Top 26 Founders.
Spotlighting the most promising founders building in New York and beyond.
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The founders.

Irakli Mirzikashvili
Briano · InsurTech · SaaS
“I want to prove that category-defining AI companies can be built from Georgia.”
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Itai Gafni & Roy Weisfeld
Huskeys · Cybersecurity (Edge Security Management)
“Organizations were not looking for another security product. They needed a better way to make the security they already trusted actually work.”
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Mou Dasgupta
Brook37 · CPG (Specialty and Wellness Tea)
“Every cup of Brook37 carries my father's standard forward.”
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Yochai Pagi
Psistar · Frontier Industrial AI
“The next decade belongs to the real, noisy, physical world — a frontier that demands new research.”
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Sarah Kraft
Koil · ConsumerTech (Career discovery for teens)
“3 in 4 US teens struggle to launch their careers, just like I did - so we're rebuilding LinkedIn, but for the next generation(s).”
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Jordan Smith
mymodel · Data Infrastructure · Consumer · Marketplaces · AdTech
“Tech Populism — the belief that technology, done right, can enable untold human flourishing.”
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Eni Maj
Travel Spoken · Consumer AI (Travel)
“I know what it is to feel like the world wasn't built for you and to go out and build your own corner of it anyway.”
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Cien Zhang
Topaas AI · AI Infrastructure
“Agents can write local code. They cannot understand the company's system. That gap is the whole business.”
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Davida Ginter
Eloo · Self-Building AI Workforce for Non-Technical Companies
“AI is now table stakes, but non-technical teams can't build reliable agents without engineers. Eloo closes that gap by turning every company into an AI-native business.”
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Varun Mishra
AgenQ Inc · Enterprise Software
“Enterprise software should be intelligent enough to adapt to the user, not the other way around.”
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Kevin Ghim
Summoner · AI · Supply Chain · Logistics
“The hardest part of a platform shift is rarely the technology. It's the trust.”
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Nyamitse-Calvin Mahinda
Vital Audio · HealthTech and General Wellness (Voice Biomarkers)
“I grew up learning that geography shouldn't dictate who survives. So we built a way to hear the world's heartbeat through voice.”
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Nikola Trajanov
Qlupod AG · Health Tech (Connected Medical Devices / Telemedicine)
“Building something meaningful is not about avoiding failure; it is about having the conviction to keep going when failure seems inevitable.”
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Michael Bervell
TestParty · Digital Accessibility
“I've spent my life often being the only one in the room. Now I build software that lets people in.”
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Teja Urankar
Butter Be Kind Inc · Beauty & Biotech
“Science creates better formulas. Nature provides the wisdom. Energy gives every ritual meaning. I believe the future belongs to all three.”
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Sanja Mitrovska
The Founder Games · Startup ecosystem & entrepreneurship
“I believe founders can become the role models of our generation if we dare to show the journey behind the success. That's the story we chose to tell.”
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Mihir Pathak
antitech · Technology (Strategy, Product & Operations Partnership)
“Entrepreneurship is ultimately an act of service.”
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Shikha Soneji
ConsenTerra · Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)
“People deserve to spend their time doing their best work, not drowning in paperwork to prove they're compliant.”
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Jaclyn Kilani & Catherine Isbell
SafeMindsAI · AI Trust & Safety (EdTech / SaaS)
“AI was becoming part of our children's daily lives, and we realized there was no control layer between them and AI systems designed for adults.”
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Umid Akhmedov
Tezbor · LogisticsTech
“I build practical infrastructure solutions for overlooked markets — moving fast where others see friction, because the places hardest to serve are the ones that need it most.”
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Nikola Milanovic
wellpet.ai · PetTech
“I would rather be wrong early and in public than right too late. When your product sits on a living animal, that is not a style choice.”
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Anna Belova
OpenWay AI · AI B2B (Growth Automation)
“I've built two categories that didn't exist yet. OpenWay AI is the third. Since I was five, 'impossible' has been a word other people used, never one I did.”
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Pilar Arthur-Snead
The Run Hub · SaaS · TravelTech · SportsTech
“Every runner knows there are a million ways race day can go wrong. Travel should not be one of them.”
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Filip Koprcina
Energy Shift · Climate Tech · Energy
“The energy transition cannot succeed if participation is limited to those who can already afford it.”
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Shahin Katebi
VitalStaf · HealthTech (Healthcare Staffing)
“Resilience matters more than confidence. Confidence gets you started; resilience keeps you building when you have to change course.”
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Wendy Herman
BRABAR · Apparel & Fashion
“Trust is infrastructure.”
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The ones who build the future get here first.
2026 nominations are closed. Get notified the moment the 2027 edition opens.