Tampa Bay's technology scene has hit a point of inflection. A handful of companies have gone public within the first half of the year, big-name investment firms have taken note and are funding local businesses and thousands of entrepreneurial hopefuls are moving to the region each day.
A group of young budding entrepreneurs has helped build the blocks upon which Tampa Bay can base its success. From the university incubators to ideas crafted well beyond midnight in a high schooler's bedroom, we've gathered up the 25 founders you need to know that are all 25 years old or younger — proving age is just a number.
Morgan Barse
Age: 23
Company: Wing Woman Brands
Title: Lead wing woman
My origin story: My professional journey began supporting a different aspect of professional women: their feet. During my freshman year of college at The University of Tampa, I wandered into an entrepreneurship club meeting and launched a versatile, professional women’s shoe company. Over time, I began feeling less passionate about shoes and more passionate about supporting these big professional goals these women had to launch books or businesses. I started in a social media capacity and have since expanded the company to serve in a management role overseeing all aspects of their brand.
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: "A Gal with Goals"
Describe your company in six words or less: Brand management for executives and organizations.
By the time I'm 30 ... My vision is to build out product and service concepts under the Wing Woman company umbrella. The model we are today is the foundation for our future. It is a fun challenge to develop my ability to materialize these ideas.
Mitchell Harrah
Age: 25
Company: Baldr Medical
Title: CEO
My origin story: A few months after I started my master's degree in biomedical engineering at the University of South Florida, my passion caught the attention of Abdul M Safi, a biomedical imaging specialist who shares the same vision of low-cost point of care devices to help people. We created Baldr Medical in August 2020, during the height of the pandemic, dedicated to developing point of care devices at an affordable price point.
Accomplishments related to your company: Member of the USF Student Innovation Incubator and Frank and Ellen Daveler Entrepreneurship Program, secured a patent for the company’s innovation and competed and placed at the TiE Global Pitch Competition and Jabil Innovation Technology Challenge.
Name of my future memoir: "Failing Upwards: Success Stories from Happy Accidents and Rewarding Misadventures"
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: "Finding Friends with Mitchell Harrah"
Describe your company in six words or less: Affordable Medical Technologies for You
By the time I'm 30 ... I will be graduating from USF with a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering with the help of Dr. Sylvia Thomas and Dr. Ashwin Parthasarathy and making disruptive business moves within imaging technologies.
Crystal Gayle
Age: 24
Company: Peace of Med
Title: Founder/CEO
My origin story: As a pharmacy student, I was immersed in the field of health care, and although impressed with how far the field had come, I saw an opportunity for improvement. An undertaking of this magnitude seemed very daunting but I knew that if I did the work, technology of this nature could save so many lives. I was fortunate enough to be exposed to mentorship and business guidance from the student innovation incubator at USF, where they supplied every resource necessary to bring my business to life.
Name of your future memoir: "Just Pray and Jump!"
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: "That Makes Sense"
Describe your company in six words or less: A life-saving triage solution.
By the time I'm 30 ... I see myself helping as many people as possible. Through my career as a licensed pharmacist and through the anticipated impact of Peace of Med, I see myself doing all I can to improve patient care.
Anna Hopen
Age: 22
Company: Guardian MedTech LLC
Title: CEO and co-founder
My origin story: After starting nursing school, I realized most of my patients in the hospital struggled to take their medications. I became disheartened that despite whatever care I could provide in the hospital, I could not help my patients manage their medication regimen at home — where it mattered most. After weeks of brainstorming sessions, we designed and patented a patient-facing translation of a hospital's barcoded medication administration record system. Think of it as putting your alarm clock on the other side of the room. By having a simple, reliable medication management system, patients can spend more time doing the things that are important to them and less time organizing pillboxes.
Accomplishments related to your company: Guardian MedTech currently holds two patents with more pending. Earlier this year, we released a test application available on the Apple app store and Google Play called GuardianScan.
Name of your future memoir: "I Did a Thing"
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: “We’ve Never Done This” (A podcast to interview those who stray from the beaten path in an attempt to make the world a better place)
Describe your company in six words or less: Barcoded-medication administration technology for patients
By the time I'm 30 ... I see myself being involved in ushering in the age of value-based care through the implementation of patient-centered technology. I hope that by then, Guardian MedTech has become a common collaborative resource in prescribing and optimizing medication regimens to improve outcomes, limit unnecessary prescriptions and lower healthcare costs for patients.
Emily Ennis
Age: 24
Company: Safe Driving Toolkit
Title: Founder
My origin story: In 2016, I was hit by a distracted driver as I walked down Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa. After recovering from a broken arm, several surgeries and battling trauma and PTSD, I started looking into education and prevention efforts for distracted driving but was frustrated by the lack of education options. In 2017, I started Safe Driving Toolkit to educate students about the dangers and consequences of distracted and dangerous driving. The toolkit now offers two distracted driving simulations along with a drunk and high driving simulation.
Accomplishments related to your company: Semi-finalist for the Smith College Draper Pitch Competition, named a USF Daveler Competition Scholar, and won the Florida Gulf Coast University Runway Pitch Competition twice. To date, Safe Driving Toolkit has affected over 1,800 lives.
Name of your future memoir: "Scheduled Going with the Flow"
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: "It’s Not as Simple as it Seems"
Describe your company in six words or less: Understanding dangerous driving through virtual reality
By the time I'm 30 ... I see myself continuously evolving Safe Driving Toolkit to keep up with the best ways of helping to communicate to my target demographics, as well as to keep up with the current needs of the communities I’m serving across the country. I’ll also have my funeral director license by the time I’m thirty and hope to be running a branch of the company I currently work with.
Luke Longo
Age: 21
Company Name: VYTL LIFE
Title: Director
My origin story: It was late October during my sophomore year of college when I realized I was drowning in assignments and barely able to keep afloat, yet too exhausted to lift my arms enough to complete my work. Like any great molecular biologist, I started experimenting on myself, treating myself like a guinea pig and running my own experiments to see if I could increase my productivity. Six months later, armed with my data and life-altering perspective on happiness, I did what any sane person would do and started my company and podcast (The Vytl Life Podcast) to help people take their lives back into their own hands.
Accomplishments: Podcast with over 1,000 downloads. Creating the next generation of nutraceuticals via molecular biology.
Memoir Title: "It Finally Makes Sense"
Podcast Name: "The Vytl Life Podcast"
Describe your company in six words or less: Don't believe me, just try it.
By the time I'm 30 ... I see myself working with a team of people bringing an end to all human diseases, and very happy doing so.
Marcus Menniti
Age: 25
Company: MENNITI
Title: Founder
My origin story: Inspired by my grandfather who was a stylish man in a small town in southern Italy, I grew up with a passion for soccer and fashion. What first started as a hobby, rapidly transformed into my fashion line MENNITI.
Accomplishments related to your company: Presented at Milan Fashion Week where we became the event of the week, invited to New York Fashion Week twice, and Paris Fashion Week and London Fashion Week.
Name of your future memoir: "Marcus Menniti: The Story of Contrasts"
If you had a podcast, what would you name it?: "What is Creativity?" Or "Italians Around the World"
Describe your company in six words or less: Italian cultural heritage reimagined through clothes
By the time I'm 30 ... I will be more experienced, knowledgeable and have done things that have never been done before.
Joaquin Padilla
Age: 22
Company: NetOtt Solutions LLC
Title: Owner
My origin story: NetOtt started out as a merriment of my two passions: technology and the sea. I have always been interested in experimenting with novel technologies at an early age, and after conducting my studies at USF, I wanted to see how I can best apply my knowledge and curiosities in an industry like maritime technology. Using a services-first approach, NetOtt can focus on providing both quality and cost-effective networking solutions and electronics products based on open and agile technologies that meet the dynamic needs of any tier of boater.
Name of your future memoir: “Boating for All: The Open Way”
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: “Journey Through Tech History”
Describe your company in six words or less: Open solutions for marine applications
By the time I'm 30 ... I would see myself inspiring others to express creativity within the technology industry. Never be afraid of going for your major life goals and taking creative liberties, enjoying the minute things of what makes technology interesting.
Shirah Benarde
Age: 19
Company: NightCap
Title: CEO
My origin story: The idea came to me in a dream after hearing about the horrors of drink spiking from friends who experienced it after going off to college. Fortunately, my friends were okay, but I was determined to come up with a pragmatic solution to this problem that could protect my friends and I when we went off to college. I also wanted to make sure that the product would be something that girls would feel comfortable using. The next morning, I went to my mother’s closet, grabbed a pair of pantyhose, cut them up, and attached them to a scrunchie to create the first prototype.
Accomplishments related to your company: Featured on Shark Tank, Fox Business and USA Today.
Name of your future memoir: "Shirah's Got You Covered" (NightCap's slogan is "You're Covered")
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: "Inside The Scrunchie"
Describe your company in six words or less: The drink spiking prevention Scrunchie
By the time I'm 30 ... I hope to invest in other companies and get very involved in philanthropy projects.
Austin Gappelberg
Age: 20 years old
Company: Keyp.
Title: CEO and Founder
My origin story: Freshman year I was constantly losing my dorm key and realized that this wasn’t just a problem for me but for the majority of college kids. I began searching for solutions but came up empty-handed. That’s when the idea for keyp was born. You can definitely say I scratched my own itch by creating keyp.
Accomplishments: Receiving over 125 five-star reviews on both Amazon and our website, earning first place at a University of Delaware pitch competition and earning the “Best Product” award at the Spring 2021 UT Entrepreneurship Venture Expo
Name of your future memoir: “The Journey”
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: "Mind, Body, Spirit (M.B.S.)"
Describe your company in six words or less: Helping you Keyp. it together
By the time I’m 30 ... I believe I’ll have ventured off into a few different businesses. Just a hint, my next one might be luxury chocolate and high-end desserts. I see myself traveling the world, inspiring others to become the best version of themselves.
Emily Cartafalsa
Age: 24
Company: SiteZeus
Title: Product owner
Accomplishments related to your company: I started at SiteZeus as an intern and after graduating from the University of Tampa I was brought on full time. As a product owner, I have gotten to work with the design and development teams on new features that have been innovative and disruptive to the industry; one being our sales impact solution that helps brands predict impact if they open a location nearby. I have also co-hosted multiple webinars to showcase our solutions.
Name of your future memoir: "Location, Location, Location. A Story About Being at the Right Places at the Right Times"
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: "Happy, Free, Confused, and Lonely at the same time" (A podcast about Taylor Swift)
Describe your company in six words or less: Helping brands pick better locations faster
By the time I'm 30 ... I hope to have a master's degree or some type of continued education. My favorite part of my job is talking to customers and learning about a problem they cannot currently solve and working with my team to create a solution. By 30 I hope to have continued making these customers’ jobs easier.
Mona Patel
Age: 24
Company: TiE Tampa Bay
Title: The organization's first-ever executive director
Name of your future memoir: "The Extraordinarily Ordinary Life of Mona"
Describe your company in six words or less: Funding, education, mentorship, networking and incubation
By the time I'm 30 ... I hope to see myself content and ready to take on the next decade of obstacles and to be able to look back at the last six years as years I spent exploring myself and helping add to my community.
Antonia Ginsberg-Klemmt
Age: 22
Company: Gismo Power: Solar on Wheels
Title: President
My origin story: Over the summer of 2020, Antonia worked with her father, Achim Ginsberg-Klemmt, on creating a mobile carport solar system that could be easily collapsed and fit into a garage in case of a hurricane. This patent-pending system is called “Gismo Power,” an acronym for “garage interior storable modular photovoltaic on wheels with EV-charger rack.”
Accomplishments related to your company: Recipient of the 2021 Ozy Genius Award sponsored by Chevrolet, and will be a guest speaker at Sarasota County’s UF/IFAS Sustainable Communities Workshop on Nov. 10th.
Name of your future memoir: "The Mermaid Who Moves Mountains"
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: "Sirens Supporting Solar and Sustainability"
Describe your company in six words or less: Disruptive innovation: Simple and effective
By the time I'm 30 ... I see myself working for a company that specializes in renewable energy that specializes not only in solar, but also in devices that generate electricity through ocean currents, waves, tides, and pressure differences.
Sarwaan Ansari
Age: 23
Company: String Inc. and Edgility Inc.
Title: Co-founder of String, software engineer at Edgility
My origin story: String Inc. was founded in 2020 because of the need to stop the spread of misinformation from other forms of social media. String’s mission is to improve the delivery system for news and bring people closer together through media. We want people to read more news without the noise and have a more informed and healthier society.
Accomplishments related to your company: String Inc. was able to source over 14,000 different news sources to be displayed on the application along with getting 1,000+ users the first month of launch.
Name of your future memoir: "The Man Who Stopped Misinformation"
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: "Tech Huddle"
Describe your company in six words or less: (For Edgility it's) Driving better health through smarter operations.
By the time I'm 30 ... I'll be managing a team that creates and deploys machine learning models to solve real-world important problems.
Stathis Siandris
Age: 22
Company: Edgility Inc.
Title: Software engineer
Origin story for your company: Edgility Inc. is a health care technology company founded in 2016 out of San Francisco. We believe that the lowest hanging fruit is the quickest to rot and the real opportunity is in the complexity. With that, Edgility aspires to eliminate the trillion-dollar waste problem in health care complexity. Edgility’s focus is workflow orchestration – people, process, and technology – toward a specific operational outcome through its proprietary orchestration engine. Our product manifests itself through a command-center structure we define as Smart Operation Centers.
Name of your future memoir: "How the Government Tried to Shut Down Bitcoin ... and Failed."
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: "Moist Memes"
Describe your company in six words or less: Driving better health through smarter operations.
By the time I'm 30 ... I'll be helping to make the global banking system obsolete by contributing to open-source decentralized finance projects.
Bryan Urias
Age: 22
Company: JustProtect
Title: Information security manager
My origin story: I originally started off as an intern for Tampa cybersecurity company JustProtect while attending school at Lakeland-based Florida Polytechnic University. Then, due to the coronavirus pandemic, I pivoted to a full-time position virtually overnight to become the company's application security and compliance analyst. In this time, I headed up two capstone projects with Florida Poly to help boost the talent pipeline between the school and JustProtect. I also serve as a compliance advisor to several Embarc Collective companies.
Name of your future memoir: "Take the World by Storm or by Surprise"
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: “Being Unapologetic and Diehard About Your Career” (there’s a joke somewhere in here about making a podcast about naming podcasts)
Describe your company in six words or less: Here’s to the crazy ones.
By the time I'm 30...I'll be running my own startup, advising other companies as a security advisor, and actively contributing to public service groups like the FBI InfraGard, or CISA.
Alex Kranias, Ayush Pai and Krish Asknani
Ages: 17
Company: Rentathon
Titles: Co-founders
Our origin story: Rentathon was initially an idea started at an entrepreneurial summer camp in the Tampa Bay area and eventually founded when we were freshmen attending Palm Harbor University High School.
Accomplishments related to the company: Rentathon won the 2020 Congressional App Challenge for Florida Congressional District 12 in December 2020 and had the opportunity to showcase the platform to congressmen and women and young entrepreneurs alike at the national "House of Code" conference in April 2021. They were also recognized as finalists in the 2019-2020 Next Generation Technology (NGT) Program.
Company Description in 6 words: A peer-2-peer renting ecosystem.
Name of Krish's future memoir: "Can I Get a Ride Home?"
If Alex had a podcast he would you name it: "The Answers to Questions that Nobody Asked"
By the time Ayush is 30... I plan to be in the software industry in a field such as robotics or AI.
Jackson Shembekar
Age: 18
Company: Shembekar Investment Trust
Title: President
Origin story for your company: At Jesuit High School at the age of only 14 I was introduced to cryptocurrency by my classmate Nick Indelicato. Through endless curiosity, I began to spend countless hours researching and gaining knowledge of any aspect of the crypto space.
Accomplishments related to your company: Starting with only $20, grew the portfolio to over 7 figures in less than 4 years through the means of cryptocurrency and real estate.
Name of your future memoir: “The Crypto Kid” is a book that I’m currently working on and will release later this year. (The title will either be “The Crypto Kid” or “Pitching Crypto” because I am a baseball pitcher currently at the University of Tampa.)
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: I currently have a monthly radio segment on the Consumer Quarterback Show where I am designated as an expert in the crypto space and it airs on FM 93.7 The Answer and 102.5 The Bone.
Describe your company in six words or less: Building/preserving wealth for the future.
By the time I'm 30...I’d like to be playing professional baseball as well as continuing to pioneer the crypto space across the globe.
Dhruv Krishnan
Age: 18
Company: Autonomous Portfolio Management (working title)
Title: Founder
Origin story for your company: Many of my friends have found the stock market intimidating and are unsure how to properly invest; my patents will help make investing easier for everyone.
Accomplishments related to your company: Two published patents
Name of your future memoir: "The Reality of Financial Superintelligence"
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: "Trading in the Artificial Intelligence Era"
Describe your company in six words or less: Goal-oriented automated trading brokerage service
By the time I'm 30...I'll have a public company with significant valuation and a global service
Akshay Bhuva
Age: 25
Company: Kitchenery.net
Title: Co-founder and CEO
Origin story for your company: The one thing I have realized and experienced is that people build stronger relationships over food. And this is why I created Kitchenery: To bridge the gap between technology and the cooking experience for millions of individuals who are looking for the means to convert their cramped and cluttered kitchen to a smart, modern, accessible and socially welcoming space. We started with one mission, which is to improve people’s lives with the world's best cooking technology.
Recent Accomplishments related to your company: In August 2021, we finished the development of our hardware prototype which shows the core functionality of wireless power transfer in kitchen appliances. No cords, no batteries, no clutter. Kitchenery.net is Tampa Bay's only startup to participate and win the Opportunity Coachella Award in the summer of 2021; we are very proud to work closely with the city of Coachella to empower local small business owners.
Name of your future memoir: "The Grind Before Turning 30!"
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: "KISS: Keep it simple and stupid"
Describe your company in six words or less: Freedom to cook à Kitchenery
By the time I'm 30... I see my startup Kitchenery.net growing to a multinational corporation and me managing it with ease.
Dorian Alberti
Age: 23
Company: ARC LLC
Title: Founder
Origin story for your company: The inspiration to start a company came after I realized that to change the world for the future, you need to help the people in it today. During my mechanical engineering curriculum at Florida Poly I knew there would be an innovation I could offer to help the world. In senior year a colleague and I had a startup which gave me the experience and confidence to start ARC. The LRAE (Lumbar Relief Analog Exoskeleton) was always the immediate focus, encompassing helpfulness and a 'Wow' factor. As the first tool in ARC’s product line, the LRAE was the first step toward my goal of innovating the future.
Name of your future memoir: "The Arts & Crafts of Success"
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: In-Vent
Describe your company in six words or less: Innovating the way of the future
By the time I'm 30...I plan to have positively assisted the lives of millions through innovation and creativity.
Colin White
Age: 22
Company: AdLumination
Title: Founder
Origin story for your company: A few years ago, my dad and I were drying our hands under one of those air hand drying machines and there was a blue light that appeared in our hands. We thought what if there were advertisements there? I kept thinking and came up with a device that displayed these advertisements but could be attached anywhere, so there were multiple applications. I entered the University of Tampa CREATE Pitch Competition, placed 2nd and joined UT’s accelerator program in the spring of 2021 and have been working on the idea since.
Recent Accomplishments related to your company: Was named a 2021 USF Frank & Ellen Daveler Scholar and placed second in the 2020 UT CREATE Pitch Competition.
Name of your future memoir: "From the Straight Line to the Crossroads"
If you had a podcast what would you name it?: The White Bulb Moments
Describe your company in six words or less: Unique and never-before-seen ad space
By the time I'm 30...I see myself having started many businesses, both successes and failures. I see myself exploring new industries and ventures that I have not yet tapped into as well as use my experiences to help younger entrepreneurs develop their ideas.
Jomely Breton
Age: 23
Company: Empire Bay Marketing
Title: Founder
Origin story: I started off as a social media influencer and spent years in the field of marketing both in front of the scenes and behind the scenes digitally developing marketing content. Through my experience, I have learned the ins and outs and developed expertise in marketing.
Accomplishments: She has landed coverage as an influencer with Pinterest, Express, Victoria secret, Quai Australia, Red Bull, Fashion Nova and more. Through EBM, Jomely has also worked internationally including Milan Fashion Week.
Ryder Fitzpatrick
Age: 22
Company: Inventorium LLC
Title: Partner
Origin story: I joined a youth robotics team when he was 12 as an “apprentice” because he was too young to be a part of the actual team. In a short period of time, I found the love of mechanical engineering and eventually became the team lead. At age 17, I founded Inventorium, which provides custom manufacturing and machining services throughout the Tampa Bay area, including for AMRoC Fab Lab.
Chelsea Hage
Company: Birthday Candles for Kids
Title: Co-founder
Origin story: The nonprofit was launched in 2016 in St. Petersburg to provide personalized birthday parties and essentials for underprivileged children who are homeless, orphaned, or in foster care between the ages of 1 to 17.
Accomplishments: Hage is a senior studying entrepreneurship and marketing at Stetson University and won $1,000 in the final round of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization Southeast Entrepreneurship Conference last year.
