Meet BostInno’s 25 under 25 for 2024

It's that time again for BostInno's 25 Under 25! This year's honorees are startup founders, community organizers, software programmers and exemplary students. The list this year includes the co-founder of a 3-D marker tool for better neurological patient outcomes, two university students working together to help college students get the most out of their undergraduate education, a business student turning her allergy ailments into clean product alternatives and recent graduates who are community leaders in Greater Boston.

Jessica Angeles, 25, Residency Program Manager at Mass Challenge

Jessica Angeles has always been big on community. Whether it's connecting friends to resources for their personal lives or helping up-and-coming entrepreneurs connect with vital resources, Angeles wants to help. The Tufts alumna started her community work as the program coordinator for the Valedictorian Project, a project supporting recent valedictorian graduates from Boston public schools by providing them with peer and senior mentors to guide them throughout their journey post-graduation.

Angeles is motivated by hearing entrepreneurs at MassChallenge, where she manages its residency program, speak about what excites them. Angeles focuses on supporting underrepresented communities and aims to maintain inclusivity as a core tenant in everything she does.

Ultimately, Angeles wants to genuinely help everyone she can and ensure that everyone is on the same playing field. She does her best to advocate for those who have to work a little harder to advocate for themselves.

Jasmine Bacchus, 24, Harvard Law Student

Jasmine Bacchus is one of Boston’s leading figures supporting diversity in entrepreneurship. She uses her academic and professional knowledge to provide impactful community events that unite diverse founders, gives them opportunities to access capital and deepen their connections to the entrepreneurship landscape. 

Bacchus is currently a 1L at Harvard Law School. Before Harvard, she worked on mergers and acquisitions and equity investments for Microsoft and worked as a venture associate with the Oxford Angel Fund. She is an ambassador for MassChallenge and volunteers for the BLCK VC chapter of Boston. Outside of her work with M&A for Microsoft, Bacchus was the chair of the Blacks at Microsoft New England, where she facilitated partnerships with Boston’s premiere business leaders and organized events like the Black History Month dinner. 

Rob Baldoni, 24, Co-founder of dannce.ai

Rob Baldoni Jr. began doing neuroscience research as a freshman in high school. He was struck by the lack of tools to measure brain activity in animals and humans. Inspired by health challenges in his close-knit family, he has focused on improving patient care. Baldoni is the CEO and co-founder of dannce.ai, a digital health startup spun out of Duke and Harvard.

The company is developing digital movement-based biomarkers and automated clinical assessments for patients with movement and neuropsychiatric disorders. In collaboration with Dr. Timothy Dunn at Duke University and Dr. Jesse Marshall of Harvard University, Baldoni commercialized dannce, a novel approach to clinical assessment that combines markerless 3-D pose tracking with behavioral analysis to create digital fingerprints of movement. These fingerprints can identify disease states and drug effects, leading to better neurological patient outcomes and more efficient drug development.

Ford Cousin, 22, Co-founder of Cheers Cash

Ford Cousin is a Babson student and co-founder of Cheers Cash, a platform that helps engage shoppers with gamification tied to sports and other predictable pop culture events. Cousin was instrumental in launching the company and shaping the product to attract early customers and investors. 

Early customers for Cheers Cash include Overtime, a leading GenZ sports community with over $200 million in funding and 25 million followers on TikTok, and several NFL and NBA licensed brands. Cousin also contributed to technology partnerships for his startup, like its partnership with Shopify and Attentive. Cheers Cash works with brand partners to create a content calendar with promotions that offer shoppers a gift card refund if they can predict the most exciting sports or cultural event that week.

Hugo Eechaute, 18, Founder of StockSense

Hugo Eechaute has always wanted to contribute to society and effect positive change. When a torn meniscus sidelined Eechaute in the summer of 2023, a conversation with his father turned the tragedy into an opportunity as he implored his son to focus his energy toward a greater purpose than himself. So, Eechaute set his sights on income inequality, but he quickly realized the scope of the problem was too large and instead decided to focus on the root cause: financial literacy. 

Eechaute developed StockSense, an app designed to empower students with essential financial skills to make financial literacy a fundamental right and not a privilege. When he conducted beta testing at neighboring high schools in September 2023, he saw immediate results, with 90% of students expressing interest in incorporating the app into their learning journey. Eechaute didn’t stop there and brought his app to the Massachusetts State House, where he advocated for a bill that would mandate financial literacy classes for high school students. The classroom is just the beginning for Eechaute, who wants to see his app transcend borders and provide financial literacy to the world.

Matheus Fonseca, 23, Co-founder of Moonsworth

Fonseca co-founded Moonsworth, a software development company that operates Lunar Client, the No. 1 Minecraft third-party launcher with over 15 million downloads, 2 million monthly active users, and a peak concurrent player count exceeding 120,000. Fonseca and his friends, Colin McDonald and Jordan Iribarren, co-founded Moonsworth while they were seniors in high school. The company and Moonsworth took off in 2021 when Fonseca and his team launched a new update, making Lunar Client available to more players. Now Moonsworth has a team of 40-plus employees that are globally distributed and collaborates with top gaming influencers and brands whose combined social media following is near 200 million.

The Suffolk University alumnus came to the United States from Brazil at the age of five and, after being featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2023, applied for an EB1 Visa, which recognizes individuals with extraordinary abilities. Through his work with Moonsworth, Fonseca obtained an EB1 Visa and Green Card, which has allowed him to continue working on his entrepreneurial passions.

Ahmed Ibreljic, 22, Co-Founder of EduX

Ahmed Ibreljic is the child of Bosnian parents who escaped the Bosnian genocide in the 1990s. Growing up in the United States, Ibreljic has overcome many obstacles and is now pursuing his PhD in electrical engineering at 22, all while working a full-time job. 

Somewhere within his busy schedule, Ibreljic has found the time to create EduX with his friends Joseph Nguyen and Daniel Maienza. Together, the team of three electrical engineering students is trying to revolutionize higher education scheduling for high school and university students. Through EduX’s AI-powered platform, students can find the optimal path to an on-time graduation. Together, the team won the Jack M. Wilson First to Market Award and $4,000 in funding at the 2024 DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge.

Skye Lam, 20, and Vienna Sparks, 20, Co-founders of MabLab

In 2023, Skye Lam and Vienna Sparks lost a friend to a drug overdose. The drug was laced with xylazine, an additive similar to fentanyl that isn’t picked up by current drug testing kits out there. Together, Lam and Sparks founded MabLab, a startup building five-in-one test strips to detect the deadliest lacing agents in drugs and drinks — providing users with life-saving results in minutes.

Together, Lam and Sparks have been working hard to launch MabLab. Their breakthrough innovation has earned them top accolades, including 1st Place at e-Fest 2024, 1st Place at the TiE Global University Pitch Competition, and 1st Place at the Columbia Engineering Fast-Pitch Competition. They were recently named a $25,000 winner in the 2024 Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge.

Nuno Mestre, 22, Founder of Rent Scoop

Nuno Mestre wants to revolutionize the renting process across America, and he’s starting right here in Boston. The UMass Lowell senior developed the website Rent Scoop in response to the constantly rising prices for renters in the United States. Mestre designed the website with features like financial help for new renters and a way to pay rent directly through the platform. According to Mestre, the platform will even have features for landlords to use to manage their properties. The site also has a university page allowing students to find roommates and off-campus listings specific to their university.

Mestre and his original partner, Anthony Terravecchia, won $4,000 from the Sutherland Innovative Technology Solution Award at UMass Lowell's Rist Difference Maker challenge last year.

Agrim Mithal, 20, and Spencer Park, 19, Founder and CSO of Undergraduation.com

Agrim Mithal, founder and CEO, and Spencer Park, chief sales officer, are part of Undergarduation.com, a peer-to-peer college guidance platform that aims to provide personalized and accessible guidance to high schoolers going through the college application process. Undergraduation started after Mithal saw a knowledge gap in applying to schools and scholarships and wanted to bridge that gap for incoming students. In 2023, Mithal set out to help students get $300,000 in scholarships in 30 days. By the end of that month, Mithal helped students get $1.5 million in scholarships.  

Undergraduation is built on the premise of assisting both high school and college students. Park and Mithal aim to provide resources for high schoolers who lack the knowledge to determine the abundance of forms, supplements, and options the college application process provides. In doing so, they are providing current college students who just went through the process with job opportunities. High school students can find over 100 college mentors for the 500+ high schools across Massachusetts.

Brynne Norquist, 21, Founder of Hiike

Brynne Norquist has been in the film industry for over a decade; she even wrote a feature film when she was 15. The Emerson student grew up acting in films and theater and has since transitioned into the production side of filmmaking. Norquist saw a gap in distribution resources while studying Film and Business at Emerson College. She led Emerson’s first film distribution program, Frames Per Second, the college’s longest-running film organization. In its inaugural year, Norquist helped secure Oscar qualifying festival acceptances for student films in the program.. 

Norquist founded Hiike, a film festival research and submission platform, to address challenges for both independent filmmakers and festivals. Since its launch, Hiike has gained significant traction. Norquist has pitched the product at prestigious events such as the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards and Northeastern IDEA’s Pitch-A-Thon. She was also one of 12 globally selected for the Dorm Room Fund Women’s Founder Track in the Summer of 2024 and completed the Girls Into VC Fellowship.

Julia Pangan, 23, BlueSwell Program Manager

Julia Pangan graduated from Boston College and immediately made a splash when she took over the program management of BlueSwell, an accelerator program for early-stage bluetech startups run by SeaAhead and the New England Aquarium. Pangan oversaw the selection process for BlueSwell, bringing some of the most compelling and exciting BlueTech startups SeaAhead has ever seen. Pangan’s work with BlueSwell led to the most successful and widely attended Demo Day the accelerator has ever seen.

Additionally, Pangan regularly works with interns from colleges and universities across Massachusetts and is passionate about introducing more young people to opportunities in New England's blue innovation ecosystem. Through her work with BlueSwell, Pangan has met and worked with new people who share her commitment to environmental, social, and economic impact.

Jason Plant, 24, Founder of HydroPhos and Green Lighting Energy

Jason Plant firmly believes that profitability and positive social and environmental impact can seamlessly coexist in a business. To that end, Plant has created his two latest ventures: HydroPhos Solutions and Green Lighting Energy. With HydroPhos, Plant wants to clean our waterways of high phosphorous levels and redistribute that phosphorous to local farms.

Plant’s other venture, Green Lighting Energy, was born to help his mother get the benefits of solar panels without breaking the bank. With GLE, Plant launched his Solar Horizons Program, which offers discounted prices of up to 10% to veterans and families of low socioeconomic status.

Before launching his ventures, Plant was president of Steady Growth Ventures’ partner nonprofit, Torrey Project, and launched its B First Consultancy. He also built the Investment Capital Accelerator for Steady Growth Ventures.

Surya Sai Brahmendra Ramoju, 25, Founder of Finder @ Social

Surya Sai Brahmendra Ramoju is the founder of Finder @ Social, a platform that enhances campus safety by fostering secure and supportive student interactions. The platform uses advanced data analytics and AI to verify users and personalize interactions, ensuring a safe and engaging community for students. The app has grown beyond a safety tool into a comprehensive social networking hub for academic collaboration, mental health support, and campus engagement.

Ramoju’s work has won the Lux Veritas Virtus award, and they have been included in the Huntington 100. His impactful work has earned him the Lux Veritas Virtus award, inclusion in the Huntington 100, and a prestigious Alpha Fund award from Northeastern University’s Center for Entrepreneurship Education.

Logan Reilly, 22, Service Delivery Lead of Digital Solutions at Valere Digital

Logan Reilly is the service delivery lead of digital solutions at Valere and the product manager and discovery lead at Valere Digital, where he specializes in user experience design, product discovery, business strategy and operations, product management, and marketing consulting. While at Valere, Reilly has mitigated communication and process inefficiencies, enabling clients to execute launches and scale their product visions seamlessly.

Reilly is also responsible for overseeing multimillion-dollar budgets at Valere and has worked as a lead project manager for a client and generated over $500,000 in total revenue. The Emerson graduate maintained a 3.98 GPA, played baseball and was the chief experience officer at EmComm, the Emerson marketing agency where he increased engagement by over 60%.

Chloe Samaha, 21, Founder of BOND

Chloe Samaha is a lifelong problem solver. At 15, she founded Beirut Biomimics to improve solar panel efficiency through biomimicry and became the youngest presenter at the World Biodiversity Forum. She also launched the Impossible Lebanon Challenge, raising $20k to help students address Lebanon’s most challenging problems.

Now, Chloe is tackling workplace inefficiencies with BOND, a leadership tool for managers. At 21, Samaha has already raised over $100k through pitch competitions and grants and sees no reason why the sky can’t be the limit. By 25, Samaha wants to establish BOND as the premier global leadership training tool, start an investment firm focused on female-led ventures, and, oh yeah, skydive in over 50 different drop zones.

Jeurys Santiago, 24, Founder of Minds With Purpose

Jeurys Santiago is a born entrepreneur with a lifelong passion for building community and empowering others. As a child, he sold Yu-Gi-Oh cards, bracelets, and hats at his father's barbershop in New York City. As he got older, his focus shifted from Yu-Gi-Oh cards to involving his community. His latest venture is Minds With Purpose, a networking platform dedicated to fostering growth, collaboration, and impact, particularly within the multicultural communities of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Santiago has organized musical events, social gatherings, and basketball games to get his local community involved.

Santiago was born in the Dominican Republic, raised in NYC, and now resides in Lawrence. He is a DACA recipient and a recipient of the Oprah Winfrey Scholarship, which, according to Santiago, set his life into motion and helped him continue his educational journey. He transferred to UMass Lowell, where he received his bachelor’s degree in business with a specialization in marketing and international business.

Riya Shukla, 20, founder of MatchBox

Moving back and forth across the country, from California to Boston, can be a logistical nightmare, and nobody knows that better than Riya Shukla. Shukla wanted to devise a solution for students like her, who had to move back and forth between coasts every summer, so she came up with MatchBox.

MatchBox connects students who have homes and want to make money with students who want to store their things for a cheaper fee. MatchBox has helped to earn students thousands of dollars over the summer, which can help pay for tuition, rent, and other student needs while creating peace of mind for out-of-state and international students. Shukla aspires to build solutions to real-world problems and hopes to expand to other universities nationwide in the coming year.

Evan Smith, 22, and Naomi Rajput, 21, Co-Founders of Eden

When Evan Smith was younger, he built computers, resold Playstations, and even started a business jailbreaking iPhones when he was in middle school. Evan Smith's insatiable curiosity and innovative problem-solving have propelled him from a tech-savvy middle schooler to a transformative healthcare entrepreneur. At 18, he founded his first healthcare startup to address critical PPE shortages during the pandemic. By 20, he helped launch a digital marketplace that donated $43 million in medication to uninsured patients in disaster-stricken areas.

The Northeastern graduate’s most recent healthcare startup is Eden, a way to tackle the insufficiencies in the US healthcare system. His co-founder Naomi Rajput, an internationally published researcher and Neuroscience student, uses her background as a medical assistant, combined with her clinical and technical skills, to fuel Eden’s mission to streamline healthcare operations. Together, the two use AI agents to automate workflows for medical professionals to reduce stress and ease the administrative burden, a leading cause of burnout for medical professionals.

David Thompson, 25, Senior Program Manager of FORGE

David Thompson grew up hearing about the adventures his grandfather and his great-uncles had when they started their own hardware supply business. Growing up with these stories inspired Thompson to work in an environment where he could make ambitious leaps. Thompson made his ambitious leap and joined FORGE while he was a student at Northeastern.

FORGE is a non-profit founded by Greentown Labs that helps hardware companies scale their business through educational resources on manufacturing topics and direct introduction to local supply chain partners. In his three years running FORGE, Thompson has consulted with over 450 startups on their product development needs, led over 15 educational events and supported over four regional startup showcases.

Shirley Wang, 19, Founder of Hackrah Media

Originally from Taiwan, Shirley Wang came to the United States for the opportunity to pursue her dreams but was faced with obstacles in her first year at Northeastern University in regards to her race, identity, and background. Wang sought out other underrepresented founders and local businesses in Boston and was inspired by their stories of resilience, strength, and dedication to the community.

Using the community around her, Wang founded Hackrah Media, a Gen-Z-led marketing agency that helps mission-driven organizations from underrepresented, historically marginalized communities hack the system. Hackrah creates space for young and diverse individuals to grow and nurture their skills, embrace their identities and come together to create a movement for good.

Sydney Wiredu, 20, Founder of Circlez

When Sydney Wiredu was transitioning from high school to college, he realized that many students were experiencing stress-induced burnout, and their productivity was dwindling. To combat this rising problem, Wiredu teamed up with his co-founder, Aiden Tahmazian, to launch Circlez, a social productivity app for students. The app is geared towards helping young adults reach their full potential by more effectively setting and tracking goals with friends.

The Harvard junior, who studies chemistry and Neuroscience, has spearheaded the company's growth. Harvard Innovation Labs backs Circlez as the only undergraduate representative of the lab. Rowan University’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Stamford Startup Society also support it.

Anastacia Yefimenko, 20, Founder of Elcove

For as long as she can remember, Anastacia Yefimenko has been sick. Rashes, watery eyes, shortness of breath, unexplained reactions, and sick days were constants in her life. The constant ailments from her allergies and asthma, paired with her dedication and passion for the environment, led Yefimenko to create Elcove in her freshman year at Babson, a line of zero-waste and nontoxic home-care products. 

Yefimenko’s time as an entrepreneur precedes Elcove. She first started a business selling lip balm in middle school, and Elcove is the natural progression of that entrepreneurial spirit. Yefimenko started developing Elcove in 2021 and, after a few years of R&D, launched her product in 2023. Yefimenko wants to free people from the myriad allergic reactions caused by chemicals in everyday house cleaners while keeping the products accessible. For now, she’s focusing on specialty retailers to sell her product, but eventually, she wants Elcove to be a household name.