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Completion announcement · August 1, 2025

The two-month program connected AstraQua with UCLA Anderson’s workshops, mentors and early-stage founder community.

AstraQua team members at the Venture Accelerator at UCLA Anderson.
Loay Elbasyouni, Kosta Varnavas, Matthew Ramirez and Matthew Stevens at the UCLA accelerator.

AstraQua completed UCLA Anderson’s 2025 Summer Activate program, a two-month initiative supporting early-stage founders through the Venture Accelerator. The university named AstraQua in its June 24, 2025 cohort announcement, and founder Loay Elbasyouni subsequently reported completing the program.

The cohort brought together 31 early-stage ventures. UCLA described the program as a setting for founders to develop their business models and minimum viable products. The Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation’s completion recap described work on product ideas, market definition and company foundations, supported by workshops and access to the accelerator’s community and resources.

In his completion post, Elbasyouni described refining AstraQua’s vision and working alongside other founders over the two months. The program provided time to clarify the business around the technology, with guidance from mentors and the Venture Accelerator team.

The Summer Activate experience forms part of AstraQua’s engagement with UCLA’s entrepreneurship community. Later in 2025, the company also presented at the UCLA Draper Innovation Showcase.

Read UCLA Anderson’s original cohort announcement and the founder’s completion account for the historical record.

Loay Elbasyouni is an award‑winning NASA engineer best known for helping fly the first helicopter on Mars as a lead engineer on the Ingenuity mission. His career spans breakthrough work in electrification, robotics, and autonomy across NASA, Blue Origin, and the automotive industry. As Founder and CEO of AstraQua, he is now advancing AI‑powered autonomous systems built to operate reliably where energy, connectivity, and conditions define success.