Age is just a number. That’s something Greater Philadelphia’s next generation of innovators proves every day, wasting no time in creating and commercializing products, securing patents and leading potentially groundbreaking developments.
PHL Inno is proud to recognize 14 such individuals as this year’s Inno Under 25 honorees. Now in its third year, Inno Under 25 highlights individuals 25 years of age and younger who are making a positive impact in the region through innovation. To determine the list, we sought nominations from the public and also considered candidates identified from past reporting.
These individuals are a microcosm of the region’s talent and are the product of its many higher education institutions. Some are current college students while others are recent graduates. Their areas of business range as widely as the schools they hail from, including cosmetics, medical devices, food and beverages, and software. Whatever their focus, these young entrepreneurs are already disrupting their respective industries with new inventions and novel spins on existing products and services.
In the profiles that follow, get to know more about each of them.
Gabriela Cano, Gabriella Daltoso, Sophie Ishiwari, Tifara Boyce and Caroline Magro
co-founders, Sonura
Ages: 22
Company headquarters: Philadelphia
Industry: medical devices
Five bioengineering students from the University of Pennsylvania came together to create a device that makes a newborn’s first few days more peaceful. The Sonura Beanie filters out the constant sounds of machines and medical devices in neonatal intensive care units, patients for which the device is designed. That constant noise can be detrimental to the development of a newborn. Caroline Magro initially drew inspiration for the device while working in the NICU at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She soon discovered her friend Gabriela Cano has a sister that is a NICU nurse. Together, they developed their senior project, which has since evolved into much more. In May, the Sonura team received Penn’s President’s Innovation Prize, which includes a $100,000 award and a $50,000 living stipend per team member. Over the summer a group of the founders, who each graduated from Penn in 2023, took part in the Pennovation Accelerator at Pennovation Works. Cano, Gabriella Daltoso and Sophie Ishiwari will stay in Philadelphia to continue developing the business, while Tifara Boyce and Magro are planning to attend medical school.
founder, Aer Cosmetics
Age: 22
Company headquarters: Philadelphia
Industry: cosmetics
Paige DeAngelo, a 2023 graduate of Drexel University, is looking to disrupt the beauty industry with her sustainable makeup brand, Aer Cosmetics. Initially planning to pursue a career as a meteorologist, while in school DeAngelo saw how much waste comes from the cosmetics industry and wanted to find a solution to the mounting problem. She developed a mascara formula that comes in a tablet and is activated by and dissolves in water. To further sustainability, Aer Cosmetics has a reusable tube so consumers can reduce plastic waste. Both are readying to launch in the market and DeAngelo has a patent pending on the technology. The innovative approach is already gaining traction. After presenting at Drexel’s Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship’s Startup Fest in 2021, DeAngelo participated in its Baiada Incubator Competition where she placed second, scoring a $6,000 prize. She followed that up with another second-place finish earlier this year, this time in the nationwide Draper Competition, pulling in $20,000. DeAngelo also placed first in the North American Global Student Entrepreneur Awards competition after winning the Philadelphia regional. In the long-term, DeAngelo’s goal is to expand Aer Cosmetics into a complete collection of lower-waste cosmetics.
founder and CEO, Lectra Technologies
Age: 23
Company headquarters: King of Prussia
Industry: biotechnology
After seeing his mom struggle with osteoarthritis, a condition characterized by joint pain, in 2020 Jake Henry created Lectra Technologies. Its flagship product, LectraTape, is similar to kinesiology tape for athletes but with built-in technology. That technology is able to monitor feedback from muscles and nerves and can produce small shocks to muscles to boost recovery. It’s not just for athletes, but for individuals looking to track and monitor their long-term muscle recovery. LectraTape aims to change “rehab from reactive to proactive” and spot potential injuries before they happen. A recent graduate of West Chester University, Henry was a finalist in the Baylor New Venture Competition, CEO National Pitch Competition and the Health Sports Tech Pitch Competition. He’s currently raising pre-seed money for Lectra. LectraTape is available for pre-order and he hopes to roll the product out to market in the first quarter of 2024.
founder, Munch Industries
Age: 22
Company headquarters: Philadelphia
Industry: beverages
In her senior year, Nastassja Kuznetsova teamed up with four fellow University of Pennsylvania engineering students to create the equivalent of a fountain soda machine for bubble tea. The popular drink – which has a tea base with “bobas,” or small, chewy tapioca balls in it – is projected to grow into a more than $4 billion industry by 2030, according to a study from Fortune Business Insights. As of last year, the same study put its market value at an already sizable $2.29 billion. Originally known as Orble Tea and since rebranded to Munch Industries, Kuznetsova’s company has the potential to play a major role in that growth. More than growing the industry, Munch is also looking to be part of an increasing wave of food and drink automation. The company’s flagship product, the Orble, automates the bubble tea making process and then cleans itself internally between orders. The machine, which stands over 5 feet tall and weighs 771 pounds, is similar to a vending machine, accepting payment cards and wireless payment options. After founding Munch Industries with fellow 2023 Penn grads Esther Amao, Sophia Anzai Takahashi, Lada Korotaeva and Sarah Tadlock, Kuznetsova will continue leading the company. This summer, Munch Industries was part of the Pennovation Accelerator and will run pilots on the machine in the spring with plans to sell it and its ingredients thereafter. Kuznetsova is actively seeking angel investors to make the prototype manufacturable.
executive director, Vincogen Corp.
Age: 25
Company headquarters: Yardley
Industry: biotechnology
Alexander Lai is working at the intersection of two hot industries locally and nationally: artificial intelligence and biotechnology. An executive director at Yardley-based Vincogen Corp., Lai spearheaded the development of a generative AI model known as VincoAI. It’s thought to be among the first generative AI models to predict peptide-protein binding sequences, and the company says it can ultimately be used in various areas of research and the development of drugs, vaccines and therapeutic candidates. Vincogen was originally founded in 2000 as a precision medicine company and is today leaning into artificial intelligence. The goal is that products like VincoAI can have ripple effects on Greater Philadelphia, which is increasingly becoming a hub for cell and gene therapy innovation. The technology could be an incentive for major pharmaceutical companies to set up shop here. Lai is no stranger to the industry, having earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Penn State University before going on to Harvard University, where he earned his master’s degree in biotechnology.
analyst, Osage Venture Partners
Age: 25
Company headquarters: Bala Cynwyd
Industry: venture capital
James Massaquoi brings a unique perspective to the startup and venture capital world, having seen both sides of the ecosystem. While a student at the University of Delaware, Massaquoi launched 3D modeling company 360VR Technology, raising over $375,000 in funding for the venture which he piloted with four enterprise customers. Massaquoi studied English with a concentration in entrepreneurship, graduating in 2020. He’s since transitioned to venture capital, today working as an investor at Osage Venture Partners, with a specific focus on educational technology, health care, enterprise software as a service, fintech and retail startups. Before joining the Bala Cynwyd firm, Massaquoi managed an account worth more than $300 million with Amazon. Massaquoi, a first generation American who is originally from Sierra Leone, has an impressive resume already, having interned at Google, DuPont’s venture arm DuPont Ventures, and as a policy intern in the office of Delaware Gov. John Carney. He was also a University Innovation Fellow at Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. Paying his experience forward, he sits on the board for Philadelphia-based Seybert Foundation, which provides grants to child-focused nonprofits, and is a junior board member for Junior Achievement of Delaware.
founder, 4U Medical Designs
Age: 21
Company headquarters: Glassboro, New Jersey
Industry: medical equipment
Hospital rooms are rarely welcoming places. Recent Rowan University graduate Nicholas Nastasi is working to change that by adding color to a sea of otherwise stark medical devices, the goal being to reduce fear and anxiety for patients. His company, 4U Medical Designs, creates kid-friendly, colorfully printed stickers to cover medical devices. Instead of a clear IV bag, one could be covered in smily faces, while a syringe could be adorned in a flower print. The company has secured a third-party tested patent for the stickers. Individual sticker rolls start at $15 while bundles are in the hundreds of dollars. The company earned Nastasi first place at the CEO Global Conference and Pitch Competition in Chicago in December, winning an $8,000 prize. He followed that up with a win at the Rohrer College of Business’ New Venture Competition in April, netting him an additional $2,500. He’s now looking to expand into the medtech and adult sectors of health care. To that end, he is working on a new product with a goal of rolling it out in the coming months. Thus far, Nastasi said his stickers have been used in caring for thousands of children at more than a dozen hospitals across the nation.
product engineering manager, Carbon Reform
Age: 23
Company headquarters: Philadelphia
Industry: carbon capture
Though only 23 years old, Rakesh Ravi has quickly become a leader at fast-growing local startup Carbon Reform. The University of Pennsylvania graduate spearheads product development for the company’s Carbon Capsule, work that has been instrumental in creating its flagship modular carbon capture device. Carbon Reform’s carbon capture device retrofits onto existing HVAC systems to reduce carbon dioxide output from commercial buildings. Founded in Wilmington, Delaware, Carbon Reform recently moved its headquarters to Philadelphia. The company last year raised a $3 million seed round and has plans to raise additional funds this fall. Ravi’s work hasn’t been limited to engineering. While a student and as part of the Penn Social Entrepreneurship Movement, he designed Positive Externals, a mission-driven company that made apparel to fund micro loans for developing businesses.
Gunti Weissenberger and Magnus Weissenberger
co-founders, ParkPlug
Ages: 22 and 20
Company headquarters: King of Prussia
Industry: software, electric vehicles
The global electric vehicle market is projected to swell from $193 billion in 2022 to more than $693 billion by 2030, according to Vantage Market Research. Tapping into the growing industry, brothers Gunti and Magnus Weissenberger teamed up to create ParkPlug. The software has an accompanying app that integrates electric vehicle charging with private clubs and residential communities. Based in King of Prussia, ParkPlug allows property owners to automatically bill residents or club members for their time using electrical chargers for their vehicles. The duo, who are from Villanova and are today both students at the University of Miami, also created ParkPlug-branded charging stations to accompany the software and offer an option for a custom-built charging station.
