nvigor: student group hopes to connect undergrads across campuses

Penn‘s got a tech scene. So does Drexel and Temple and Lehigh, too. But how do you get those disparate communities to work together?

nvigor, a student entrepreneurship group led by Drexel and Penn undergraduates, hopes to do just that by hosting student-focused events, offering student scholarships to tech conferences and developing an educational program for Philly’s undergraduates.

“Most colleges students only interact within their university ecosystem,” said nvigor cofounder Dias Gotama in an email to Technically Philly. “We see that as a problem since we believe that one of the most important parts in developing a sustainable startup community is engaging students [at an] early stage.”

It’s not solely a cross-campus effort, either. The nvigor team also hopes to expose college students to the tech scene that’s growing right here in the city. With the launch of other student-focused initiatives like First Round Capital‘s student-run Dorm Room Fund and Campus Philly‘s growing interest in the local tech scene, one hopes that nvigor’s programming — like its upcoming Philly Health Codefest and Student Startup Summit (see sidebars) — can get Philly’s young entrepreneurs excited about growing their startups in the city.

Brain drain is a common narrative around these parts. As investor Wayne Kimmel recently said, students are the city’s “natural resource” and we’re letting them get away.

The nvigor team is made of four 21-year-olds: Drexel students Gotama, Brad White and Abhiroop Das, as well as Penn student Pulak Mittal, who co-organizes the popular PennApps student hackathon. Collectively, they’ve worked at tech giants like SAP North America and Siemens, as well as Facebook and local Philly startup Ajungo.

Read more about nvigor on Flying Kite.