Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E)

Prof. Robert Langer, Prof. Giovanni Traverso and former postdoctoral fellow Thomas von Erlach founded Vivtex, a biotechnology startup that has “created a high-tech system called a ‘GI tract on a chip’ that uses robotics and AI to test how drugs move through the human digestive system,” reports Beth Treffeisen for Boston.com. “The technology allows Vivtex to quickly test thousands of drug formulations and predict how they will be absorbed in people, much more accurately than traditional lab methods.” 

Profs. Robert Langer, Giovanni Traverso and former postdoctoral fellow Thomas von Erlach have founded Vivtex, a biotechnology startup specializing in “oral alternatives to drugs administered by injections,” reports Jonathan Satlzman for The Boston Globe. Vivtex, now working in collaboration with Novo Nordisk, is looking to develop a new class of “pills to treat obesity and diabetes,” explains Saltzman. 

Boston Globe reporter Jon Chesto spotlights the MIT Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship’s delta v startup accelerator program, which is designed to help early-stage startups find success in the Boston area. With financial support from Klaviyo co-founders Ed Hallen MBA ’12, and Andrew Bialecki, the program will “help support more customizing, to better tailor the program for each entrepreneur, as well as a broadening of its professional network, to support mentorship from industry veterans for the participating startups,” writes Chesto. 

Guide Labs, co-founded by Julius Adebayo SM ’15, SM ’16, PhD ’22, has debuted a large language model designed to make “its actions easily interpretable,” reports Tim Fernholz for Tech Crunch. “Every token produced by the model can be traced back to its origins in the LLM’s training data,” explains Fernholz. 

Forbes reporter Jeff Kauflin spotlights Andres Santos MBA '21, co-founder of Común, as one of the six entrepreneurs making their debut on the Forbes Fintech 50 list. Común is a “digital bank for Hispanic immigrants,” writes Kauflin. “Customers can open checking accounts through an app using a passport or ID from their home country and use it for direct deposit, a debit card and international money transfers.” 

Increase, a startup founded by alumnus Darragh Buckley, has been named to the Forbes The Future of Business to Business Banking: Fintech 50 2026 list, reports Brandon Kochkodin for Forbes. “Increase provides banking infrastructure that lets fintechs and businesses move money, store deposits and access payment rails without building direct bank connections,” writes Kochkodin.

Kalshi and Común, two startups founded by MIT alumni, have been named to the 2026 Forbes Fintech 50 list. Kalshi is a prediction market that “had 1.2 million active users in 2025, and total trading volume hit $24 billion” while Común “offers digital banking geared toward Hispanic immigrants,” reports Jeff Kauflin for Forbes. 

Graduate student Clarke Cyrus and his colleagues have developed “the Anemoia Device,” a physical machine that “uses a generative AI model to analyze an archival photograph, describe it in a short sentence, and, following the user’s own inputs, convert that description into a unique fragrance,” reports Grace Snelling for Fast Company. “Generative AI usually starts with a blank prompt,” says Clarke. “The dials replace that with a physical, easy-to-understand grammar. You’re not trying to ‘say the right thing’ to an algorithm, it’s more akin to tuning an instrument." 

Fast Company reporter Adele Peters spotlights Electrified Thermal Solutions, an MIT startup that has developed a new “thermal battery” that could be used to help power factories manufacturing energy-intensive materials like steel and cement. “The battery uses power from the grid to heat its custom bricks when electricity is cheap,” explains Peters. “When a factory needs hot air later, it’s provided by the superheated bricks.” 

Brian Bergstein at The Boston Globe speaks with Bob Mumgaard SM '15, PhD '15, CEO of MIT spinout Commonwealth Fusion Systems, about the company’s efforts to advance fusion technologies.  “When the federal government said in 2012 that it would cut funding for the experimental fusion reactor on campus, the MIT researchers took that as an opportunity to develop new fusion techniques — which eventually formed the basis of CFS’s plans,” writes Bergstein. 

New York Times reporter Rebecca Elliott spotlights Phoenix Tailings, a startup co-founded by MIT alumni that is developing a sustainable process for refining rare-earth refining in the United States. Elliott notes that Phoenix Tailings created a closed-loop design for their manufacturing method that “distinguishes this process from the more energy-intensive techniques used in China, where workers scoop up molten metal with ladles.”

Lila Sciences, a startup co-founded by Prof. Rafael Gómez-Bombarelli, is developing new platforms aimed at enabling AI-driven laboratories to accelerate materials discovery for energy, sustainability, and computing, writes David Rotman for Technology Review. “If they succeed, these companies could shorten the discovery process from decades to a few years or less,” Rotman notes. 

Sherwin Greenblatt '62, SM '64 reflects on his two-decade tenure as director of MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service (VMS), a program that provides support for entrepreneurs in the MIT community, reports Jon Chesto for The Boston Globe.  “VMS differs from many mentoring programs in that entrepreneurs are connected to not just one mentor, but several subject matter experts, depending on their needs,” explains Chesto. “These are also considered long-term commitments, not just several months of counsel and brainstorming.” 

MassLive reporter Scott Kirsner spotlights Claire Beskin MBA '22, CEO and founder of Empallo, a virtual clinic for heart care aimed at preventing cardiac issues before they happen. “It handles everything from scheduling to prescriptions to billing,” writes Kirsner. “Empallo’s approach, Beskin said, is ‘virtual first,’ meaning it tries to give patients an online consult with a doctor when possible, and send them into the office when necessary.” 

Addis Energy, a startup co-founded by Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang is using the earth “as a chemical reactor to make ammonia in a cleaner way,” reports Alex Knapp for Forbes. The team identifies “rocky formations underground with large amounts of iron,” explains Knapp. “Then they inject those rocks with water, nitrogen and a chemical catalyst. That causes the oxygen in the water to bind with the iron in the rocks—making rust—freeing the hydrogen, which reacts with nitrogen to form ammonia.”