Pittsburgh Money Moves: STEM Coding Lab plans to use RK Mellon grant to scale its mission

Sure, we’re only a few weeks into 2024, but that doesn’t mean big things haven’t already been happening for Pittsburgh companies.

From grants to acquisitions, local tech orgs continued their efforts to shore up their futures in one way or another. If some of the good news escaped your notice in a post-holiday daze, never fear — we’re always glad to help you catch up.

STEM Coding Lab awarded RK Mellon grant

STEM Coding Lab wants students to have access to STEM education. Executive Director Casey Mindlin told Technical.ly in 2022 that the organization can take that education directly to students by traveling from school to school hosting after-school programs or running a summer camp.

As a nonprofit, STEM Coding Lab largely relies on the kindness of donors to fund its mission, from the Pittsburgh Foundation to Duquesne Light Co. The most recent support came last week, when STEM Coding Lab announced a $635,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

This isn’t the first time the RK Mellon Foundation has funded the nonprofit, having donated $250,000 in April 2022. The most recent grant aims to enable the organization to bring computer science programming to more students — as many as 4,000 across 40 more locations, per STEM Coding Lab.

“While funds from this grant will be deployed in different ways to support different efforts, our central goal remains the same: to provide computer science education to kids who wouldn’t otherwise have access to it,” Mindlin said in a statement on LinkedIn. “With this grant, our team now has the capacity-building partnerships necessary to bring those efforts to scale statewide.”

First Insight acquires SnapRetail

SnapRetail, a Pittsburgh digital marketing platform seeking to boost in-store sales and online sales programs for retailers, has been acquired by First Insight, Inc., a Warrendale-based global retail solutions provider.

While the financial details of the acquisition weren’t disclosed in the orgs’ announcement, First Insight’s leadership noted that they believe SnapRetail’s platform will broaden the company’s offerings and deliver valuable insights with regards to product design, marketing, and the supply chain.

For First Insight’s part, CEO Greg Petro, said the acquisition is a sign of confidence in the company’s data insights and will improve the company’s existing decision-making capabilities.

“We expect future acquisitions that will further fortify our ability to amplify retail operational outcomes,” Petro said in the announcement. ”SnapRetail’s innovative consumer engagement programs are aligned with and will seamlessly integrate into First Insight’s consumer-centric expertise, adding depth and muscle to our data capabilities aimed at converting consumers into loyal customers.”

Ansys partners with Astrobotic

Just one week before Ansys announced it would be acquired by Synopsys in a $35 billion deal, on Jan. 8, Astrobotic began its journey to the moon via Peregrine Mission One. The North Side-based space tech company didn’t act alone: Alongside other partners, Astrobotic used Ansys’ virtual design and mission planning to calculate the chances of its mission’s success.

Astrobotic leveraged the Ansys’ tools to design 20% of the Peregrine Lunar Lander, per a press release, as well as evaluate and optimize the spacecraft’s performance using Ansys Mechanical. The company also used Ansys’ Thermal Desktop to examine the factors for optimal launch opportunities as the Peregrine flies farther from Earth.

“As one of the first [Commercial Lunar Payload Services] missions, the Astrobotic Peregrine lander serves as de facto pathfinder,” said Shane Emswiler, SVP of products at Ansys, in a written statement. “Astrobotic needed Peregrine to perform predictably in a hostile environment, and there is no way to do that with only physical testing on Earth. Ansys has a long history of providing high-fidelity simulation solutions to civil, defense, and commercial programs, repeatedly proving reliability in uncertain conditions.”

Astrobotic’s efforts to gather post-launch payload data have been fruitful, but due to a propellant leak on Jan. 9, the company reported a soft landing on the moon was unlikely. Here’s update #18, published on Jan. 15:

Update #18 for Peregrine Mission One pic.twitter.com/pREs3THP9z

— Astrobotic (@astrobotic) January 15, 2024

More Money Moves

• EfficientAI, a computer manufacturing company run by Carnegie Mellon University researchers, secured a $16.2 million raise, according to an SEC filing.
• The Naval Nuclear Laboratory awarded University of Pittsburgh researchers $900,000 for the purpose of developing machine learning algorithms that can prevent circuit boards from being compromised by malicious actors.
• The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection was awarded $3 million from the US Environmental Protection Agency to develop a Priority Climate Action Plan to reduce the emissions from the state’s industrial sector.