This summer, everyone has tried to beat the heat. But at UMD, student entrepreneurs have been hard at work showing how their ventures are just beginning to heat up. On Thursday, Maryland Smith’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship hosted its 7th annual Terp Startup Accelerator event, in which 16 student teams pitched their business ventures to an audience of students, faculty, staff and esteemed guests.

Shelly Kapoor Collins started the Shatter Fund LLC in 2017, on a mission to increase female entrepreneurship by providing female founders with greater access to capital. The venture capital firm invests exclusively in high-potential disruptive technology companies led by female entrepreneurs. The Shatter Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Shatter Fund, aims to benefit underserved girls by providing them educational tools, grants, and mentorship to think, create and confidently innovate.

From Food to Tutoring to Technica (or Online Events), Student Entrepreneurs Take Home More Than $70K in Seed Funding Drones helped two University of Maryland undergrads fly away with the grand prize at last night’s 2021 Pitch Dingman competition.

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship is pleased to announce that it has accepted 16 University of Maryland student teams into its Terp Startup Accelerator summer program. This is now the program's seventh consecutive year, with the largest cohort to date. The Dingman Center also received its highest number of applicants, with 37 student venture teams vying for a spot in the eight-week program.

The University of Maryland will launch a new business development arm to nurture quantum-focused startups, President Darryll J. Pines announced last night at an event honoring the institution’s inventions, startup, mentor and student entrepreneurs of the year.

On April 16, 2021, the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at Maryland Smith hosted the virtual semifinal round of the Pitch Dingman Competition, featuring 12 student-run businesses from across the University of Maryland, College Park. Each team who advanced to the semifinals was vetted through a quarterfinals round by a panel of alumni judges.

Being an entrepreneur, especially a Black entrepreneur, is about hustle and courage. That was the theme of Maryland Smith’s Being Black in Entrepreneurship event. Hosted by the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, the event featured a panel discussion with notable entrepreneurs who spoke about their setbacks and successes.

Sometimes, more is just better. This year, the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship is doubling down on its popular Pitch Dingman Competition, increasing both the prize money available and the ways in which to win it.

Reselling sneakers is big business for Maryland Smith marketing student Gautam Malik, ’22. Since January, the 20-year-old entrepreneur has brought in half a million dollars in sneaker sales, according to a recent article in Business Insider. He’s running his own resale business and an exclusive sneaker advisory group that charges members $45 a month for admission. "I was meant to sell something," Malik tells Business Insider.

It’s not every Maryland Smith alum who can blow away the judges of America’s Got Talent, earning a spot in the live shows. That’s a very tough crowd. But for mentalist Max Major, ’05, leaving people speechless is just another day at the office.