Even with a relatively nascent technology and startup scene compared with other states, Wisconsin has some impressive young innovators.
From founders raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund their early-stage companies to student inventors filing patents for their novel creations, there are bright, emerging entrepreneurs in Madison, Milwaukee and other corners of the state.
As Wisconsin builds its innovation ecosystem, a constant flow of new founders, creators and technologists emerge. To find the up-and-coming tech leaders in the state, Wisconsin Inno sought nominations for its fourth annual Inno Under 25 Awards. (Check out the 2020 Wisconsin Inno Under 25 list.)
After reviewing the submissions, the Wisconsin Inno and Milwaukee Business Journal editorial team chose five rising tech leaders to recognize on this year's list, as well as five others to watch.
Kristen Holtan, 24
Blue Line Battery co-founder and director of marketing
Holtan leads marketing for Beloit's lithium-ion battery engineering startup Blue Line Battery, which she joined as a college student in 2018. The company has raised $1.5 million to date from investors including Beloit's Grey Collar Ventures.
Before joining Blue Line Battery, Holtan started Socialightz, a company that sold light kits to customize and illuminate snowboards, bikes and longboards. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, she was actively involved in campus entrepreneurship programs.
Jalen Greenlee, 22
CEO of Flora Fruit Company
With ambitions to found "multiple Fortune 500 companies," Greenlee has big entrepreneurship dreams. In November 2020, he launched his first venture, fresh fruit subscription box startup Flora Fruit Company, which has since grown to 30 subscribers and around $33,000 in total revenue.
Flora Fruit Company was chosen to participate in gBETA Milwaukee's summer 2021 cohort and was recently among seven Black-owned Milwaukee businesses selected to receive a grant of up to $25,000 from the Jrue and Lauren Holiday Social Impact Fund.
Kylee Marks, 25
Associate director of business development, Optibrium Ltd.
While pursuing a Master of Business Administration and a master's degree in pharmaceutical product development at Concordia University Wisconsin, Marks did her graduate student research and served as director of marketing for Estrigenix Therapeutics Inc., a pharmaceutical company aiming to develop and commercialize a drug to treat hot flashes and dementia in post-menopausal women.
Marks led the company's business plan and investor pitch refinement and was a finalist in the 2021 Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Competition. After graduating in spring 2021, she accepted a job with Boston-based Optibrium Ltd.
Harsimran Kalsi, 22
Co-founder and CEO, Otto Sciences
As a first-year medical student at the Medical College of Wisconsin and as the co-founder and CEO of research and development marketplace Otto Sciences, Kalsi is poised to make a difference in the biotechnology sector.
Under Kalsi's leadership, Otto Sciences has been selected for multiple local entrepreneurship programs, including the gBETA Milwaukee accelerator and a $10,000 FOR-M grant from the MKE Tech Hub Coalition and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
Christopher Kardatzke, 21
Co-founder and chief technology officer, Quiver Quantitative
Along with his twin brother James, who was recognized on last year's Inno Under 25 list, Kardatzke founded Madison-based alternative data startup Quiver Quantitative in February 2020. The company collects alternative data — such as stock trading activity by U.S. Congressmen and popular Reddit discussion topics — and organizes it into a format that's useful for retail investors, who can use it to inform their own trades.
To date, Quiver Quantitative has raised around $625,000 from investors including the Idea Fund of La Crosse. Kardatzke has a bachelor's degree in statistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Others to watch
Here are some other rising technology leaders in Wisconsin who have the potential to make a splash.
Umer Sohail, 20
Co-founder of Abloh
Along with Pranav Srivastava, also age 20, Sohail co-founded education technology company Abloh, which is aiming to improve campus connectivity with its app and university-specific networks. The company has raised nearly $65,000 in investment capital to accelerate product development and implementation.
Sohail is also an intern analyst with Madison's Lancaster Investments, where he focuses on researching and vetting early-stage investment opportunities.
"The patience and thoughtfulness he has brought to our team and investment process has already begun to pay dividends for our company," Lancaster Investments director of operations David Becker said in his nomination of Sohail.
Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Sohail is a University of Wisconsin-Madison senior studying computer science and economics.
Paul Rinaldi, 21
ChemDirect intern, CEO of 5to9 LLC and Day and Night Consulting
Rinaldi is a software engineering major at the Milwaukee School of Engineering expected to graduate in 2022, but he's already making an impact in the local technology sector.
"Paul is a budding technology-driven entrepreneur guaranteed to make a major impact on the world," former Inno Under 25 winner and Milwaukee entrepreneur Erin Magennis said in her nomination of Rinaldi.
In addition to being a data and software engineering intern at Green Bay-based chemical marketplace ChemDirect, Rinaldi recently started two companies: an engineering consulting firm and 5to9 LLC, a startup that's creating technology to automatically turn online content into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that can be bought and traded.
Caleb Dykema, 25
Founder of Vault Sports LLC
West Bend's Dykema is a natural entrepreneur. As a mechanical engineering student at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, he invented 1Swipe, a patent-pending device that erases whiteboards with a single motion. He also started and hosted the entrepreneurship podcast “Just the Bulb,” which enabled him to interview more than 50 startup founders and business owners from around the world.
Dykema's latest venture is building sports bet tracking app Vault Sports, which is in beta and is expected to launch in late 2021. Dykema and the Vault Sports team are building technology that uses data and machine learning to help users track their bets and get suggestions for improvements.
Robinson Cook, 24
CEO of Birdwell Solutions LLC
As the CEO of Madison-based concierge software development agency Birdwell Solutions since 2019, Cook develops mobile apps and websites for small businesses and startups.
“Robinson and his team immediately grasped our concept and (were) able to structure the software and integration we needed,” RSE Energy Group owner and Birdwell Solutions client Ronald Raymond of West Orange, New Jersey, said in his nomination.
Cook is finishing up his last semester at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying computer science and electrical engineering. After graduating, he plans to focus on Birdwell Solutions full time and expand beyond contract work by developing his own projects. He's interested in creating personal authentication technology, he said.
Ariel Pershman, 24
Founder of Mira Eyewear
In spring 2018, Pershman was diagnosed with a chronic debilitating migraine disorder that made her so sensitive to light that lived with black tarps on her windows, often unable to attend class. Then a student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, she began prototyping sunglasses to help with the problem.
Pershman later transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she joined the UWM Startup Challenge program. She won the $1,000 second-place prize at the UWM Wisconsin Big Idea Tournament in March and the People's Choice Award at the virtual UWM Innovator's Expo in May. She recently filed paperwork for a provisional patent and an LLC, according to her website.
