Cottage Co. is a virtual incubator and digital marketplace for home-based food businesses across the United States, starting in the San Francisco Bay Area’s Alameda County. The platform integrates an online marketplace with a customized, self-paced incubator so that home-based food business entrepreneurs can be sure they’re operating safely and legally while expanding their reach to new customers.
Narmadaई co-creates sustainable, affordable, and culturally relevant homes for communities displaced by India’s Sardar Sarovar Dam, currently living in 12′ by 16′ tin-sheds. The team will use permaculture design, scalable natural building techniques, and local community knowledge to build homes that bring joy and a host of co-benefits.
SeaWipes proposes a revolutionary shift in single-use hygiene products by introducing biodegradable wet wipes made from seaweed-based bioplastics and fabric. Addressing environmental concerns associated with traditional wet wipes, which contribute to sewer blockages and microplastic pollution due to non-wovens (plastic fibers), SeaWipes offers a sustainable, quickly decomposing alternative.
Synaptrix Labs is revolutionizing mobility for severe motor impairments through brain-computer interfaces. Their flagship device, Neuralis, leverages EEG signals from the visual cortex, and enables precise wheelchair control via evoked potentials. Neuralis redefines independence, offering unparalleled freedom through cutting-edge brain-computer interface technology for paraplegic patients with ALS or SCI.
Code Blue is a plugin built into users’ devices that is designed to detect the early signs of stroke by analyzing already-in-use video and audio streams. It then alerts emergency services and the user’s emergency contact on onset of symptoms to expedite medical intervention, preventing long-term damage and death.
Systemic inequities manifesting through language, caste, geography, religion, and literacy have kept powerful women leaders across rural India from accessing resources to end violence in their own communities. One in three women faces violence in her lifetime. 50-67% of Dalit and Indigenous women in rural India, one of the most oppressed group of women in the world, face sexual violence. Parity Lab is an innovative community accelerator for rural women-led organizations that foster community-driven solutions to end gender-based violence. Parity Lab is an embedded support system that provides capacity building, coaching and community for 1.5 years. Parity Lab aims to support grassroot organizations through Organization Capacity Building (Fundraising; Data; Communications), trauma-informed coaching in local languages for founding teams, and access to a subscription-based 24*7 legal helpline
Café con Cariño is a specialty coffee business and hub dedicated to carving a new path within the coffee industry by creating opportunities for economic freedom for migrants and BIPOC workers. We have identified three significant hurdles that impact the entry of BIPOC individuals into the coffee business–a toxic food service industry, overrepresentation of white leadership, and a business landscape that prioritizes profit over creativity. We will address these hurdles by curating an experience predicated on 1) worker collaboration, 2) educational and literacy building, and 3) culinary experimentation to ensure that immigrant and BIPOC workers are allowed the opportunity to cultivate comprehensive skills in the foodservice industry. The Café Hub will host a comprehensive support network for rising service industry professionals by facilitating direct access to industry specific skills-building, legal advice, and knowledge shares that are focused on empowering individuals to lead, innovate, and push for a cultural shift in the industry.
As cities expand, keeping up to date records of properties becomes harder and harder. Municipal governments simply don’t have the infrastructure to maintain accurate and timely geospatial data to help them carry out public services. Current methods for land mapping require costly airplane flights, complex drones, expensive LiDar equipment, and a team of geospatial analysts to parse the complex information into usable data. This is why BlackPrint created mapping-as-a-service, a subscription based product that allows municipalities to obtain the most up to date information about their land on a yearly basis. All of this while maintaining low costs, rapid delivery times, and seamless integration into current softwares. The BlackPrint team leverages computer vision algorithms to extract 3D building footprints from satellite imagery, essentially creating a digital twin of the terrain from across the world.
The US is currently in a maternal health crisis. Even though 84% of maternal deaths in the US are preventable, the maternal mortality rate steadily rises, disproportionately affecting Black people who are currently 3-4 times more likely to die in childbirth compared to their White counterparts. Birth By Us is an innovative technology that provides comprehensive check-ins at sequential points in pregnancy and postpartum through quality questionnaires that give Black birthing people personalized health insights and top-tier, culturally responsive, and Black–specific resources. Upon completion of each questionnaire, the app analyzes and uncovers users’ top concerns, yielding tailored visit preparation and recommended resources. In addition to this, Birth By Us plans to include auxiliary healthcare providers such as doulas, lactation consultants, etc. to help mothers build their best, holistic care team. With this, BBU empowers Black mothers and birthing people to shape their birthing experience while giving providers and hospital systems the necessary insights to best support their birth. We intend to expand to other marginalized populations to help everyone achieve their best birthing experience.
