UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — This summer, six teams of Penn State student entrepreneurs spent 13 weeks building their startups full-time through the Invent Penn State Summer Founders Program. With a $15,000 grant, weekly mentorship, and experiential learning, these founders pushed their ideas forward and gained the tools to take their ventures to the next stage.
The Summer Founders Program will culminate in a community-wide celebration at FoundersFest 2025 on Friday, Sept. 5, at the Eric J. Barron Innovation Hub. The event will feature startup showcases from this summer’s teams, live pitches and awards, opportunities to explore Penn State’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, and an evening of music, food and networking. Registration is free and open to all — reserve a spot at this link.
Throughout the course of the program, teams gained access to regularly scheduled business accelerator programming, a network of 100+ advisers, and hands-on learning opportunities at Pennsylvania businesses.
One of the founders was Daniella Omijeh, a student in the College of Health and Human Development and the creator of Perlae, a startup offering clinically backed oral care products.
“My experience in the Summer Founders Program was transformative for both me and my startup,” Omijeh said. “There was always support when I needed it, and the program pushed me to hit key milestones that I know I would have otherwise waited to achieve. It gave me the focus and community to move my company forward.”
Meet the 2025 Summer Founders teams:
- Joy Tac – Revolutionizing firearm retention for law enforcement with its patent-pending Single Press Angular Retention (SPAR) system. Founded by Erin Godfrey, a student at Penn State Harrisburg.
- Meet and Eat – Making campus dining social with an app that lets students connect over meals, view menus and place orders together. Founded by Ryan Nair, a student in the College of Engineering.
- Perlae – Creating clinically backed oral care products that combine function and style, formulated for healthier smiles. Founded by Daniella Omijeh, a student in the College of Health and Human Development.
- Reflex Technologies – Developing smart, performance-optimizing wearables to help athletes train smarter, recover faster and reach their peak. Founded by Paul Allen and Nathan Rihani, students in the College of Engineering.
- Soteria Flight Technologies – Delivering real-time aerial fire tracking and response tools to improve emergency decision-making in wildfire management. Founded by Rachel Axten and Ani Perumalla, doctoral candidates in the College of Engineering.
- Spiky Farms – Turning overabundant sea urchins into a sustainable, high-quality seafood source through eco-friendly aquaculture. Founded by Jonathan Rabinovich, a student in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
Throughout the summer, the cohort gained insights from field trips to companies like River Raptor Jet Boats, DiamondBack Covers and K’Nex, hearing firsthand from founders who turned big ideas into thriving businesses.
About the Summer Founders Program
The Summer Founders Program is a signature program of the Invent Penn State initiative and is provided in partnership with Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank. Startup funding is made possible through the donations of successful alumni entrepreneurs interested in supporting new student ventures. To learn more about supporting student startups at Penn State through a philanthropic gift, contact Heather Winfield, director of strategic initiatives in University Development, at hbw11@psu.edu.
This program was financed in part by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community and Economic Development.