Experience Stern | News

Left to right: Carl Perez, CEO, Exodys Energy; Viola Aureggi, CFO, Exodys Energy; Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, Co-founder and CEO, AOA Dx; Endless Frontier Labs Founding Director Deepak Hegde; Elizabeth Elting (MBA ‘92); Dianne Shumay, Head of Psychology, Swing Therapeutics; Mike Rosenbluth, CEO, Swing Therapeutics

• Endless Frontier Labs (EFL) at NYU Stern graduated its 2025–2026 cohort of 74 startups across four tracks — Digital Tech, Deep Tech, Life Sciences, and Digital Health.
• Three EFL graduates — Exodys Energy (Deep Tech), AOA Dx (Life Sciences), and Swing Therapeutics (Digital Health) — received investment funding from the Elizabeth Elting Fund, backing women-centric ventures advancing nuclear fuel recycling, early ovarian cancer detection, and FDA-cleared digital therapy for chronic pain.
• In eight years, EFL has become one of the world's most effective accelerators: $3.20 billion raised by 243 graduates, $9.14 billion in combined value across 186 graduates, and two unicorns — all with no equity taken and no fees charged.

On May 7, The Endless Frontier Labs (EFL) — NYU Stern’s hub for the world's most ambitious science and technology startups — celebrated its 2025–2026 cohort of 74 graduating ventures at Frontiers 2026, its annual capstone event.  

This year's cohort spans EFL's four frontiers — Digital Tech, Deep Tech, Life Sciences, and Digital Health. A glimpse of the work:

• An AI governance company that enforces real-time behavioral control over every AI interaction across the enterprise — closing $9M in funding during the program.
• A robotics venture translating human skill into physical intelligence through intuitive haptic technology — closing an $18M Seed+ during the program.
• A neurotherapeutics company developing treatments that restore brain function in psychiatric and neurological disorders by harnessing the brain's natural capacity to rewire itself.
• A cardiac imaging platform transforming ultrasound diagnostics with first-in-class AI that integrates with the systems clinicians already use.

Elizabeth Elting Fund winners

NYU Stern alumni and Executive Board members Elizabeth Elting (MBA ’92) and Stan Moss (MS ’17) committed funding to back women-centric ventures graduating from the program. This year’s recipients are working on deploying their frontier inventions to address three of the most challenging problems:

• Exodys Energy (Deep Tech '26) is building UPCYCLE, a small, modular nuclear fuel recycling facility that converts spent fuel into secure, usable domestic feedstock for today's reactors and tomorrow's fleet.
• AOA Dx (Life Sciences '26) is developing a liquid biopsy that combines lipid and protein biomarkers with machine learning to detect ovarian cancer earlier — when it is still treatable.
• Swing Therapeutics (Digital Health '26) has built the first FDA-cleared digital behavioral therapy for chronic pain, beginning with fibromyalgia, pairing virtual care with AI-enabled treatment to reach patients who haven't had real options before.

How does The Endless Frontier Labs at NYU Stern support the startup venture process?

Founded and led by Andrew Hamilton Director and Professor Deepak Hegde, EFL exists to turn scientific and technological breakthroughs into companies that can scale.

The program runs for nine months — long enough to set real milestones, hit them, miss a few, and learn. Founders work with a hand-picked network of serial entrepreneurs, scientists, and venture capitalists drawn from across NYC and beyond. They are supported in their go-to-market, market research, and fundraising work by Stern MBA students enrolled in a companion course taught by Professor Hegde — and graduate having built something, not just studied something.

EFL is founders-first by design. No fees. No equity. No prior affiliation with NYU required. Any scientist or technologist anywhere in the world can apply. 

What impact has the EFL had since launching? 

Academic research released in 2026 places EFL in the top 5% of U.S. accelerators by value-added per startup — and the only program in that tier that takes no equity, charges no fees, and is open to founders regardless of institutional affiliation.

The cohort numbers tell the same story:

• $3.20 billion raised by 243 EFL graduates
• $9.14 billion in combined value across 186 graduates
• Two unicorns in eight years — Immunai (Life Sciences '20) and ZaiNar (Digital Tech '22)
• 47.2% of all EFL graduates led by women founders

EFL was named the Best Incubator / Accelerator / Equity at the 2025 Prix Galien USA Awards, given by the Galien Foundation in recognition of innovation that advances human health.

The program's recent cohorts have produced standout ventures across all four tracks — including startups across the full AI stack in Digital Tech, advanced materials and physical AI in Deep Tech, next-generation cell therapy and oncology diagnostics in Life Sciences, and clinical AI and connected devices in Digital Health. 

How can interested startups get involved with the EFL?

EFL is now accepting applications for its 2026-27 cohort.