zPods

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2021 | Status: Active

Visit Website →

What is zPods?

zPods is developing a sensory-friendly bed for autistic children and other people for whom sleep is challenging. zPods is currently hiring more awesome people to achieve their mission.

Company Leadership

George Bailey

president

George was an award-winning university foreign language instructor before attending law school, where he focused on intellectual property protection. He spent five years in financial services. He sits on the board of directors for the St. Louis chapter of Autism Speaks. He has five children, two of which are diagnosed with autism and sleep soundly in zPods.

Connect on LinkedIn →

gary kellmann

CeO

Gary is an expert in supply chain management, product development, and financing. He’s a 25-year veteran of manufacturing and wholesale distribution of consumer products. He began his career by developing his first consumer product ideas while in college. His first successful exit was in 2004 right before he moved to Asia for five years.

Connect on LinkedIn →

jeff wade

coo

Jeff excels in relationship building and team management. He has over a decade of experience producing results for high-echelon clients in software, nonprofit work, medical services, and the mortgage industry.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Involved Industries

Be a Part of the Movement

We champion extraordinary entrepreneurs to create positive change – for St. Louis and for the world. Join us by applying to our Global Startup Competition, becoming a financial supporter, volunteering your time or amplifying our message.

Another Reality Studio

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2021 | Status: Active

Visit Website →

What is Another Reality Studio?

Another Reality Studio (ARS) is a St. Louis technology startup that creates immersive and interactive extended reality (XR) applications for a variety of industries. Their mission is to be on the cutting edge of AR/VR and 3D application technology to work with a wide range of startups to Fortune 100 companies. ARS is driven by this growth to create a fun work environment that interesting clients and talented employees are attracted to. They develop custom XR applications utilizing the powerful Unreal Engine and Unity development platforms.

The Looking Glass platform is a custom 3D web application that makes design review easier to understand and always accessible to build trust for architecture end clients. It was uniquely developed by ARS to transform complex architectural drawings into a simple to use virtual walkthrough 3D space. Anyone can explore what future environments will become for use with any device, at any time, without direction.

Company Leadership

bradly martin

ceo

Brad Martin is CEO/ Founder of ARS and one of the top-rated AR/VR developers on Upwork. He leads a local developer meetup, been involved with an XR grant at Mizzou, & is AR/VR technology advisor for T- Rex & DisruptED. He specializes in new technology, project management and ideation for clients and industries. Brad is the creator of Looking Glass & has worked as associate architect at a leading St. Louis Architecture firm. Brad’s skillsets includes: Unreal Engine, Unity, AutoCAD, Autodesk 3DS Max, Google SketchUp, Revit, and HTML.

Connect on LinkedIn →

mauricio espin

CtO

Mauricio Espin del Rio is the CTO & Co-Founder of ARS and leads the R&D/ development team. He is a senior programmer with over 15 years of IT, 3D Modeling, Animation, UI and Unreal Engine developer experience.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Be a Part of the Movement

We champion extraordinary entrepreneurs to create positive change – for St. Louis and for the world. Join us by applying to our Global Startup Competition, becoming a financial supporter, volunteering your time or amplifying our message.

Imanyco

Origin: FL | Grant Awarded: 2021 | Status: Active

Visit Website →

What is Imanyco?

A real-time speaker diarisation and transcription app that transcribes and color-codes each speaker’s dialogue separately to help deaf people enjoy group conversation without wondering who is saying what.

Company Leadership

SaÏda Florexil

ceo & Founder

Saïda Florexil is profoundly deaf. She uses American Sign Language and lip-reading to communicate with others. Saïda is a deaf advocate who focuses on improving communication accessibility for the deaf community. Saïda received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Supervision Management from Palm Beach State College and a Master of Science in Business Administration in Entrepreneurial Management from Lynn University.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Involved Industries

Be a Part of the Movement

We champion extraordinary entrepreneurs to create positive change – for St. Louis and for the world. Join us by applying to our Global Startup Competition, becoming a financial supporter, volunteering your time or amplifying our message.

No Limbits

Origin: IA | Grant Awarded: 2021 | Status: Active

Visit Website →

What is No Limbits?

No Limbits is a ready-to-wear adaptive clothing brand with the mission of increasing comfort, confidence, and independence in those who struggle to dress themselves due to a disability. With options for amputees, wheelchair users, and those with sensory processing disorders, No Limbits uses human-centered design to make fashion accessible.

Company Leadership

erica cole

ceo & Founder

Erica started No Limbits after personal experience struggling to find clothing that worked with her prosthesis. Erica has led the company through the prestigious Target Incubator and was a 2021 Halcyon Fellow. She was awarded the University of Iowa’s Female Founder of the Year in 2020.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Involved Industries

Be a Part of the Movement

We champion extraordinary entrepreneurs to create positive change – for St. Louis and for the world. Join us by applying to our Global Startup Competition, becoming a financial supporter, volunteering your time or amplifying our message.