Applications are open every semester

dates subject to change

To encourage and support aspiring, entrepreneurial students at SDSU, we have developed the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center Seed Fund. This fund grants students access to pivotal, early-stage micro-funding. The goal of this program is to create more viable, founder-based SDSU companies.

The Lavin Seed Fund is designed to provide funds directly in support of qualifying SDSU students who are experimenting with business startups.

The Lavin Entrepreneurship Center Seed Fund is open to any current qualifying SDSU student who is currently participating in either the Lavin Entrepreneur Program or the Zahn Innovation Platform Launchpad

Access to the Seed Fund is based on the availability of funds.

Applications for the Spring 2025 Period is closed.

SDSU SEED FUND

The Seed Fund is intended to provide nondilutive, micro funding to qualifying SDSU students to help advance their business.

  1. Identify a key milestone resulting in a funding gap, the milestone should be measurable and objective
  2. Identify the funding gap required expenses by item and dollar amount to achieve the milestone
  3. Attend office hours to ensure the funding request is supported by the Seed Fund
  4. Applicant may apply multiple times to the Seed Fund for a total of $5k. The intent of the fund is a series of smaller nondillutive, micro funding.

We intend to offer the Seed Fund once each semester depending on the availability of funds. If you are interested in making a donation to the Seed Fund, you can do so here: LINK. All donations are tax-deductible and gifts made before December 31, 2025 will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Zahn family.

The Lavin Entrepreneurship Center Seed Fund is open to any current qualifying SDSU student who is currently participating in either the Lavin Entrepreneur Program or the Zahn Innovation Platform Launchpad.

Application is open from June 24, 2025 - July 21, 2025.  If selected, presentations will be July 30, 2025 and July 31, 2025.

Office Hours

To contribute to the Seed Fund, click on this LINK and select Seed Fund from the designation dropdown menu. All donations are fully tax-deductible and gifts made before December 31, 2025 will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Zahn family.

Seed Fund Spring 2025 Winners 

Congratulations to the Spring 2025 Seed Fund Winners!  

Redtrieve

Amount Awarded $3,000
Jai Sharma
Sanchit Singh

Protocol Grip Trainer

Amount Awarded $4,358
Wayne McClellan

Shira 

Amount Awarded $899
Eytan Gipi

Aquaponics SD 

Amount Awarded $2,435
Claudia Ylagan

Dress Code

Amount Awarded $1,718
Eddy Benton

UniExchange 

Amount Awarded $700
Sandy Basaka

Ashter Robotics

Amount Awarded $606
Ash Ilaty

Past Seed Fund Winners

  • DJmote - $4,500
    Imminent Victory
    Jake Chao
    Zachary Ebel 
  • SK8M8- $3,186
    Tor Gasteiger
  • GreenGrip - $2,344
    Kanna Uchida
    Rachel Dakin
  • Aquaponics- $750
    Claudia Ylagan
  • SD Saucer- $4992.16
    Selene Alvarado Martinez 
    Paulina Vaughn

  • Plethys - $2,150
  • Kuvri - $3,500

For more inquiries, Contact us.

Jennifer Patel 
Operations Manager 

Office Hours