Atlanta Inno's 25 Under 25

If there's one thing we know in the tech world, it's how important tomorrow is. And who knows that better than the young entrepreneurs of today?

Atlanta's booming tech industry is home to a number of young founders and tech innovators who are taking their careers in their own hands. And we want to honor their efforts.

Atlanta Inno has selected 25 innovators ages 25 or under who are shaping their communities, making moves and building future. What makes our list so special is that it includes the tail end of the millennial generation under 25 (the last year Millennials were born was in 1995); a majority of those who made our list are members of the up-and-coming Generation Z. Our youngest selection is just 7 years old.

These are kids of the Recession, a post-9/11 world where tablets took the place of Gameboys, social media became their social experience and tech companies became the most powerful and profitable companies in the world.

If children of the 1980s were TV kids and those of the 1990s were the internet generation, Gen Z is the IoT generation---where tech has integrated with every area of life, with no signs of slowing down. So what ideas and startups are born from a generation that, put simply, has never been without the power of technology? We're about to find out.

Please note, some entries include several innovators under one company name. We've included highly technical businesses along with makeup startups, food companies and more.

2. Aerodyme Technologies, Inc.—Tyler Boone (23), Jayce Delker (24), Victoria Delker (22), Joy Bullington (22): Aerodyme Technologies, Inc., a Georgia Tech startup developing an efficient, universal and practical rear-mounted aerodynamic attachment for tractor trailers, was born out of a senior design project in the Georgia Tech Capstone Design course. The technology boosts truck driving efficiency and lowers gas consumption and cost. "From the beginning, we knew that if we put in the work and took this seriously, then it would be very possible for us to continue on with the idea and be in the position to fully leverage all of the resources in Georgia Tech, Tech Square and the rest of Atlanta. Thankfully, that’s exactly what is happening to us now!" co-founder Tyler Boone said. The startup won the Best Overall Project for Mechanical Engineering at the Capstone Design Expo with a cash prize of $1,000 and was accepted into the Georgia Tech Create-X Startup Launch program. Next steps for Aerodyme will be to nail down a full IP portfolio, complete their second full scale prototype, perform a long distance road test to get real world fuel economy improvement numbers, tool up their shop for assembly of these devices and get presales.

3. AuxBox—Shahar Ben-Dor (19): Ever battled your friends over who has control of the music or the aux cord? The problem is solved with AuxBox, a platform users can link to an Apple Music or Spotify account and invite friends to create a playlist. The idea was originally a hackathon project submitted to HackGT and placed among the top eight out of around 200 projects. "People tend to tell each other about songs and music that they enjoy in social situations when they are both listening to music. We wanted the sharing experience to be seamless and enjoyable," Ben-Dor said. The startup was selected to join Georgia Tech's Create-X program. AuxBox plans to implement a subscription model into the app and start generating revenue in the near future.

4. BackBar Solutions—Kevin Monpara (22), Rishabh Kewalramani (23), Brian Kaplan (22) and Adam Elghor (22): After turning of age, the founders of BackBar Solutions became frequently frustrated when they ordered drinks at their favorite bars. They decided to take pregaming to a whole other level; they decided to skip the bar altogether and created a cocktail machine for their apartment. "From that day, we've been trying to make a product that would help bars deliver perfectly-made cocktails faster, so their guests can have a great time," Monpara said. "We flooded our apartment countless times during product development. Early in the process, when we were still figuring out what we were doing, we left our machine on while we went to class. When we got back from class, water was spewing in every direction as we tried frantically to turn off the water and limit the damage with mere paper towels. We’d like to be able to say that never happened again, but at least we learned something new every time it happened." The BackBar Solutions automated cocktail dispensing machine can make several cocktails at a time faster than a bartender, which allows the person behind the bar to focus on hospitality. The startup was part of Georgia Tech's Create-X program and most recently joined the HAX Accelerator. "While we finish product development with HAX Accelerator, we are finalizing venues to participate in our first pilot program," Monpara said.

5. Cheff— Chase Brooks (22), Cristian Corrales (20), Joey Jackson (21) and Nicholas Montoya (21): Chase Brooks, an industrial engineer at Georgia Tech, started Cheff in October 2018. Cristian Corrales is also an industrial engineer at Georgia Tech, Nicolas Montoya is an electrical engineer from the University of Florida and Joey Jackson is a computer scientist at Georgia Tech. Their startup, Cheff, is a restaurant management tool that helps businesses track inventory, organize their finances and more.

6. Edicratic—Eithan Martinez (21), Yukt Mitash (20) and Christopher Scherban (19): Georgia Tech students Martinez, Mitash and Scherban know just how difficult essay writing can be. There's nothing worse than getting a paper back you've worked hard on with red ink all over it. Edicratic connects users with verified editors who give peer reviews on their essays.

7. Emrit—Aditya “Adi” Arul (11): Just before his summer break began, Adi Arul learned about the Helium Hotspot, a platform anyone can use to earn a new cryptocurrency. The platform runs on a LongFi protocol, which can send data 200 times farther than normal WiFi through IoT devices such as scooters, dog collars and more. Arul, who claims to be the first 11-year-old to own part of a peer-to-peer wireless network, is the son of Arul Murugan, who recently closed a $200 million VC fund for Algo Capital. Adi presented to the Metro Atlanta Chambers' Grow council meeting in front of 150 corporate executives along with MailChimp, Invesco and other companies. Emrit is completely bootstrapped. Arul said he used $5,000 of his own savings (collected by doing chores) and invested it into an early-stage blockchain company last year. Arul made a $100,000 return on the investment, which he used to fund Emrit. "I took a portion of that return to buy 50 hotspots and also to hire Emrit’s first employee. I did use $450 of my savings to buy video games. I love to play video games and VR." Arul, who loves to golf and received his black belt in karate at age 9, said he hopes to expand his company throughout the southeast shortly.

8. Ethos Medical—Dev Mandavia (23), Lucas Muller (23) and Cassidy Wang (23): Ethos Medical is developing a needle guidance system that helps practitioners insert needles into the spine for procedures like epidurals and spinal taps. "We’ve seen firsthand the procedures we are trying to improve at hospitals like Emory, Grady, Northside and the Mayo Clinic," Dev Mandavia said. "The current standard of practice for spinal taps is to palpate the patient’s back before blindly inserting the needle. After multiple unsuccessful attempts, the patient is sent to the radiology department where the procedure gets repeated under live x-ray guidance. This exposes the patient to radiation and poses enormous non-reimbursable costs to the hospital." The team has spoken to 150-plus physicians and nurse practitioners about the problems they face when doing these procedures. By August, Ethos Medical had a fully functional prototype, preliminary efficacy data on a gelatin model, patent pending status, a professional regulatory assessment, and user study results and feedback to gauge product-market fit. Since graduating in from Georgia Tech in 2018, the founders have been working full-time on their startup. Ethos Medical has been a part of the Create-X Startup Launch accelerator and named as an ATDC Accelerate portfolio company. The startup won 1st place at the 2019 Georgia Tech InVenture Prize competition. The founders are currently raising a seed round to fund FDA regulatory testing. 

9. Evident—Katrina Kanode (25): At just 25 years old, Kanode works as an account executive for Evident, a cybersecurity startup that provides online identity verification services. Kanode joined the team in November 2017. In 2018, she was responsible for closing the company's largest deal, to-date, which necessitated expansion of Evident's verification specialist team to handle the large volume of requests generated from the new customer. Shortly thereafter, she landed Evident's first international customer in the U.K. With her leadership and drive, the company saw a 300% increase in YoY customer growth. In her first two years working for Evident, Katrina has juggled no less than 50 accounts at a time. Some of the notable client wins that Katrina is most proud of include: Wag!, Wonolo, and TrustedHousesitters.

10. Forever Earth—Ria Uppalapati (17): Most high school seniors are daydreaming about their college days, but Uppalapti, a 17-year-old senior at Walton High School is running a 501c3 nonprofit. Uppalapati started Forever Earth, which promotes sustainability in Marietta and Atlanta. "Our goal is to connect local businesses and people with technology and events that allow them to live a more sustainable life and transition into wasting less," she said. "We also focus on education and promoting environmental awareness both locally and internationally, and we are proud to sponsor the college education of a child in India who has dreams of becoming a sustainable agriculturalist in the future. We host battery recycling drives and shredding events to help people dispose of their waste in an environmentally friendly way that also does not outsource waste to third world countries." In addition to her time as a CEO, Uppalapati has written and published a book called, "In My Backyard," that raises awareness to the issue of petroleum in both the environment and the economy. She also serves as a member of the Marietta City Council board Keep Marietta Beautiful. "I am currently working with Wellstar and their EVP Dr. Brennan to reduce their waste at their hospitals," she said. "Most people do not realize, but hospitals are the biggest waste producers and energy users in the state because of the number of people they house and take care of throughout the city. Our program will reduce food waste as well as incorporate a new technology that allows us to take food waste and turn it into an efficient fertilizer in order to get the maximum use out of waste."

11. AMINA Ceuticals—Jasming Jones (18): During her first year at Georgia Tech, Jones began to investigate common skin irritations caused by makeup products. Through her research Jones was able to develop her initial product---a 98% natural face primer. She created her startup AMINA Ceuticals, which offers premium skincare products formulated for women of color. The company makes natural and non-toxic products that address the unique needs of diverse skin types. "We are breaking through an industry where diversity has never been a topic of discussion, through our unique customer-first mindset," Jones said. "Our team consist of people from various background such that we make sure that everyone is able to see a version of themselves within our brand." The company has participated in the Georgia Tech Create-X program.

12. Landing Pad—Anthony Mistretta (23), Hemanth Bellala (21) and James Lowe (21): LandingPad creates direct booking websites for short-term rental hosts. The founders worked closely with STR hosts and found that hosts struggle to differentiate their properties on marketplaces such as Airbnb, Booking.com and other sites. "Through working with these hosts, we realized that if they continue to rely exclusively on marketplaces, they will continue towards commoditization," Mistretta said. LandingPad took part in the Create-X program and is currently developing its platform.

13. Lil Ice Cream Dude's Cool World Ice Cream Shop—Victor "Beau" Shell (15): Most kids love ice cream, but Shell, better known as the "Lil' Ice Cream Dude," takes it to another level. For his 8th birthday, Shell begged his parents for an ice cream cart. Since then, he's in his eighth year of operation and just opened his first brick and mortar store in Athens on his 15th birthday. "Although I am only 15 years old, I have been working hard in my business since I was 8 years old," Shell said. "I have worked every summer since 2012 without one vacation." His days consist of AP classes in the 10th grade, marching band and serving customers at his ice cream shop and catering business. "I don't complain because I'm doing what I love," he said. "I want to be as important and memorable to ice cream as Ben and Jerry and I know that is going to take many more years and nights of doing what I love, selling and, soon to be, making my own ice cream ... Both my parents now work for me and I am honored and humbled. My dad retired from his job of 32 years and my mom left a 17 year teaching career to help me pursue my ice cream dreams." Shell has completed two crowdfunding campaigns to raise more than $24,000. In the near future, Shell said he's interested in making and distributing his own line of ice cream and starting a franchise.

14. Lucky Mobility—Sneh Parmar (24), Nafis Azad (22) and Philip Bale (24): Lucky Mobility is a location-based marketing platform that allows brands to gather consumer insights and engage with people as they move throughout a city using mobility services (ridesharing, e-scooters, bikeshare, public transit, etc.). Parmar said he and his co-founders first came up with the startup after witnessing firsthand the transition to micromobility. "This completely new infrastructure allows us to be connected to our cities around us with transportation for the first time," he said. "We realized that we could use this change in consumer behavior and new infrastructure to create a completely new marketing channel that provides benefits to people, brands, and mobility services." Though the team originally began building a parking payment solution for off-street parking in garages, they made a complete pivot to Lucky Mobility. The startup has gone through Ascend 2020, a pre-accelerator in Atlanta that’s part of TechSquare Labs, J.P. Morgan Chase and the Morehouse College of Entrepreneurship. Luck Mobility was also accepted into the ATDC Accelerate program, and an accelerator called Start Co. Sky High Accelerator. "We’ve raised $75,000 of pre-seed funding through an angel and our accelerator and are currently raising our $1.2 million seed round," Parmar said.

15. Countable Technologies—Alex Madison (19), Arvin Poddar (19) and Drew Cutchins (20): In addition to being co-founders, Madison, Poddar and Cutchins have been friends since high school. Earlier this year, they created the concept for Countable, a startup that provides WiFi sensors to bring foot traffic data and crowd metrics to retailers. "We have been able to fully build out our hardware/software solution for six shops around Atlanta," Madison said. The startup was part of the Create-X program and are currently working to close a $20,000 investment from Christopher Klaus, a former Georgia Tech student, founder of Internet Security Systems and supporter of Create-X. The founders have received a $1,000 grant from 1517 Fund and won Best Overall Idea to Prototype Project at the Spring 2019 I2P Showcase. 

16. Next Century Farms—Adarsh Sasi (22), Melvin Juwono (22), Samuel Hill (23), Austin Segars (22) and Austin Lee (22): Next Century Farms, a startup founded by three Georgia Tech graduates and one student, develops products that automate various tasks in poultry farming. They have developed a monitoring solution that provides sensor data, such as humidity level, ammonia level and temperature, to farmers in order to detect mortality in a poultry house. The startup's egg blockage detection solution detects egg blockages on the egg belt in breeder houses before they happen. The startup was part of the Georgia Tech Create-X program.

17. Octogifts—Sebastian Flores (13): When Flores was 11, he designed a candy dispenser card for a friend who loved sweets. In January of 2019, he revisited this idea and redesigned his card in the shape of a heart for Valentine’s Day. After uploading his products on Etsy, the online marketplace, his cards sold out within hours. OctoGifts is a startup that creates handmade cards with variations. Flores has sold almost $1,000 worth of product and he's in the process of securing a patent for his designs. He and his mother, Melanie Flores, pitched at the 2019 Alpharetta Business Expo, where OctoGifts was one of three featured startups. In his spare time, he enjoys competitive swimming, origami and LEGO building. Flores is currently working on a do-it-yourself kit, so customers can make candy dispenser cards at home.

18. Press Sports—Conrad Cornell, CEO (24) and Drew Williams, CMO (24): During their senior year of college, Cornell and Wiliams, founders of Press Sports, realized there was a negative stigma that prevented a majority of athletes (including themselves) from posting highlight footage of their plays on social media. Press Sports is a social media app that allows athletes to build a fan base that they can share sports highlights with. "Because of this we don't have any footage from our athletic careers in an easily accessible place the same way we have our social memories on Instagram for anyone to see," Cornell said. "We surveyed middle schools and two high schools and realized that kids were still having the same issues even today." At the age of 8, Cornell was diagnosed with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis. He says this life challenge taught him and his co-founder to value each day. "Two months into remission my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer," he said. "Going through this myself and then with her I was able to develop a relentless mindset that eventually let me to playing Division 1 college baseball after feeling all the major pain points of the recruiting process." Cornell has cotinued his basball career with the Great Britain National Team and is currently in Germany for the European Championships. Press Sports is an ATDC Accelerate company and is currently raising a seed round. Cornell said they are preparing to release a web app that will allow athletes to share their profiles via email.

19. Quik Threads—Dylan Harper (22): Quik Threads is an online retailer committed to transforming second-hand apparel into valued and convenient finds for consumers. Founder Harper, an Oglethorpe University graduate, created Quik Threads in 2018. "At Quik Threads, we care about improving self confidence and empowering people through clothing, and we can only achieve this purpose by making clothing both accessible and affordable," he said. "Because our items are second-hand, we can offer them to customers at prices that fall way below the market average of first-hand retail." Quik Threads launched its website in September.

20. Quit with Nix—Thomas Olson (21), Mohammed Aamir (23) and Cory Stine (23): At 21-years-old, Olson was facing an issue so many other young people are: nicotine addiction. A smoker turned vaper, Olson's nicotine habit got out of control when he started vaping to curb his cigarette habit. Nix makes it easier for users to quit smoking or vaping using a Nix Dual-Chamber Pod. A smoker simply inserts one of the pods into their vaping device and continues their regular usage. Nix's algorithm will begin to curb a users nicotine use until they can quit vaping. "Everyone in the country is focused on the vaping crisis," Olson said. "It's bringing a lot of attention to the issue, and maybe it's helping a few people decide not to start vaping, but it doesn't actually help the millions who are already addicted. As far as I can see, we're the only ones trying to solve the core of this problem: addiction." Nix is part of the Create-X Capstone Class and won the People's Choice Award at the InVenture Prize competition. The founders are currently seeking funding to begin manufacturing their product.

21. Sora Schools—Indra Sofian (22), Garrett Smiley (21) and Wesley Samples (23): Sora Schools is an online, project-based high school where students get to explore their interests and gain valuable exposure to future careers and fields of study. The three founders said they didn't have the greatest high school experiences. "We agreed that there were a lot of parts we just didn't like, so we started coming up with ideas for how we would improve high school on our white board," Sofian said. "After that, we kicked off an innocuous side project: we would research the problems with high school today and see if that matched our own experiences and hypotheses." After spending months talking to school founders, developmental biologists, education policy experts and teachers, the founders realized the entire high school system needed to be revamped. Sora Schools has raised $150,000 from strategic angel investors, including John Danner of Rocketship Education. The startup was part of the Create-X program at Georgia Tech. The founders have received a Y Combinator's Startup School grant. "We plan on continuing to grow our student body and establish partnerships with companies and organizations for work opportunities and exposure for students," Sofian said.

22. Swatchcandy—Anisha Matharu (22), Sabrina Moin (24) and Josh Madwed (22): Matharu and Moin were tired of buying makeup that didn't meet their expectations. When the two met during a interdisciplinary mobile apps course at Georgia Tech, they decided to create an app that would represent how makeup actually looked on people of color. Swatchcandy is a mobile app that finds makeup colors based on a users complexion and shows them curated photos of real people showcasing the products. The app has created a proprietary database of swatches, or makeup samples on the skin, shown on a wide range of skin tones. "The lack of diversity in the beauty industry is finally getting the attention it deserves, and our team is at the forefront of empowering people of color," Moin said. Swatchcandy was awarded at the 2019 Convergence Innovation Competition at Georgia Tech and members of the Create-X program. The founders said they are preparing to launch a full version of the app for Android and iOS by the end of the year.

23. T&N Bow Ties and Apparel: Treandos Thornton (7): Thornton started his company at 5-years-old. Yes, you read that right. He's the founder behind T&N Bow Ties and Apparel, an authentic kid-operated online bow tie boutique. Today, at age 7, Thornton markets bow ties, traditional neckties and women’s scarves. Thornton was inspired to start the business by his father, who often wears bow ties. He admits his parents help him by keeping track of his company’s paperwork. Since starting his business, Thornton has led a food and toy drive for the last three years. He is the youngest recipient of the BOLD Award in Leadership. He dreams of becoming a cardiologist and a bow tie boutique business owner. In the next two years, Thornton plans to expand his business globally.

24. Thou Swell—Kevin Francis O’Gara, Founder/Editor, (22): O'Gara started his blog, Thou Swell, out of his love for design, photography and branding. "As it grew, I was approached by home decor brands to produce sponsored editorial projects and I’ve since worked with dozens of brands and grown a social following of over 50,000, and launched an original rug collection under my brand Kevin Francis Design," he said. From designing and selling Tumblr ‘themes’ in middle school to building a lifestyle and design platform through his blog and social media, O'Gara has had the entrepreneurial drive. "As a serial entrepreneur, I’m excited to take my experience from Cornell’s Hotel School and explore hospitality collaborations in Atlanta," he said. "I also plan on expanding my product collection and continuing to engage with the exciting world of design in the city."

25. Toucan AI—Arjun Devarajan (22) and Vishnu Menon (22): Co-founders Devarajan and Menon started their company, Toucan AI, while they were doing deep learning research as undergrads at Duke University. "We're pursuing a uniquely research-driven approach to this problem, and the platform we've built is, on average, 1000x faster to set up an AI salesperson than anything else is on the market," Devarajan said. "We've been rapidly prototyping and have started to onboard customers quickly, with an open launch planned for December of this year." Toucan AI lets small-to-medium sized e-commerce companies set up an AI salesperson in just 3 clicks. The AI handles sales conversations on websites and guides consumers to the right product by asking and answering questions. Toucan AI was part of an accelerator program called Play Labs up at MIT in the summer of 2018. The founders raised an angel round at the end of 2018, led by Atlanta-based angel fund Seraph Group. Toucan AI plans to conduct a soft launch at the end of this year.