Experience Stern | News & Events

From left to right: Maureen Deehan (CEO, Vivtex), Elizabeth Elting (MBA ’92), EFL Founding Director Deepak Hegde, Amy Thompson (CEO, Moody Month), Ciara Ferguson (CDAO, Moody Month), and Kate Dilligan (CEO, Cooler Heads)

On May 9, The Endless Frontier Labs (EFL), NYU Stern’s hub for massively scalable tech and life science startups from around the world, celebrated its 2023-2024 cohort of graduating startups during its annual Frontiers showcase event.

This year, participating ventures in EFL’s three tracks—Deep Tech, Life Sciences and Digital Tech—included a startup that leverages synthetic biology, materials science and green chemistry to develop new bio-based ingredients that replace microplastics; one that uses AI to detect wildfires, processing lightning data gathered by proprietary sensors to identify probable ignition points; and another that manufactures affordable and reusable rocket engines to create space vehicles that dramatically improve the economics of small-satellite launchers.

Elizabeth Elting (MBA ’92)

NYU Stern alumna Elizabeth Elting (MBA ’92) has donated $2 million to EFL to provide investment funding for promising women-centric businesses that have successfully completed the program. This year, startup graduates Cooler Heads (Deep Tech track), Vivtex (Life Sciences track) and Moody Month (Digital Tech track) were awarded funding. Here’s more on each:

• Led by Kate Dilligan, CEO, Cooler Heads helps cancer patients manage the side effects of treatment using an FDA-cleared medical device, allowing patients to keep their hair during chemotherapy and providing additional revenue to infusion centers.
• Led by Maureen Deehan, Vivtex leverages its high-throughput gut-on-a-chip platform (GI-ORIS™) with proprietary AI algorithms and formulations to optimize pharmaceuticals for oral bioavailability. From Robert Langer’s (MIT) and Giovanni Traverso’s (MIT/Harvard) labs, Vivtex is revolutionizing the market for biologic therapies, creating oral alternatives for both existing high-value biologic candidates and new oral biologics.
• Led by Amy Thompson, CEO, Moody Month is a machine learning platform that forecasts daily hormone, mood and symptom changes, and enables brands to create personalized digital experiences for products in the female health and wellness space.

EFL also announced that it is adding a fourth track, Digital Health, in the forthcoming 2024-2025 cycle.

Founded and led by Andrew Hamilton Director and Professor Deepak Hegde, EFL integrates the startup venture process with Stern’s MBA curriculum to transform scientific and technological innovations into high-impact businesses. A nine-month, goal-oriented mentorship program designed for novel early-stage science and technology startups, EFL engages a lineup of A-list business mentors, scientists, and venture capitalists including experts from many NYU schools. 

Endless Frontier Labs Andrew Hamilton Director and Professor Deepak Hegde

EFL helps startup founders quickly advance and massively scale startups in addition to building a stronger MBA student experience. Founders receive business development support from Stern MBA students who are enrolled in a companion EFL course taught by Professor Hegde.

In the five years since its founding, EFL has become one of the world’s most successful accelerators:

• 237 graduates over 6 cohorts to date
• $1.94 billion in capital raised by 148 EFL startups
• $5.68 billion collective valuation from 111 graduates alone
• 46.8% of EFL graduate startups led by women founders

It is a “founders first” program, meaning it does not charge fees or take equity, making it accessible to startups all over the world, with no prior affiliation to NYU required.

EFL has also announced that its 2024-2025 application for next year’s program is now open.