It's been said that age is just a number.
When considering the achievements of Rhode Island's second annual Inno Under 25 list (check out last year's here), however, one would be remiss to not acknowledge and celebrate those innovators driving change for the better before their 26th birthdays.
The innovators on our list are from all over the Ocean State, tackling a host of unique problems in different industries. Some are as young as 17. All are doing the kind of work that both bolsters the Rhode Island tech and startup ecosystem and has the potential to impact the whole world.
So, go ahead and meet this year's recipients, listed below in no particular order. Recipients were selected after considering reader nominations, relevant news and other editorial insights.
Enjoy!
Andrew Bikash and Ben Grossman | Kanu
These two University of Rhode Island juniors developed Kanu, an app-based, peer-to-peer network that aims to help other URI students get their own concepts off the ground. Currently, the app is being tested both on campus and in URI's College of Business' lean startup course.
"They did so much right, and it impressed me,” said early Kanu adivser and URI professor Nancy Foster-Holt in a profile on the duo. “The two had over sixty plus interviews with students, to get to the bottom of this problem they foresaw and saw who else had that problem.”
Ethan Binder, 22 | GoPeer
You may recognize Binder from last year's list, but the recent Lafayette College graduate's work with GoPeer continues to earn him acclaim. His startup, which works to connect high school students with local, college-age tutors, closed an oversubscribed $265,000 funding round in August (participants include Deborah Quazzo, managing partner at San Francisco-based GSV AcceleraTEand Slater Technology Fund). Additionally, his team graduated from both the Social Enterprise Greenhouse’s Impact Accelerator program, MassChallenge Rhode Island and MassChallenge Boston.
Andrew Calore, 25 | Blue Box Firewall
Calore is a two-time founder, having first began his foray into entrepreneurship at age 12. At 17, he grew an IT support company to prominence and 30 states. Today, Blue Box Firewall works to bring enterprise cybersecurity to "the everyday business," he told Rhode Island Inno. The company has been recognized as one of CRN's Hot New Small Business Products. In addition to his work with Blue Box, Calore is on health tech nonprofit FastTrek's board.
Abigail Kohler, Greg Fine | ResusciTech
Did you know that CPR currently has only a 40 percent success rate? ResusciTech, helmed by two Brown University students Kohler and Fine (and also B-Lab cohort participants), wants to fix that. Enter their startup ResusciTech, which has debuted a product that gives first responders feedback on their compressions in realtime. Said feedback then allows rescuers the opportunity to adjust their technique — thus resulting "in higher rescuer confidence in their performance of CPR as well as increased quality of care and survival rate for victims of cardiac arrest."
Savannah Martin, 23 | SupplyRI
Martin serves as the SupplyRI Program Assistant at the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation. In this role, Savannah is responsible for providing the SupplyRI Anchors with reports of local suppliers for upcoming procurement opportunities. She is also responsible for supplier engagement, program on-boarding and database administration. And, she coordinates the supplier technical assistance training and works with the Assistant Director to plan and execute SupplyRI events. One of the more dynamic projects Savannah is working on establishing a supply chain for one of the nation's newest emerging industries, Offshore Wind. Prior to becoming the Program Assistant, Savannah was the SupplyRI intern in the summer of 2018. She continues to work towards her goal of obtaining a bachelor’s degree at the University of Rhode Island, majoring in supply chain management. This semester, Savannah is currently taking classes at the Community College of Rhode Island and is very excited to be a part of the College Leadership Rhode Island Program, Class of 2020.
Xander Monge | Deft Film
Providence-based Classical High School graduate (class of 2019) Monge also just happens to own Deft Film, a full service media agency that's "built for the now." He's already amassed an impressive suite of clients: the Rhode Island Music and Arts Festival, Newport Vineyards and even the Tennis Channel. Additionally, he has a full YouTube channel of short films.
Robbie Felton, Samuel Prado and Teo Tsivranidis | Intus Care The trio of Brown University students (which includes class president Felton) have developed a tool for in-home care organizations, one that allows data storage, scheduling payroll in more in both software and an app. In addition to its work in Brown University's most recent B-Lab cohort, the team pitched at the Brown Venture Prize Night and have additionally shared their work during a presentation at Venture Café Providence.
Francesca Raoelison, Brown University | Omena Raoelison, a Madagascar native, is developing an educational platform that teaches children between the ages of 6-12 about both emotional awareness and healthy relationships in an effort to better identify and extricate themselves from abusive situations. The inspiration for her work, which she further developed in Brown University's B-Lab, was realizing through her peer educator training that abuse is more than just physical, and that it often begins with emotional manipulation.
Isabella Silverman and Alexa Leone | H2GO
Silverman and Leone, two seniors at the University of Rhode Island majoring in ocean engineering, have developed a solar-powered tool that tests water quality and filtrates — and fits in a suitcase. They've traveled twice to the Dominican Republic, along with a faculty mentor, to further their research, and even met with the DR's Ministry of Education on how to better expand their startup's reach within the country. The team is also recipients of URI Office of Innovation and Research and URI Spark grants.
Rachyl Travis, 17 | Rachyl's Goat Milk Soap
17-year-old, Scituate-based Travis is no stranger to entrepreneurship, having created, marketed and sold her home-made goat soap since she was 12. Now enrolled at Community College of Rhode Island, she's already expanded her line of offerings to include makeup remover, lip balm and shave soap (to name a few), and has been the subject of a lot of press (the Steve Harvey Show, ProJo, RI Monthly and more).
