This academic year, the Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital (EVC) Program at NYU Law made equity investments in three start-ups founded by NYU Law alumni: Flaus, an oral health company founded by Samantha Coxe ’17; Tome, an AI startup that helps founders navigate contracts, founded by Nadia Dugal ’11; and Sabai Design, a sustainable furniture company co-founded by Phantila Phataraprasit ’20.
Startups founded or co-founded by NYU Law alumni or students are eligible to apply for up to $50,000 in funding from the EVC as they raise seed-stage capital.
Coxe launched Flaus, a dental hygiene brand that features a patent-pending electrical flosser, in 2019, after she spent three years as a corporate M&A associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. In May, Coxe, who is Flaus’s CEO, appeared on the season finale of ABC’s Shark Tank: she received a $250,000 investment from entrepreneur and investor Candance Nelson in exchange for 8 percent equity in her company. At NYU Law, Coxe has received the Vanderbilt Medal for her extraordinary contributions to the Law School.
Tome, where Dugal serves as founder and chief operating officer, uses AI to comb through vast amounts of legal analysis to produce reports that founders and investors then use to help understand and navigate financing agreements and equity financing documents. Before founding Tome, Dugal worked as senior corporate counsel at Omidya Network and as a corporate counsel at 500 Startups.
While still a student at NYU Law, Phataraprasit co-founded Sabai Design, a furniture company focused on sustainable practices such as resale and repair, for which she received a grant from the EVC and an investment from the NYU Innovation Fund, in addition to winning $25,000 from the NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge. She also serves as Sabai’s CEO. For her work on Sabai, Phataraprasit has been named to Inc.’s Female Founders 100 and Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. She is the youngest-serving board member of the Sustainable Furnishings Council.
“It’s a thrill to see the remarkable progress of startups like Flaus, Tome, and Sabai which exemplify the diverse and transformative ventures that our alumni are creating,” says EVC director Emily Wazlak. “We are honored to work with Samantha Coxe, Nadia Dugal, and Phantila Phataraprasit and to contribute to their startup journeys through these investments.”
Posted June 26, 2024.