Scout Brisson (Southern California 17-20)
CEO, De Soi
Hanging with Katy Perry isn’t the coolest thing that’s happened to Scout in recent years. After her 2021 encounter with the music icon-turned-apéritif aficionado, Scout learned about Katy’s company, co-founded with master distiller Morgan McLachlan. Their resulting non-alcoholic beverage company—De Soi—was in need of a General Manager and Scout fit the bill. Scout, who had cofounded the successful better-for-you food company—Deux—was eager to help reduce the pressure to drink in social settings.
Under her leadership (now as CEO) De Soi has raised $13 million in funding and its retail presence has grown to more than 5,000 locations, including major retailers like Target, Publix, and Sprouts.
Cydney Kim (New York 17-19)
Co-founder and COO, Fortuna Health
Imagine a TurboTax for Medicaid: that’s the pitch for Cydney’s Fortuna Health—a software that makes it easier to enroll in and renew the low-income government-sponsored health insurance program. Alongside her two co-founders, Cydney has raised $4.3 million from investors, including Y Combinator and Andreessen Horowitz.
Kanishka Rao (New York 18-22)
Co-founder and COO, Carenostics
100 million Americans live with undetected chronic conditions. Carenostics, founded by Kanishka and his father, seeks to help them all. The duo has raised $5.5 million to develop AI-powered software that helps physicians identify, evaluate, and intervene on their high-risk patients earlier for conditions such as chronic kidney disease and asthma.
Stephanie Lee (New York 17-20)
Vice President, Charlesbank Capital Partners
Stephanie’s spent four years at the private equity firm Charlesbank Capital Partners, overseeing $18 billion in assets under management. She joined as an Investment Associate in its flagship fund, and in 2023, was one of two employees in the company’s 25-year history to be directly promoted to Vice President without an MBA. As an investor on the business services team, Stephanie has led deals such as a majority investment in Aprio—an Atlanta-based accounting firm—and has also advised on investments in Accordion Partners, MB2 Dental, and MDVIP.
Krish Mehta (New York 18-20)
Co-founder and CEO, PHNX Materials
Krish wanted to put his Stanford Masters’ degrees in Business Administration and Climate Technology to good use. So he did just that with Phnx Materials, a company that turns coal ash—traditionally unusable waste from mining—into valuable products like titanium, aluminum, and rare earth materials that are needed to make electric vehicles. The startup's goal is to replace up to 30 percent of cement with coal ash and refined waste ash in order to reduce the carbon footprint of the cement industry, which currently makes up eight percent of global carbon emissions. The San Francisco-based company has raised $3 million from investors (including Activate and Overture VC).
Ronan Shah (Bay Area-Silicon Valley 19-21)
Co-founder and CEO, Conduit Commerce
Rohan and his childhood friend Rahul Sinha want to “consolidate the world’s inventory” with their company Conduit Commerce. Conduit connects retailers and suppliers so that they can handle all their inventory, drop shipping, and supply chain needs and queries in one platform.
Backed by Susa Ventures, First Round Capital, and Night Ventures (among others), Conduit has facilitated $150 million in sales for distributors and retailers (including Universal Music Group and Stark Carpets) this year alone.
Joanna Chung (New York 18-21)
Co-founder and CEO, NectarVet
To manage their practices, veterinarians often spend countless hours doing manual data entry and chasing down paperwork. As CEO and co-founder of NectarVet, Joanna wants to change this. By creating a created a cloud-native, end-to-end ecosystem for vets, the software is already helping vets at approximately 350 practices. And they’re just getting started, having raised $4.2 million in investment so far.
Maya Kuppermann (San Francisco 18-20)
Co-founder and CEO, Temelio
Maya got an early start to her career, founding her first organization at age 12, which provided secondhand dance clothing to children. But when she switched to working in the for-profit space, she realized how far behind nonprofit technology really was.
So, in 2022, she cofounded Temelio, which offers a simple, intuitive product that allows foundations to manage the grantmaking process from beginning to end. The company, which has raised $4 million, facilitates more than $130 million in grants, working with organizations such as Kapor Foundation, Peloton, and McNulty Foundation.
Ben Veres (Chicago 17-20)
Co-founder and CEO, Kateri Carbon
When Ben started Kateri Carbon—a carbon and biodiversity developer for grasslands—he wanted to provide ranchers with the infrastructure to optimize their operations so that they can earn money and help the environment by sequestering carbon. The inspiration came at a cattle tracking and behavioral modification technology company, where Ben and his co-founder had the idea to use the technology to improve grazing to sequester carbon. They’ve subsequently raised about $3.1 million.
Pedro Siciliano (Rio De Janeiro 18-22)
Founder and CEO, Teachy
Raised on a budget of $500 a month, Pedro grew up with a single mother in Brazil. He credits education as the cause of his success, and, consequently, spent five years teaching on a pro-bono basis after engineering school. He got experience working at our Firm and at an edtech company, before going on to launch Teachy—a tool that helps teachers in the developing world build lessons faster through AI, centralizing one million pedagogical materials. Some 700,000 teachers now use the app. Pedro’s company has nabbed a total of $8.3 million in funding, including a just-announced Series A.
Emily Cohen (New York 20-22)
Principal Investor and Head of Accelerator & Community, Neo
Emily joined early-stage venture fund Neo in 2022, where she works as a Principal Investor. There, she’s co-led dozens of investments, including GPTZero, Telo Trucks, and Caldera. She launched and leads the Neo Accelerator, a three-month annual program for 20 early-stage companies, and oversees Neo's community initiatives, including a 300-person conference and monthly events; this model has led to 45 percent of Neo’s capital being invested in startups led by women or underrepresented minority CEOs.
