Purdue students save time and receive Discounts through startup’s new app

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A Purdue startup, UPrint, has upgraded its smartphone app to help Purdue University students save time between classes and earn discounts from local businesses.

The app was originally designed to help students print term papers and other documents at select campus locations. “Although UPrint still provides that service, we have updated our original app, and students are finding it even easier to use,” said Rick Li, co-founder of UPrint. “To get the discounts, students can simply bring the offer up on their phones and present it at the register. In the coming months, we plan to speak with and add more businesses that we know students visit regularly.”

Currently, the app provides discounts on beverages from Latea Bubble Tea Lounge and the Discount Den, as well as automotive discounts from Mercedes-Benz of Lafayette. Local businesses that want to advertise on UPrint platform can reach out through the team email team@uprint.io. Click here to learn more.

As graduates of Purdue’s College of Health and Human Sciences and School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Li and Joseph Watkins founded UPrint in 2015. The young company is one of the many startups to be launched out of The Anvil, Purdue’s student-run entrepreneurship co-working space. UPrint is now located in the Purdue Research Park.

“Using a university printer would typically take at least 5-7 minutes,” Li said. "Now documents can be printed in a matter of seconds. Our software and cybersecurity experts ensure that student information is completely secure because the application never stores student information. Our app is merely a bridge of communication from their phone to the printer.”

The printing app helps students avoid standing in line and having to log into email. However, the best part is that the app is free of charge to Purdue students. Li projects that the app will have 4,000 to 5,000 student users by early 2018.

About Purdue Research Park

The Purdue Research Park is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation and is the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The Purdue Research Park manages the Purdue Technology Centers in five sites across the state of Indiana with locations in West Lafayette, Indianapolis, Merrillville and New Albany. The more than 260 companies located in the park network employ about 5,000 people. In 2016, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities co-named the Purdue Research Park a top recipient for an Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Designation for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about leasing space in the Purdue Research Park, contact 765-588-3470 or click Purdue Research Park.

About the Anvil

The Anvil is the largest co-working space operated by university students in the U.S. and is available for use by Purdue University students as well as the surrounding community. The Anvil is located at 320 North St. in West Lafayette, Indiana, adjacent to the Purdue campus. 

Writer: Lyna Landis, 765-588-3575, lklandis@prf.org 

Source: Rick Li, rickli@uprint.io