FirstIgnite
Summer 2021 · Active
AI-Powered Business Development for Scientific Organizations
Founded: 2019
Team size: 9
About
Founders
Chase BonhagFounder
Former VC investor in university research (Illinois Ventures) and corporate innovation (TechNexus). Very focused on building tools to help scientific companies grow faster.
Cody PawlowskiFounder
Cody is the Co-Founder and CTO of FirstIgnite: the #1 tool for university-industry collaboration. While attending UIUC, he cofounded his first startup, Convey, and pursued the venture full-time. The social listening platform predicted major elections such as Brexit and netted partnerships from political campaigns to drive outreach. He's now focused on using AI to help research institutions partner with industry—getting more breakthroughs to market.