Author: amyr rice
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Meet USC Alums Jessica Cheng & Elin Wang Co-Founders of ZIPURE
Tell us about your company: ZIPURE is a machine-free espresso brand that delivers barista-quality coffee in 3 seconds – no machine needed, no compromise on taste. We believe great espresso shouldn’t be complicated. Just open, pour into any liquid, and enjoy – at home, at the office, or out in the wild. 100% Arabica, zero…
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Meet U of Chicago Alum Margaret Unetich and UC Berkeley Alum Matt Ziol, Co-Founders of Amouze Mousse
Tell us about your company: Amouze Mousse crafts chocolate mousse from local dairy and eggs delivered direct from the farm, organic sugar and high-quality chocolate. We are a French-inspired and Chicago-made. We are a woman-owned business who delivers joy one spoonful at a time. What inspired you to start your business? After experiencing a chocolate…
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Meet USC Alum Safiya Adatia, Founder of BollyStep
Tell us about your company: BollyStep is an AI-powered virtual dance-learning and coordination platform for cultural event dances such as South Asian weddings. We eliminate the chaos of sourcing dances, unclear group-chat videos, time-zone and scheduling barriers, and unprepared dancers. With expert choreographers and smart learning and coordination tools, we make asynchronous dance learning faster,…
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Meet UCSB student Fernando Ambrosio, Founder of Yari Energy
Tell us about your company: Yari Energy is a canned, yerba mate beverage based in Los Angeles. Built by myself, a solo founder. Yari leads with authenticity—it is real yerba mate, zero sugar, naturally caffeinated, and no artificial ingredients at all. Truly a better for you drink overall. We just completed our first pilot batch…
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Meet USC student: Sam Cheng, Founder of Classmate
Tell us about your company: Classmate gives purpose-built AI powered writing feedback that’s actually useful. What inspired you to start your business? College applications sucked – many had private tutors that cost upwards of tens of thousands of dollars, but they weren’t accessible to everyone, and were slow, so people turned to new AI tools…
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Meet U of Chicago Alum Suahn Hur, Co-Founder BARI
Tell us about your company: BARI is America’s first Asian baby food brand raising the standard of baby food with diverse food traditions, rigorous safety standards, and balanced nutrition. Founded by two sisters Subin and Suahn, BARI offers ready-to-eat meals, snacks, beverages, and first foods that goes beyond the purees. What inspired you to start…
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Meet USC alums Vem & Noy Chatoyan, Founders of StripIt
Tell us about your company: StripIt is reimagining the way people take supplements through oral dissolving strips that are simple, portable, and easy to work into everyday life. Instead of relying on traditional formats, our strips dissolve directly on the tongue in seconds. We developed each formula from the ground up with one goal in…
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Meet USC alum Emmy Rener, Founder Sophisticated Spreads
Tell us about your company: We are a charcuterie board company based in Los Angeles, focused on creating bespoke grazing tables and artisanal cheeseboards with the highest quality and locally sourced ingredients. What inspired you to start your business? During a gap year after high school, I decided to turn my passion for cheese and…
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Meet NYU alum Beth Godfrey, Co-Founder of MAÄT
Tell us about your company: MAÄT is a female-founded, NYC-based activewear brand that designs innovative products to address unmet needs in the activewear space from a female POV. Our purpose is to support women in fully stepping into their power. Our debut product, the 1.0 Legging, is a patented performance legging that protects and cushions…
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Meet UC Irvine & USC Alum Cory Olson, Founder of Good Grains
Tell us about your company: Good Grains is a modern cereal brand creating organic, minimally processed products made from puffed whole grains. Unlike most conventional cereals, our products are puffed rather than extruded and contain no refined sugars, seed oils, or preservatives. Sweetened only with organic honey, Good Grains delivers the nostalgic taste and crunch…
