Alumni founders of OrthoFit gain momentum

On May 23, Cornell alumni Jason Guss, Apoorva Kiran and Pankaj Singh learned that their company, OrthoFit – founded while they finished Cornell Ph.D.s in biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering – has been accepted into the highly competitive MassChallenge Accelerator in Boston. The accelerator provides research and development space, access to world-class resources and up to $1.5 million in cash prizes. Over the past eight years, MassChallenge Boston startups have raised an average of $75,000 while participating in the program.

The OrthoFit team also has been selected to receive in-kind services valued at more than $100,000 for development of their brand strategy and brand identity during an intensive three-week BGIN branding and design accelerator founded by Joanne McKinney ’87, CEO of the Burns Group.

The OrthoFit founders developed their first prototypes during the Rev: Ithaca Startup Works’ Hardware Accelerator and grew the company as students in Cornell’s eLab course.

“This is the third summer for the BGIN in-residence program, which is dedicated to helping Cornell startups turn young products into brands,” McKinney said. “Twelve teams applied this year. OrthoFit had actually applied the prior year and reapplied this year after making big strides in their market research and product prototyping.”

“We are very excited by acceptance into both the MassChallenge Accelerator and BGIN. Plus, June 3-6 we will be having our own booth at the American Society for Safety Engineers Conference in San Antonio,” said OrthoFit CEO Guss.

- Debra Eichten

Media Contact

Lindsey Knewstub