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Apply To Spark

Do you have an idea for a business, social enterprise, app, or creative project? Participate this year in a unique extracurricular activity: the Spark program. Each week, you will learn about entrepreneurship, develop innovation skills, and meet like-minded people. You will also become eligible to win funding to develop your project - grants range from $1,500 - $5,000. Sound interesting? Apply by December 6 at midnight.
This program is open to all current Brandeis students, faculty, and staff.

Spark Participants in the News

What happens after (or, sometimes, during) Spark? Members of the Spark community have found that the sky is the limit for their entrepreneurial dreams. Here are some recent wins for past Spark winners as well as program staff, who are typically entrepreneurs themselves. It goes to show that you can start with a good idea, go through Spark, and go anywhere!

SparkTank Winners WorkAround Acquired
Platform Connects Refugees with Meaningful Work and Source Global Data Talent

Past SparkTank winners WorkAround, founded by Wafaa Arbash, Heller MS '16, were acquired by CloudFactory. CloudFactory is a leader not only in the data labeling space but also they are on a mission to connect one million talented people to meaningful work.

WorkAround is a platform that connects refugees with meaningful jobs in the growing field of data labeling. They won numerous startup awards before acquisition, including the Beantown Throwdown. The acquisition marks a successful exit for the Brandeis-born startup.

Spark Program Manager Juan Giraldo's Startup, Waku, Meets Ambitious Crowdfunding Goal

Waku is a plant-based probiotic drink that uses botanicals from Ecuador to create a unique healthier beverage. The brainchild of Juan Giraldo, who also serves as the program lead and lead instructor for the Spark program, Waku is taking the beverage industry by storm. Recently, the company started a crowdfunding campaign on Republic, raising money through crowd equity.

Within weeks, Waku raised over three times their initial goal. And funds are still coming in. The good news doesn't stop there. The company was also recently featured on TV. Boston's local WBZ News showcased Waku on their It Happens Here segment, which featured startups selected for MassChallenge. Waku has been a MassChallenge finalist, participating in the highly-competitive incubator program for its 2021 cohort.

The Spark program has had a profound positive effect on participants' lives, long after graduation.

Learn about this impact in our outcomes analysis