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Carnegie Mellon University Startup Ecosystem Analysis

This analysis examines 34 startups primarily affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), showcasing the university's vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem. The dataset reveals insights into funding patterns, geographic distribution, and university affiliations across this cohort.

Key Findings

💰 Funding Landscape

The startup ecosystem has collectively raised $125.1M in funding, with significant variance in capital raised:

  • Average funding: $3.68M per startup
  • Median funding: $1.85M per startup
  • Unfunded startups: 7 companies (21%) are currently bootstrapped or pre-funding

The median being significantly lower than the mean indicates a right-skewed distribution — a few highly-funded startups pull the average upward.

🏆 Top Performers

The funding landscape is dominated by a few key players:

  1. Stratus Materials ($22M) - Leading the pack in total capital raised
  2. CAMB.AI ($18.5M) - Strong second position
  3. RoboForce ($15M) - Tied for third
  4. enerBit ($15M) - Notable as the only Colombian startup in the top tier
  5. Tacit Therapeutics ($10M) - Affiliated with University of Pittsburgh

🌍 Geographic Distribution

While the USA dominates the ecosystem, there's notable international representation, particularly from Colombia, demonstrating CMU's global reach and influence in entrepreneurship.

🎓 University Affiliations

Carnegie Mellon University is the primary source institution, with the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) also represented. This highlights CMU's strength in fostering entrepreneurship, particularly in AI, infrastructure, and deep tech sectors.

The visualizations below provide a comprehensive view of funding patterns, geographic spread, university representation, and the statistical distribution of capital raised across the ecosystem.

[1]
Dataset: 34 Startups

<class 'pandas.core.frame.DataFrame'>
RangeIndex: 34 entries, 0 to 33
Data columns (total 6 columns):
 #   Column         Non-Null Count  Dtype 
---  ------         --------------  ----- 
 0   Number         34 non-null     int64 
 1   Startup        34 non-null     object
 2   Brief Summary  34 non-null     object
 3   Raised         34 non-null     object
 4   Country        34 non-null     object
 5   University     34 non-null     object
dtypes: int64(1), object(5)
memory usage: 1.7+ KB
None

==================================================

First few rows:

📈 Data Cleaning & Statistical Analysis

The analysis required addressing data quality issues in the original CSV file, where some rows experienced column shifts during parsing. This was resolved by:

  1. Detecting misaligned rows where the 'Country' field contained funding values (starting with $)
  2. Redistributing column values to their correct positions
  3. Standardizing funding formats by parsing various notations (K, M, dollar signs, commas)

Funding Distribution Insights

The funding distribution reveals several key patterns:

  • Concentration at lower tiers: The majority of startups cluster in the $0-5M range
  • Long tail distribution: A small number of outliers (5 startups) have raised >$10M
  • Mean vs. Median gap: The $1.83M difference between mean ($3.68M) and median ($1.85M) indicates positive skew
  • Funding accessibility: 79% of startups have secured at least some funding

Geographic & Institutional Patterns

Country-level analysis shows:

  • USA dominates total funding volume
  • Colombia emerges as a notable international participant (primarily through enerBit's $15M raise)
  • Cross-border collaboration reflects CMU's global network

University affiliation demonstrates CMU's entrepreneurial dominance, with secondary contribution from University of Pittsburgh, particularly in the biotech/therapeutics sector (Tacit Therapeutics).

[2]
📊 FUNDING SUMMARY
==================================================
Total startups: 34
Total funding raised: $125.1M
Average funding: $3.68M
Median funding: $1.85M
Startups with $0 raised: 7

🏆 Top 5 Funded Startups:
           Startup Raised  Country University
 Stratus Materials   $22M      USA        CMU
           CAMB.AI $18.5M      USA        CMU
         RoboForce   $15M      USA        CMU
           enerBit   $15M Colombia        CMU
Tacit Therapeutics   $10M      USA       Pitt
[3]
📍 FUNDING BREAKDOWN BY COUNTRY
============================================================
          Total Funding ($M)  Avg Funding ($M)  Number of Startups
Country                                                           
USA                   106.04              3.42                  31
Colombia               15.00             15.00                   1
India                   3.80              3.80                   1
Denmark                 0.25              0.25                   1

💡 INSIGHTS
============================================================
Top 5 startups control 64.4% of total funding
Funding concentration indicates high market dominance
[5]
Output