Latest news with #NolanSulpizio
Technical.ly
23-06-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Clean Plate Innovations lands UPMC partnership and teases major deals with national chains
Pittsburgh startup Clean Plate Innovations has secured a preliminary agreement for an undisclosed amount with healthcare giant UPMC Mercy Hospital. The startup's tech takes overhead scans of food trays at the hospital's campus near Duquesne University to gauge food satisfaction and waste in the patient cafeteria. While it won't be finalized until spring 2026, the partnership is foundational for the early-stage startup, according to Clean Plate founder Nolan Sulpizio. '[UPMC's] initial goal was to have it go to all their locations,' Sulpizio told 'I mean, they still said they see a lot of value and they still want to do it. It's just got to get postponed.' UPMC is finalizing a separate partnership before moving on to the Clean Plate deal, Sulpizio said, but that's not slowing down the barely one-year-old company. Even though the deal with UPMC is on hold, Sulpizio said Clean Plate is still securing plenty of other partnerships. At his alma mater, Duquesne University's Palumbo-Donahue School of Business, Sulpizio and Clean Plate team members will lead an internship program for Duquesne students next semester. Nearby at the University of Pittsburgh, Clean Plate will be featured in classes on sustainability. Clean Plate is also in talks with US Foods, Shady Maple and Golden Corral, which are all looking to partner with the startup, according to Sulpizio. 'We're still moving forward,' Sulpizio said. Clean Plate did not disclose any financials related to the partnerships. 'Critical alerts' tell cafeterias when to pivot production Clean Plate uses machine learning to analyze waste in large dining rooms and track where cafeterias can improve service, according to Sulpizio. For UPMC, that looks like a small screen wired to a ceiling-mounted camera that sharply warns: 'new critical alert.' 'Caesar wraps showing elevated waste levels,' a widget on the screen reads. 'Immediate intervention recommended.' While it may sound as though someone's lunch is heading for a meltdown, this warning is actually meant to serve as guidance for food providers. In this instance, a critical alert is guiding food workers to revise the meals they provide to save money in the long run. More than 67,000 patients go through UPMC Mercy's hospital system each year, likely sparking a big demand in dining facilities. The healthcare provider reported a nearly $200 million loss in 2023. UPMC did not respond to requests for comment. From pitch competition to $130k raised Nearly a master's student at Duquesne in sustainability before shifting focus to the startup, Sulpizio said food waste is a chief issue for him. 'My parents, we always grew up that way, especially with food waste,' Sulpizio said. 'I'm a South Philly Italian. Food is really big in our culture and especially at home. You don't waste, you take what you need and you eat it all.' Clean Plate got its feet off the ground after coming in second place at Techstars Startup Weekend in 2024. The prize package included six months of free office space at InnovatePGH's Avenu Workspaces, which has been crucial to the company's launch, according to Sulpizio. The startup's growth and slew of promising partnerships came as it has been transparent about setbacks. In April, Sulpizio said federal contract freezes postponed a project with a major research university. 'Now we are scaling,' Sulpizio said, 'We've raised $130,000 in the last year.'
Technical.ly
14-04-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Federal funding cuts, tariffs and project pauses hit the wallets of Pittsburgh startups
Economic uncertainty and recent federal policy shifts are already taking a toll on early-stage startups in Pittsburgh. Funding freezes and rising tariffs are stunting startup growth, founders said at a dinner last week celebrating the 2025 Pittsburgh RealLIST Startups. Adapting to those shifts is their only option as the founders weather direct financial hits, like Nolan Sulpizio, founder of the food waste startup Clean Plate Innovations, who's missing out on a big project. 'They didn't say no,' Sulpizio said about a partnership with a major research university, 'but they said not now.' The unnamed school went on a contract freeze, like many other institutions have been doing, because future federal funding isn't guaranteed. The uncertainty around university funding isn't deterring Supizio, though. He said he's pivoting and looking to other types of institutions that will help him grow his company. For other startups, however, there's limited room for flexibility. Startups are already feeling tariff pain President Donald Trump's rapidly shifting plans for global tariffs are making it harder to source cost-effective products, according to some founders. Recently, the administration authorized a 90-day pause on most of his reciprocal tariff plans but increased tariffs on China. The tariffs on imported goods from China will make products from Lead-In Record Co., an on-demand vinyl record manufacturing service for independent artists, more expensive, said Maximillian Obasiolu, founder of the startup. Obasiolu sources hardware electronics from China and said he will be forced to pass on any extra costs to his customers. 'These tariffs are bad for early-stage startups,' Obasiolu said. For other founders, the effects of the tariffs haven't fully materialized, but they're bracing for impact. 'We're six months away from it affecting us,' said Marshall Darr, founder of fintech startup StretchDollar. His company provides a platform that helps small businesses give pre-tax health allowances to employees so they can buy their own health plans. While companies with fewer than 50 full-time employees aren't legally required to offer health insurance, many still do. Darr said if tariffs raise operating costs for small consumer goods businesses, a significant portion of StretchDollar's customer base, some may opt to cut benefits like health coverage to stay afloat. That could mean fewer customers for StretchDollar. Cuts to research funds and anti-DEI rhetoric stifle growth Federal staffing cuts are also having an impact on local startups, according to Cally Myhrum Watts, founder of Lotus Fertility Insurance. Myhrum Watts's company works to expand access to affordable fertility care by offering add-on insurance policies that cover expensive treatments like IVF and egg freezing. Despite President Trump calling himself the 'fertilization president' and promising to expand access to IVF, his administration recently eliminated a team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that researched fertility treatments, Myhrum Watts said. For Lotus, losing data on the safety and effectiveness of in vitro fertilization at clinics around the country makes it harder for insurers to decide whether and how much to cover a treatment, Myhrum Watts said. The Trump administration's mandates surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are also impacting the customers who work with local startups. 'The whole dating app market is worried about DEI restrictions,' said Brandon Teller, founder of the queer dating app Bindr and the AI-driven content generation platform ColdStart. ColdStart was born out of a need to generate more users for Bindr, so the marketing around its services are inherently linked to the queer dating app, Teller said. Companies that don't want to be associated with anything LGBTQ+ are increasingly demanding that ColdStart not mention its link to Bindr. Teller said he has no plans to comply with these demands, but it's losing him potential customers. Grant cuts could cause some ecosystems to 'completely collapse' Disruptions to federal funding and the uncertainty around the future of government investment in startup ecosystems could have massive implications, according to Ben Klaber, a partner at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. The firm works with clients ranging from established, global Fortune 100 companies to enterprising startups. Ecosystems are built on government incentives, he said. For example, developments in clean energy have been made possible through the federal government's previous investments in the sector. Without federal investments, the ecosystem 'completely collapses,' Klaber said. Pittsburgh's startup ecosystem has received over $400 million in non-dilutive federal funding since the 1980s through Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer grants. It's helped many Pittsburgh-based startups get off the ground, but the future of what companies will get these types of grants is unclear. As a result of the uncertainty around government funding, some founders are actively avoiding it, like Todd Feiler, founder of the networking platform Ringlet, Inc. 'It's early enough in our journey,' Feiler said, 'that we have commercial alternatives.'
