Announcing the 2026 Accelerator Cohort

Today, we’re excited to announce the fifth cohort of the HAE Accelerator powered by Pegasus Tech Ventures, an equity-free program built to support Harvard-alumni founders who are already operating with discipline and momentum as they scale their companies.

This year’s cohort is tackling critical challenges across health, cybersecurity, data infrastructure, civic trust, financial access, and creative technology, showcasing the breadth of innovation emerging from the Harvard ecosystem.

2026 Cohort Companies

Avix Medical — Aditya Ranganathan (Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)
Developing Catalina, a portable handheld device for real-time, non-invasive breast lesion characterization to improve early cancer detection and clinical decision-making.

Charlemagne Labs — Jeremy Philip Galen (Harvard College)
A privacy-first browser agent that prevents phishing and social engineering attacks in real time while exposing human-layer risks traditional tools miss.

CheckUps — Hoffman Lantum (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)
Based in Africa, CheckUps combines healthcare delivery with instant medical microcredit, enabling patients to access care upfront through integrated virtual care, nurses, pharmacy, and diagnostics.

CivicVote — Josefina Correa Gutierrez (Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences)
Based in Latin America, CivicVote enables voter-verifiable digital elections while preserving privacy across in-person, hybrid, and remote voting with a paper-trail audit system.

MyEyesAI — Carl Rosen (Harvard Kennedy School)
Ophthalmology-specific AI that helps clinics and non-specialists triage symptoms, interpret images, and determine next clinical steps.

PhysaFlow — Gonzalo Wartjes (Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences)
An AI optimization layer for hyperscale data centers, improving energy, cooling, and workload efficiency through risk-free shadow-mode deployment.

Playkout — Jorge Guerrero (Harvard Kennedy School)
A compact, autonomous tennis and pickleball digital simulation experience that fits into small footprints, helping venues drive engagement, repeat play, and new revenue.

Skribe Medical — Ryan Neely (Harvard College)
A battery-free wearable patch that detects early cardiotoxicity from cancer treatments using multi-sensor AI and wireless connectivity.

Three M’s Creative — Lucas Cassels (Harvard College)
Rethinking 3D authoring by streamlining complex workflows and dramatically accelerating high-quality 3D creation.

Vezgo — Eric Lemieux (Harvard Business School)
A single API to standardize crypto asset data across exchanges and wallets for Web3, compliance, and lending applications.

Well — Murielle Kemougne (Harvard Business School)
Transforming independent pharmacies in sub-Saharan Africa into modern, patient-centered health hubs through redesign, digital infrastructure, and operational support.

WholeMind — Anthony Alagbile (Harvard Graduate School of Education)
An AI-powered mental health platform delivering personalized, science-backed care across recovery, prevention, and optimization.

The program begins in March and culminates on Demo Day, May 13, where these founders will present to a curated audience of investors, corporate partners, and industry leaders.

“What stands out about this cohort is not just the ambition of the ideas, but the clarity of thinking behind them,” said Regina Ryan, President of Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs. “These founders already have meaningful momentum. The Accelerator exists to give these companies the skills, strategies, support, and network connections to help them continue to scale their companies.”

“This is exactly the kind of innovation we love to see coming out of the Harvard community,” said Bill Reichert, General Partner at Pegasus Tech Ventures and Co-Director of the HAE Accelerator. “These teams are solving real problems. Our role is to help them accelerate what’s already working and scale it further.”

This cohort was selected from over 132 applications submitted by Harvard alums from around the world. Since the program began in 2021, 45 companies have graduated from the Accelerator. Collectively, the Accelerator graduate companies have raised over $124 million in funding.

About Pegasus Tech Ventures

Pegasus Tech Ventures is a global venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, managing over $2 billion in assets. It provides strategic and financial capital to emerging tech companies and offers a unique Venture Capital-as-a-Service (VCaaS) model for global corporations like ASUS, SEGA, and Marathon Petroleum. Pegasus has invested in 250+ companies, including SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, Airbnb, SoFi, and DoorDash. Pegasus also founded Startup World Cup, which is now the largest entrepreneur pitch competition on the planet, with competitions in over 100 regions around the world.   

HAE & Havas Edge Announce Strategic Partnership to Elevate Global Founder Impact

Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs and Havas Edge Announce Strategic Partnership to Elevate Global Founder Impact: A new collaboration designed to amplify the voices, innovation, and global influence of Harvard alumni founders

Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs (HAE) and Havas Edge today announced a strategic partnership aimed at expanding the visibility and impact of Harvard-affiliated founders around the world.

The partnership brings together one of the world’s most active alumni founder communities with Havas Edge, part of the Edge Performance Network and the global Havas organization. Together, the organizations will work to elevate the stories, breakthroughs, and global reach of Harvard alumni innovation through performance-driven visibility and strategic brand amplification.

As part of the collaboration, Havas Edge will contribute an integrated media and strategy investment to support HAE’s brand growth and founder storytelling initiatives. The effort will focus on increasing awareness of HAE’s programs, highlighting founder success, and showcasing the scale and diversity of entrepreneurship across the Harvard alumni ecosystem, which includes more than 20,000 founders worldwide.

Havas Edge will serve as the primary sponsor of the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Regional Startup World Cup, an official regional qualifying event into the global Startup World Cup finals hosted by Pegasus Tech Ventures. This sponsorship underscores Havas Edge’s commitment to advancing entrepreneurial innovation and supporting the next generation of high‑growth ventures. The Regional Startup World Cup offers Harvard‑affiliated founders access to global visibility, investor exposure, and competitive pathways into one of the world’s premier startup competitions.

“This partnership gives us the opportunity to tell a much bigger story about Harvard alumni founders and the impact they are having across industries and markets,” said Regina H. Ryan, President of Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs. “Havas Edge brings a deep understanding of how to build visibility and momentum in today’s media environment, helping us extend the reach of our mission and our community.”

Havas Edge operates as part of the Edge Performance Network, the world’s largest performance marketing group, and the broader Havas global network. With decades of experience helping organizations grow through data-driven media strategies and measurable outcomes, the partnership reflects a shared commitment to scaling innovative ideas and supporting entrepreneurs at every stage.

“From the beginning, our organization was built to help emerging brands grow,” said Steve Netzley, Global CEO of the Edge Performance Network. “That performance-first mindset is what connects us to Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs. This partnership aligns our ability to deliver meaningful visibility with HAE’s mission to empower founders who are shaping the future.”

Jennifer Peabody, President of Havas Edge, added, “We have a long history of helping entrepreneurs build businesses and brands. Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs represents a community of founders whose ideas and impact deserve a broader stage, and we’re excited to help amplify those stories in a way that drives engagement, awareness and growth.”

Through the partnership, Havas Edge will support HAE with strategic media planning, performance-driven activation, and coordinated visibility efforts designed to spotlight HAE programs, founder milestones, and the organization’s expanding global footprint.

This collaboration reinforces HAE’s commitment to building a founder-first global community and reflects Havas Edge’s focus on accelerating growth for organizations that are driving meaningful innovation.

About Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs
Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs is a nonprofit organization and official Harvard Alumni Association Shared Interest Group dedicated to supporting Harvard-affiliated alumni entrepreneurs worldwide. Through global chapters, education, mentorship, and investor pathways, HAE helps founders build, scale, and sustain high-impact ventures.

About Havas Edge
Havas Edge is a global performance marketing agency and part of the Havas Network. Focused on data-driven media strategies and measurable outcomes, Havas Edge helps organizations accelerate growth through performance-centric media and optimization across offline and online channels.

Announcing the 2024 Accelerator Demo Day Winner

What a remarkable day it was at the 2024 HarvardAE Accelerator Demo Day!

On May 15, Demo Day showcased ten exceptional alumni ventures, highlighting the depth of talent emerging from Harvard

Congratulations to the winner of Demo Day GuardianSat. Led by Harvard Kennedy School alum Chris Rohe, GuardianSat will now compete at the Startup World Cup and the chance to win a $ 1 million investment from Pegasus Tech Ventures.

The first runner-up is Sugarwork, co-founded by Vanessa Liu (Harvard Radcliffe and HLS) and Judith Williams (Harvard Radcliffe). Sugarwork is an AI-powered platform for capturing and sharing institutional knowledge during employee transitions.

Congratulations goes to all the 2024 teams:

·      Amiable: Founded by Olga Gomonova, Harvard Business School

·      Berilium: Founded by Alberto Guillen Salas, Harvard Business School

·      Delfino AI: Founded by Sneh Patel, Harvard Business School

·      FanEQT: Founded by Usman Shuja, Harvard Kennedy School

·      Fiduciary In A Box: Founded by Jed Cohen, Harvard College

·      GuardianSat: Founded by Chris Rohe, Harvard Kennedy School

·      Inquisio: Founded by Joshua Penner, Harvard Extension School

·      Kedi Labs: Founded by Michelle Frye, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

·      PathCision: Founded by David Lee, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

·      Platform: Founded by Adrian Washington, Harvard Business School

·      Sugarwork: Co-founded by Vanessa Liu, Harvard Radcliffe and Harvard Law School and Judith Williams, Harvard Radcliffe.

·      Vocadian: Co-founded by Amelia Eginton, Harvard Business School and Yujie Wang, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

We extend our gratitude to the lead mentors, speakers, lead mentors, and judges, who lent their time, expertise, and support throughout the Accelerator program.

LEAD MENTORS Kwaku Abrokwah, Moshtaq Ahmed, Sunny Arora, Ilias Beshimov, Agnes Brichard, Fazilat Damani, Christian Farivar, Nuno Godinho, Kiran Govindaraju, Faizal Javer, Jon Langbert, Jorge Moshe Jimenez Montesinos, Zenghzheng (Nick) Pan, Philip Parks, Prad Parthiban, JJ Rohrer, Pedro Rubio, Amol Shah, Kirill Silkin, Greg Stone, Bob Shang You Tee, Tom Thompson, Katy Trost

GUEST SPEAKERS Matt Cameron, Kal Deutsch, Paul Doncaster, Gwen Edwards, Leah Edwards, Bruce Graham, Matt Hagen, Ari Horie, Kirin Kalia, Steve Payne, Bill Reichert, Greg Stone, Martin Tantow, Patti Tantow, Tom Thompson, Carol Tran, Rhea Wessel 

JUDGES Steve Adelman, Gwen Edwards, Gideon Marks, Anish Srivastava

Most importantly, a heartfelt ‘thank you’ goes to Bill Reichert and Pegasus Tech Ventures for partnering with us. Their commitment to advancing Harvard entrepreneurship and innovation ensures that promising alumni startups have the resources to succeed.