CREATE-X
CREATE-X is Georgia Institute of Technology's university-wide entrepreneurship initiative, operating LEARN, MAKE, and LAUNCH programs to help Georgia Tech students, faculty, researchers, and alumni develop and launch startups. Since 2014 it has created 770+ student startups with $4.5B+ combined valuation.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersAtlanta, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What CREATE-X does
CREATE-X is an entrepreneurship initiative operated by the Georgia Institute of Technology, launched in 2014, that provides a structured pathway for Georgia Tech students, faculty, researchers, and alumni to develop and launch startups. The program is organized into three pillars: LEARN (Startup Lab coursework teaching evidence-based entrepreneurship), MAKE (Idea to Prototype and Capstone Design classes providing prototyping grants, mentorship, and curricular credit), and LAUNCH (Startup Launch, a 12-week summer accelerator offering $5,000 in seed funding and $30,000 in in-kind services including legal, accounting, coaching, space, mentorship, and IP protection). It is not a technology company and does not develop proprietary software products; its offering is educational programming, mentorship, and acceleration services. The program is directed by Rahul Saxena (with Raghupathy Sivakumar identified as founder and director in source materials), operating from Georgia Tech's Atlanta campus with 11–50 program staff.
The program is free to eligible participants and is funded through Georgia Tech's institutional budget and corporate sponsors, including The Marcus Foundation (which provided a $2.1M grant in 2019), Sony, and Procter & Gamble. Since inception, CREATE-X reports it has created 770+ student startups with a combined $4.5B+ valuation, involved 34,000+ students across 38 majors, and produced a portfolio that includes Stord, Reframe, Wattch, Gimme Vending, Grubbly Farms, FIXD, LZRD Tech, and SlateSafety. Annual Demo Day events serve as the program's flagship visibility platform, with the 2024 event drawing 1,300+ attendees and the 2025 cohort (Cohort 12) spanning eight verticals including Healthcare, HR Tech, Industrial and Manufacturing, Robotics & Cybersecurity, SaaS, and Deep Tech.
CREATE-X's go-to-market is community-led and event-driven, relying on Georgia Tech's institutional channels (the create-x.gatech.edu website, Engage platform, Eventbrite, Airtable applications) and flagship Demo Day events for outreach. Its primary differentiation is integrated programming within a single university ecosystem — combining curriculum, prototyping resources, seed funding, and an alumni network — reinforced by partnerships with VentureLab for faculty coaching and Gatherly (a CREATE-X alumni company) for virtual event infrastructure. The Director's stated goal is to establish Georgia Tech as the nation's number-one startup campus.
CREATE-X firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- CREATE-X
- Legal name
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Website
- https://create-x.gatech.edu
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- CREATE-X is Georgia Institute of Technology's university-wide entrepreneurship initiative, operating LEARN, MAKE, and LAUNCH programs to help Georgia Tech students, faculty, researchers, and alumni develop and launch startups. Since 2014 it has created 770+ student startups with $4.5B+ combined valuation.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
CREATE-X industry classification
Industry- Product category
- University Startup Accelerator
- NAICS
- Educational Support Services (61171), Professional and Management Development Training (611430)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Youth Business Incubators & Accelerators (EDAMAHAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Entrepreneurship, Startup Incubation & Pitch Programs (EDAMAKAK), Entrepreneurship Foundations & Startup Basics (EDAMAHAA), Business Planning, Pitching & Competitions (Pitch Decks, Demo Days) (EDAMAHAB)
Keywords
Where CREATE-X is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Atlanta
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
CREATE-X business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- University Funding & Donor Support: CREATE-X is funded by Georgia Tech and supported by corporate sponsors including The Marcus Foundation, Sony, and Procter & Gamble. The program provides seed funding and in-kind services to student startups.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Free access to LEARN, MAKE, and LAUNCH programs for Georgia Tech community members |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels7 records
CREATE-X product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CREATE-X is Georgia Tech's institutional entrepreneurship initiative that delivers three integrated program pillars: LEARN (Startup Lab coursework exposing students to evidence-based entrepreneurship), MAKE (Idea to Prototype and Capstone Design classes providing prototyping grants, mentorship, and curricular credit), and LAUNCH (a 12-week Startup Launch summer accelerator providing $5,000 in seed funding plus $30,000 in in-kind services including legal, accounting, coaching, space, mentorship, and IP protection). The program culminates in an annual Demo Day where cohort startups pitch to investors, and serves Georgia Tech students, faculty, researchers, and alumni at no cost.
Product overview
CREATE-X is Georgia Tech's institutional entrepreneurship initiative, organized into three program pillars — LEARN (Startup Lab coursework), MAKE (Idea to Prototype and Capstone Design), and LAUNCH (Startup Launch accelerator) — serving Georgia Tech students, faculty, researchers, and alumni. The program culminates in Demo Day events where cohort startups pitch to investors. CREATE-X is not a software product company; it is an educational and acceleration program that has spawned 770+ student startups with $4.5B+ combined valuation.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- LEARN: CREATE-X LEARN element consists of a class that exposes students to startup concepts and teaches evidence-based entrepreneurship methodology through Startup Lab.
- MAKE
- LAUNCH
- Startup Launch
- Startup Lab
- Idea to Prototype
- CREATE-X Capstone
- Demo Day
- Founder's Pledge
- Deep Startups
Products and services
- CREATE-X LEARN (Startup Lab) A class-based program pillar of CREATE-X that exposes Georgia Tech students to startup concepts and teaches evidence-based entrepreneurship methodology. Startup Lab gives students a zero-risk opportunity to examine their startup ideas within formal education and identify business failures in the lab rather than the market.
- CREATE-X MAKE (Idea to Prototype and Capstone Design) A set of research and prototyping classes within CREATE-X that enable students to overcome technology barriers in launching a venture. Idea to Prototype and CREATE-X Capstone provide students with prototyping grants, mentorship, and curricular credit as they create intellectual property and build prototypes toward their venture idea.
- CREATE-X LAUNCH (Startup Launch) A 12-week summer accelerator program within CREATE-X for Georgia Tech students and alumni who want to launch their projects from idea stage into fully functioning and viable startups. Provides $5,000 in seed funding and $30,000 worth of in-kind services including legal, accounting, coaching, space, mentorship, visibility, and IP protection.
- Demo Day The signature annual event of CREATE-X's Startup Launch program where cohort founders pitch their startups to investors, business leaders, and the public. The 2024 Demo Day attracted 1,300+ attendees and the 2022 Demo Day showcased 75+ startups from 100 teams at the Fabulous Fox Theatre.
Quantifiable outcome
- 770+ student startups created with $4.5B+ combined valuation
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use CREATE-X
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
CREATE-X technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
CREATE-X partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- VentureLabcoreVentureLab provides coaching support specifically for faculty teams participating in the CREATE-X Startup Launch program. 16 faculty teams were coached by VentureLab in the 2022 cohort.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
CREATE-X competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Techstars: Global accelerator network with mentorship-driven cohorts and Demo Day showcases. Comparable as a structured accelerator offering seed funding and investor exposure, but operates at scale across geographies and is not university-based.
- Y Combinator: The world's largest startup accelerator. Comparable in core function (cohort-based startup acceleration with seed funding and Demo Day) but operates at vastly greater scale, serves non-student founders primarily, and is investor-operated rather than university-affiliated.
Direct peers
- MIT delta v: MIT's summer accelerator for student-led startups. Comparable to CREATE-X as a university-affiliated accelerator providing seed funding, mentorship, and Demo Day showcases to engineering and science students launching ventures.
- Cornell eLab: Cornell's student-led startup accelerator. Directly comparable as a university-based accelerator providing mentorship, funding, and Demo Day opportunities to Cornell student founders launching ventures.
- Stanford StartX: Stanford University's student and faculty accelerator. Directly comparable as a university-based startup accelerator serving elite technical students with seed funding, mentorship, and Demo Day exposure, operating within a top engineering institution.
- Berkeley SkyDeck: UC Berkeley's startup accelerator combining academic founders with investor networks. Directly comparable as a university-based accelerator providing cohort-based programming, funding, and Demo Day pitches to student and faculty founders.
- Dorm Room Fund: First Round Capital's student-run venture fund backing student founders. Comparable as a student-targeted early-stage investment vehicle providing seed checks to university entrepreneurs, with a similar mission of democratizing access to capital for student founders.
- Harvard Innovation Labs (i-lab): Harvard's entrepreneurship and innovation hub serving students across schools. Comparable as a university-wide program with structured entrepreneurship education, prototyping support, and startup launch assistance.
- University of Chicago Polsky Center: University of Chicago's entrepreneurship and innovation hub. Comparable as a university-affiliated program providing entrepreneurship education, prototyping support, accelerator programming, and Demo Day events to student and faculty founders.
- Princeton Keller Center: Princeton's entrepreneurship and innovation center. Comparable as a university-based program offering entrepreneurship education, prototyping support, and startup launch assistance to Princeton students and faculty.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
CREATE-X social profiles
Digital presenceCREATE-X financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CREATE-X leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
CREATE-X funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CREATE-X M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments41 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CREATE-X
What does CREATE-X do?
CREATE-X is Georgia Tech's institutional entrepreneurship initiative that delivers three integrated program pillars: LEARN (Startup Lab coursework exposing students to evidence-based entrepreneurship), MAKE (Idea to Prototype and Capstone Design classes providing prototyping grants, mentorship, and curricular credit), and LAUNCH (a 12-week Startup Launch summer accelerator providing $5,000 in seed funding plus $30,000 in in-kind services including legal, accounting, coaching, space, mentorship, and IP protection). The program culminates in an annual Demo Day where cohort startups pitch to investors, and serves Georgia Tech students, faculty, researchers, and alumni at no cost.
Is CREATE-X a public or private company?
CREATE-X is a private company. It is classified as state government owned and is currently operating.
When was CREATE-X founded?
CREATE-X was founded in 2014. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is CREATE-X based?
CREATE-X is headquartered in Atlanta, United States, in the North America region.
How does CREATE-X make money?
One revenue line is on record: university Funding & Donor Support.
Who are CREATE-X's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Techstars and Y Combinator. Direct peers are MIT delta v, Cornell eLab, Stanford StartX, Berkeley SkyDeck, Dorm Room Fund, Harvard Innovation Labs (i-lab), University of Chicago Polsky Center and Princeton Keller Center.
Does CREATE-X have an API?
No public API is recorded for CREATE-X.
What industry is CREATE-X in?
CREATE-X's product category is University Startup Accelerator. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAMAHAC, Youth Business Incubators & Accelerators, with a secondary code of EDAMAKAK, Entrepreneurship, Startup Incubation & Pitch Programs. Its NAICS code is 61171 and its SIC code is 8200.