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USC Marshall Startup Incubator Welcomes 250th Company

USC Marshall Startup Incubator Welcomes 250th Company

The USC Marshall Greif Incubator has helped over 250 Trojan founders launch and scale their businesses.

by: Taylor Altman
11.06.24
Lobby of Greif Incubator

The Greif Incubator has helped companies over $300 million in external funding and grants.

[USC Photo]

Featured

  • Paul Orlando

    Paul Orlando
    • Director of USC Incubator Program
    • Adjunct Professor for the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
  • Elissa Grossman

    Elissa Grossman
    • Director of Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
    • Orfalea Director's Chair in Entrepreneurship
    • Professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship

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This fall, the USC Marshall Greif Incubator welcomed its 250th company.

Over the past 10 years, the incubator has supported USC’s student and alumni entrepreneurs through structured mentorship, access to financial and legal resources, and membership to a vibrant, dynamic community. The incubator is launched by and housed within the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the USC Marshall School of Business.

“Incubator graduates have joined top accelerators, raised over $300 million in external funding and grants, and gone on to acquisitions and other successes,” said Elissa Grossman, director of the Greif Center. “Even better, the founder community we’ve built is thriving. Members of past cohorts return time and again to share their experiences, and support and mentor those who are just beginning.”

The Incubator, led by Paul Orlando, adjunct professor for the Greif Center, helps founders transform their early-stage concepts into viable businesses, guiding founders to customer acquisition, team building, and investment readiness. According to Orlando, it also connects startups with expert mentors, resources, and a USC-wide support network, all without taking equity. The goal: to provide confidence and support that will bolster a founder’s vision and give it viability.

“We aim to create an environment where founders can enter with early-stage startups and turn them into real businesses,” Orlando said. “It’s not just about having access to resources — though those are important — but also about encouraging a mindset of resilience and creativity. The founder community we’ve built is one where startup founders support one another, share perspectives and introductions, and push each other to do more, faster.”

New organizations are invited to apply to join the incubator three times a year. The most recent cohort includes the following 14 companies:

  • 220: Flavorful hard seltzer, sold in the UK and now entering the U.S. market.

  • 80/20 Fitness: High-quality healthy meals at an affordable price to address obesity and health disparities.

  • AI Senior Ventures: Simplified Medicare enrollment.

  • Artlife + Style: Platform dedicated to highlighting the journeys of artists of color.

  • Ascend: Matching teachers with students in the arts.

  • HorseProof: Better products for horse owners, starting with drinking troughs.

  • Pandoty: Boosting customer loyalty through digital communities and AI.

  • Pontic Technology: Improved water sterilization technology.

  • Praxi: Efficiency forward accounting platform.

  • Prospecty AI: AI sales development representative that helps B2B SaaS companies with outbound email messaging.

  • Rosie's Chips: Junk free, small batch potato chips.

  • Taskless.io: Low-code service mesh for applications, giving engineers fine-grained control over every outbound request.

  • VendRx: Medication fulfillment service helping customers get their prescriptions on time

  • WellTra.Ai: Accurate vital sign reads via smartphone cameras.

Incubator graduates have joined top accelerators, raised over $300 million in external funding and grants, and gone on to acquisitions and other successes.

— Elissa Grossman

Director of the Greif Center

Unlike traditional programs, the incubator provides tailored and ongoing support to startups so they can grow at their own pace.

“Over the past decade, we’ve seen hundreds of founders turn their ideas into impactful businesses. But this is just the beginning,” Orlando said. “The incubator aims to strengthen its alumni network and evolve its resources to support startups. With plans to adapt to industry trends and USC’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem, it will continue refining its model to meet founders’ changing needs and cultivate enduring businesses.”

Looking back at the past decade, here’s a snapshot of five incubator graduates currently changing the world.

Mira builds the scalable augmented reality hardware and software such as the Mira Prism, a headset that can turn your iPhone into an augmented reality headset. Mira began as a college project among three USC Iovine & Young Academy students. By 2017, Mira raised $1.5 million, including investment from venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, musician Will.i.am., and Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff.

Emotive is an SMS marketing platform that helps e-commerce companies personally connect with customers co-founded by Zach Wise and Brian Zatulove during their senior year at USC Marshall and part of the incubator in 2018. By 2020, Emotive experienced 466% revenue growth and tripled the size of its workforce. By 2021, Emotive raised $50 million in Series B from investors such as CRV and Mucker Capital. Emotive currently services 500 clients including Bud Light, Naked Cashmere, and Memebox.

Trashy takes food waste and makes it into delicious snacks. USC Dornsife alum Kaitlin Mogentale founded Trashy and developed the concept further with mentorship and resources provided at the incubator. In 2020, Trashy’s Pulp Chips entered the retail market, and by 2021, over 600 retail stores carried them. In 2022, the company appeared in Season 13 of Shark Tank and landed a deal with Mark Cuban. Trashy has been featured in Forbes, The Today Show, and Food Network Magazine.

Apsy uses AI to build customized apps for small businesses and startups. Founded by Tooraj Helmi, a USC Viterbi and USC Marshall alum, Apsy launched a full self-service platform in June 2023, allowing customers to build their apps independently. In March, Apsy surpassed an average monthly revenue of $100k and draws over 1,200 website visitors monthly.

Frontida Records allows medical providers to access patients’ records on any device without an Internet connection. USC Dornsife students Lauren Yen and Vivianna Camarillo founded this organization after seeing how challenging it could be for medical practitioners to provide on-the-go care. To date, this service has helped thousands of patients in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

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