Summer Venture Studio (SVS)

Summer Venture Studio is Rice University’s selective cohort-based entrepreneurial experience for Rice student founders. This 3-month summer intensive program is meant to provide equity-free funding and individualized support to advance student ventures.

Submit interest form.

Who is SVS for?

The Summer Venture Studio (SVS) is open to Rice University student founders from all majors and degree programs, including students graduating the May the program begins. SVS is industry and technology agnostic. You can join SVS as a solo founder or as a team (teams must be led by a Rice student). If your program requires you to have a summer internship for financial aid purposes, Lilie will work with you to supply funds to meet your income requirements.

Most importantly, SVS is for founders who are committed to their ventures and have made tangible progress in moving them forward. This means:

  • You’ve engaged in initial customer discovery and identified a beachhead market

  • You have a proven track record of actively developing your venture

  • You aren’t joining just for the money, but to get your venture to the next level

Meet the 2026 SVS Cohort

Actile Technologies | Founder: Barclay Jumet

Actile develops wearable smart fabrics that communicate critical information through the language of touch, helping operators' eyes & ears stay focused on their environment in national defense and other demanding settings.

DHI Tech | Founders: Dev Sanghvi, Madhuvani Thatiparti, Aneesh Thatiparti

DHI Tech is developing a plug-and-play edge AI layer for surveillance networks that makes every camera a smart device, covering 25+ safety, compliance, and security use cases out of the box.

Kairos Health | Founders: Adhira Tippur, Sanjana Kavula, Tanush Chintala, Aditya Jain

Kairos is an AI-powered patient intake platform built specifically for independent dental practices.

Lucero Health | Founders: Halbert Kim, Rohan Dharia

Lucero Health is a digital platform that connects patients to supplemental resources, turning non-medical needs into actionable care beyond the clinic.

MedIQ Health | Founders: Suran Somawardana, Jacob Lei, Patrick Bednarz

At MedIQ Health, we are developing hardware and software solutions that help asthma patients and their doctors better manage their condition.

Codene | Founders: Adam Towner, Saul Brauns

Codene is building the AI platform for go-to-market engineering. Founders describe their product, and Codene discovers ideal customers, executes personalized outreach, and accelerates the journey from launch to revenue.

Vantage | Founders: Gavin Firestone, Nolan Connolly

Vantage is an AI motion coach that uses computer vision to deliver instant, actionable feedback on exercise technique and programming.

Magma Health | Founder: Ramtin Shahzanian

Magma clones real companies into high-fidelity RL environments.

Coop | Founders: Adithiya Balaguru, Arnav Bhalla

Coop is building an early respiratory disease detection system for poultry farms using AI to analyze audio feeds collected from poultry houses.

What are the benefits of SVS?

Students accepted into the program have the opportunity to receive equity-free funding and individualized support from mentors, successful founders, VCs, and other experts that will bolster their personal and venture growth.

What is SVS like?

SVS provides founders the time, space, and resources to focus on developing their ventures in a collaborative and encouraging environment. The program runs for 12 weeks and covers everything from crystallizing the target market, to identifying technical needs, to perfecting your pitch. At the culmination of the program, each company pitches in a final Demo Day to celebrate all of the work they accomplished over the summer.

SVS teams use dedicated coworking space in Lilie to work full-time on their ventures and make tangible progress. You’ll participate in a variety of learning and networking activities led by industry-leading experts, including:

  • Accountability sessions

  • Meetups and socials

  • Founder 1:1s

  • Daily office hours

  • Workshops

  • Pitch practices

  • Mentorship sessions

  • Founder round tables

We carefully balance these activities with unstructured Get Stuff Done time to move the needle on your ventures, ensuring you don’t get suffocated in lectures that prevent you from catalyzing your progress.

When you’re accepted into the program, you’ll gain an incomparable network of fellow entrepreneurs not just for the summer, but for life. The SVS team is composed of experienced founders who have built and managed world-class accelerator programs across the country. SVS participants build relationships with each other and the broader startup ecosystem through peer-to-peer learning, custom mentor matching, and cohort activities.

How do I apply for SVS?

Before completing the application below, ensure your team and venture meet the following requirements:

  • Lead team member must be a current Rice University student (additional team members do not need to be Rice affiliated)

  • No more than five members per team

  • Team must be able to participate in in-person activities in Houston from mid-May to early August

The application should be completed by the lead team member. You may also apply as a solo founder.