Katherine Olives
Wondering what some of your favorite Zahn alumni have been up to? Weve rounded up some of our past startups who are knee deep in the #startupgrind & highlighted some of their recent successes so that you can be in the know.
Skinno Seeks Pre-Seed Investment Round
Skinno, the winner of last years Zahn Technology Prize. Skinno is an application that translates ingredient lists into plain English, and connects consumers with products that are right for them. They're starting with skincare to bring transparency through consumer education to beauty and wellness, a historically opaque and confusing industry. The founders, Lisa Guerrera and Christina Torres, are both scientists turned startup founders, hoping to make the science of everyday products accessible to everyday people. They're both CCNY alumni, with Lisa having a B.S. in Chemistry, and Christina having a BS/MS in Biology. Currently, they employ a few part time people: two developers from the Bronx; graphic designer Sumi, a very recent CCNY grad; and UI/UX designer Corinne, an EDM student at CCNY.
Since the Competition they've launched SkinMood, an interactive quiz that combines factors like skin type, environment, lifestyle, and product preferences to give consumers insight into what their skin needs in the moment and to collect preliminary consumer data they need for their product. Within just two weeks of launch they had over 12,000 people take this quiz with no marketing money spent. They're working on the second version of this quiz based on over a 1,000 users feedback. Currently, they're raising their pre-seed round via a convertible note and are looking for investors to be a part of their round. Anyone interested in investment can contact Lisa at: lisa@skinnoapp.com
Floramind Brings Mental Health Education to NYC High Schools
FloraMind is an educational organization that develops tools to educate, empower and guide teenagers towards positive mental health & well-being. They host in-person workshops that cover the stigma around mental illness, mental health knowledge, self-care strategies, and how to seek for help. The founders are CCNY students Danny Tsoi, Khandker Ahamed and Mahmoud Khedr, three experienced entrepreneurs who are deeply passionate about solving the youth mental health crisis across the world. They've had experience working in organizations like the U.S. Marine Corps, Accenture, Teach For America, Facebook and Google–along with building and running their own startups. So far, they've developed partnerships at two schools, hosting 15 workshops impacting over 270 students. They've won awards from the New York Business Plan Competition (1st place, Social Impact) and Echoing Green/Barclays (Social Innovation Finalist), have been recognized as Forbes Under 30 Scholars, Clinton Global University Fellows, Colin Powell Fellows, and completed Y Combinator's Startup School. Right now, they're looking to get introductions to high schools and colleges that may be interested in bringing FloraMind's programs and workshops to their schools. They'd also love introductions to CSR / Corporate folks who may be interested in sponsoring the work theyre doing so they can do it at more high schools.
Carry Fils-Aime Brings Iodized Salt to Grocery Stores in Haiti
Do you remember Le Sel Foundation, a competitor in the 2015 Standard Chartered Women+Tech4NYC track? Le Sel was founded by Carry Fils-Aime, a CCNY grad inspired by problems in her home country of Haiti. The original vision for Le Sel Foundation was a salt manufacturing company combined with an educational component that would popularize iodized salt in Haiti, a country that suffers from Iodine Deficiency Disorder. In a few short years, and not without many bumps in the road–like the devastation of Hurricane Matthew, which not only destroyed Carrys inventory but meant more pressing issues on the island had to be resolved–Le Sel is now Agro Karib S.A., a salt producing company that provides healthy iodized salt under the label Tika. The company provides both coarse and fine salt, and has five full-time employees. Tika is sold in 42 supermarkets, and has become somewhat of a household name in the metropolitan area.
Now the company is in the process of buying machinery, moving from her small shipping container office to a warehouse, and securing more partnerships. Carry and her team are currently pitching for a $200K investment. She explains that with that money theyll will build a laboratory to test their products on site, as well as buy some equipment. Theyre also applying to the Scale Up Haiti program, which is a new public/private initiative that aims to help companies grow.
Nuravine Finishes I-Corps, Moves to M-Corps
Nuravine, the winner of the 2017 Zahn Social Impact Prize, finished two rounds of the National Science Foundations I-Corps (at the Regional & National levels), a program designed to allow scientists and engineers the opportunity to bring products to market by garnering a deep understanding of their customer landscape. Theyve recently been accepted to M-Corps, a new manufacturing program by SecondMuse in NYC and NextCorps in Rochester as an edition to NYSERDAs cleantech startup program. Alex Babich and Adrian Logan, both recent CCNY grads, tell me theyre excited to join so many other incredible startups in M-Corps. The Nuravine team is working on a new product, while also testing with customers (who report their plants are growing 10% faster with Nuravine!). They expect to start raising in Q2 of next year.
More Updates!
Veripad, the 2016 Zahn Social Impact Prize winner has been accepted to I-Corps Nationals and continues to make progress. BitSprout, the 2017 Standard Chartered Women+Tech4NYC Prize is currently testing its product with students. Sprtlook, a competitor in the 2018 Zahn Technology Track, is currently raising a Friends & Family round.
We look forward to what 2019 will bring these teams, and will keep you updated on any developments. If you would like to get connected to these startups, please reach out to them directly or email contact@zahncenternyc.com for more information.