, already deeply embedded in Silicon Valley through its many graduates and innovations, tightened the connection by hosting a tech investor showcase in San Francisco on Feb. • 11.CMU’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship brought together entrepreneurs and high-powered venture capitalists to meet and exchange insights with CMU professors and researchers at Swartz’s exclusive Lab to Market Spring 2026 event. • Think of it as a daylong takeover of Northern California by Carnegie Mellon, whichranksas one of the nation’s top institutions for computer science, artificial intelligence and robotics research and teaching.The summit began with entrepreneurial inspiration in the form of a keynote conversation with Aravind Srinivas, co-founder and CEO of Perplexity, the breakthrough AI search engine company valued last September at $20 billion. • Speaking to Sameer Gandhi, partner at renowned VC firm Accel, Srinivas told the audience of about 250 people that tech success comes with pain and paranoia. • “In startups, especially in AI, every day or week someone is releasing some new product or new feature,” Srinivas said. • “And it’s not just startups.

Article Summaries:

  • Carnegie Mellon University’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship reinforced the university’s Silicon Valley ties by hosting its Lab to Market Spring 2026 investor showcase in San Francisco on Feb. 11. The day‑long event brought roughly 250 attendees-including CMU faculty, students, and startup founders-to meet venture capitalists from Accel, Pear, and other firms. Keynotes featured Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas and VC partner Sameer Gandhi, who highlighted the rapid pace of AI product development. Panels focused on “Investing in AI” and “Financing the Future of Robotics,” underscoring CMU’s leadership in computer science, AI, and robotics commercialization. The summit aimed to connect CMU’s deep‑tech research with market opportunities and funding.
  • Friday, February 20, 2026 Swartz Center strengthened CMU’s Silicon Valley connections at Lab to Market investor summit Carnegie Mellon University, already deeply embedded in Silicon Valley through its many graduates and innovations, tightened the connection by hosting a tech investor showcase in San Francisco on Feb. 11. CMU’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship brought together entrepreneurs and high-powered venture capitalists to meet and exchange insights with CMU professors and researchers at Swartz’s exclusive Lab to Market Spring 2026 event. Think of it as a daylong takeover of Northern C

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