SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Syracuse University’s Orange Innovation Fund grants student entrepreneurs money to support research projects built on campus. The fund, offered through LaunchPad and SU Libraries, allowed students to pursue their business ideas. This fall, the fund gave six students the opportunity to make their ideas come to life.
SU sophomores Mitchell Breakstone and Gabi Josefson were two of the students who received $5,000 in funding for what they called EXCHKR.
“As a young company, the biggest issue we face is having enough money to build a sophisticated product, especially in the industry that we’re trying to go into in fintech,” Breakstone said. “This grant will go a long way in creating our full product.”
The SU Libraries website described EXCHKR as “a platform that simplifies how clubs, sports teams and Greek organizations manage payments and track budgets.”
Josefson discussed how the idea came about.
“I saw my peers who are student leaders struggling,” Josefson said. “They were sitting over their computers, trying to manage money over $60,000 in bank accounts. It was just being run by a 20-year-old and a Venmo. And I looked at it and I was like, there’s got to be a better way.”
Breakstone and Josefson found out they were recipients of this grant earlier this week after applying a few months ago. The pair hoped to develop a scalable app within the coming months.
EXCHKR will be an app and a website where club leaders can plan events, manage their rosters, organize their expenses, collect dues and see alumni of their organization.
Josefson said they aimed to create a seamless platform to connect clubs and organizations all around the Syracuse campus.
To learn more, visit exchkr.com.