Bold Spoon Creamery

Origin: Park Hills, MO | Grant Awarded: 2024 | Status: Active

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What is Bold Spoon Creamery?

Bold Spoon Creamery is a maker of small-batch, premium ice cream specializing in adult-focused flavors made with farm-fresh ingredients. Bold Spoon is sold in grocery stores in Missouri and Illinois, and in three professional sports stadiums (CITYPARK, Enterprise Center, and The Dome at America’s Center).

Company Leadership

Rachel Burns

founder

Rachel Burns brings a unique blend of entrepreneurial spirit and financial expertise to the world of ice cream. With over 20 years dedicated to institutional investment management industry, she honed her skills in financial management, strategic planning, and client relationship building. Rachel oversees all business operations and sets the strategic direction for the company. She leverages her strong leadership and client management background to foster deep connections with Bold Spoon customers.

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MatchNP

Origin: St. Louis, MO | Grant Awarded: 2024 | Status: Active

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What is MatchNP?

MatchNP is a tech-enabled platform that matches Nurse Practitioner students with healthcare providers based on their unique needs and preferences for clinical placement.

Company Leadership

CECILIA RAVAS

founder

Cecilia is a St. Louis based board certified Nurse Practitioner turned entrepreneur. Her first venture, MatchNP, is dedicated to helping our next generation of healthcare students graduate on time, find the job they desire, build invaluable skills and develop relationships in healthcare. Cecilia holds a BSN from SIU-Edwardsville, MSN from Maryville University and is a member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and AANP.

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Posie Pots

Origin: St. Louis, MO | Grant Awarded: 2024 | Status: Active

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What is Posie Pots?

Posie Pots is an innovative agricultural technology concept that revolutionizes plant care. The company provides sustainable self-watering planters through a unique water-once-a-month system.

Company Leadership

KAY WELLS

FOUNDER

Kay’s journey as an inventor and innovator in the agricultural industry is rooted in her extensive background and expertise. A graduate of St. Louis University, she holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering degree. Her twenty years of experience in the field has equipped her with the knowledge and skills necessary to develop groundbreaking solutions for the CPG and Agricultural Technology industries. Kay’s passion shines through as a visionary with a deep love for plants and a commitment to sustainability.

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Real Document Solutions LLC

Origin: St. Louis, MO | Grant Awarded: 2024 | Status: Active

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What is Real Document Solutions?

Real Document Solutions (RDS) revolutionizes document-intensive due diligence work through an innovative workflow SaaS platform (ERP) that centralizes order, document, and vendor management. RDS customers have achieved up to a 60% increase in productivity, delivering faster, more accurate results with fewer human touches, driving up profitability and ultimately freeing up resources for revenue generation.

Company Leadership

DENISE WILLIAMS

PRESIDENT

Denise started her career with Fortune 500 companies, taking on a number of progressive roles in Sales, Operations, Business Transformation, and Global Digital Leadership. In those roles, she’s managed teams and P&Ls. She pivoted in 2022 to dedicate herself 100% to run her co-founded business, RDS.

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DEMIblue Natural Nails

Origin: St. Louis, MO | Grant Awarded: 2024 | Status: Active

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What is DEMIblue Natural Nails?

DEMIblue is an award-winning clean and vegan nail polish with cruelty-free formulas for breast cancer survivors, vegan nail polish enthusiasts, and health-conscious women.

Company Leadership

MICHELLE ROBINSON

CEO & FOUNDER

Michelle is the Founder of the DEMIblue Clean and Vegan Nail Polish Brand.  Michelle has serviced the St. Louis healthcare system at Washington University as a Clinical Administrator for over 11 years, and served as a Proprietary Educator for 10 Years.  Michelle’s journey with the creation of Nail Polish was Inspired by her cancer-surviving mom. Witnessing her mom’s inability to express her bubbly personality through her usual nail routine because of the harsh chemicals that made nail polish, Michelle decided to act.  What started as a desire to help her mom through the creation of this personal nail polish brand, “DEMIblue”, is now disrupting the nail care industry by not only educating women of the toxic chemicals found in many conventional brands and offering a healthier choice, but gaining retail placement as one of a few African American Female owned nail polish brands across the nation to do so..

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BenefitsBoost

Origin: St. Louis, MO | Grant Awarded: 2024 | Status: Active

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What is BenefitsBoost?

BenefitsBoost is revolutionizing the Social Security disability benefits process with its patent-pending, AI-driven platform that simplifies and accelerates the application process for both individuals and law firms. As a female-founded company, they’re setting new standards in efficiency, accuracy, and accessibility in an often-overlooked industry.

Company Leadership

ally bergmann

CEO

Allison Bergmann is an accomplished entrepreneur and EDPNA-certified expert with over a decade of experience in customer-facing digital products and innovation. With a deep commitment to social impact, she founded BenefitsBoost® to transform the Social Security disability benefits process. Having worked alongside industry leaders, Allison’s visionary leadership has guided the company to secure intellectual property rights, including a trademark and patent-pending technology. Her expertise and dedication are positioning BenefitsBoost as a transformative force in the sector, creating lasting change for millions.

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ALLUMIN8

Origin: Springfield, MO | Grant Awarded: 2024 | Status: Active

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What is ALLUMIN8?

ALLUMIN8 has created a new category of 3D-printed, porous Therapeutic Hardware to reduce spine reoperation rates by combining advanced biomechanical support with the unique ability to deliver therapeutics to diagnose, treat, and heal directly through the device.

Company Leadership

alyssa huffman

CEO

In 2009, driven by the life-altering complications her Diabetic Uncle and Quadriplegic Cousin faced following failed spine surgeries, Alyssa Huffman, then working as an Orthopedic / Spine / Biologics Distributor, began sketching what would later evolve into the A8 Integr8™ Porous Pedicle Screw System. These early designs not only laid the groundwork for the A8 Integr8 system but also inspired the creation of the entire Allumin8 hardware platform, rooted in the evolving research of bone and regenerative therapies. Over the past two decades, Alyssa has leveraged her extensive experience to consult with leading MedTech firms across a wide range of specialties, including Sales, Contracting, Distribution, Marketing, Product Development, and Leadership. Her expertise spans Medical Devices, Biologics, Capital Equipment, Robotics, and Pharmaceuticals, with a focus on driving growth, enhancing market share, and implementing acquisition strategies. Alyssa’s passion lies in addressing the complex challenges faced by patients, physicians, healthcare organizations, and insurance companies. She is dedicated to growing dynamic teams that unite healthcare communities in the development of cutting-edge medical devices, protocols, and techniques that actually solve problems for patients and surgeons. Her work emphasizes the importance of clinical evidence and innovation, all while maintaining a strong focus on commercialization and cost efficiency. Alyssa’s mission is to ensure that every solution developed not only meets the highest standards of clinical efficacy, but also contributes to the overall sustainability of the healthcare system.

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ASL Aspire

Origin: Champaign, IL | Grant Awarded: 2024 | Status: Active

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What is ASL Aspire?

ASL Aspire is an EdTech platform that teaches STEM to K-12 deaf students and their teachers in American Sign Language through games.

Company Leadership

mona jawad

CEO & CO-FOUNDER

Mona Jawad is the CEO of ASL Aspire and a Ph.D student in speech and hearing science at WashU in St. Louis. She is passionate about increasing educational access to STEM for children of all ability levels.

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ETHAN GAUGHAN

Chief innovation officer & CO-FOUNDER

Ethan Gaughan is the CIO of ASL Aspire. He currently works for a Healthcare Technology company, and hopes ASL Aspire will make learning challenging subjects not only easier, but enjoyable.

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ayesha kazi

COO & Co-founder

Ayesha Kazi is the COO of ASL Aspire. She is currently pursuing a master’s in computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her goal with ASL Aspire is to break societal barriers and create equitable education for all students.

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Raknida Ltd.

Origin: Lagos, Nigeria | Grant Awarded: 2024 | Status: Active

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What is Raknida?

Raknida is an ArtTech platform that helps art lovers and businesses explore and access diverse artworks from Black, African, and other underrepresented artists through an art marketplace and an art streaming service on smart displays.

Company Leadership

ANTHONY EZEOKOYE

CO-FOUNDER

Anthony Ezeokoye is an architect, award-winning digital artist & creative director with 14+ years of experience in design, business & creative strategy. He is the CEO & founder of Raknida, an arttech startup amplifying economic opportunities for underrepresented digital artists, and Insecta Studios, a B2B creative services company that has helped 200+ brands globally achieve their brand goals through engaging visual storytelling, e.g. Equinix, the EU, etc.

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AFOMA EZEOKOYE

Co-founder

Afoma Mildred Ezeokoye (nee Chiegboka) is an award-winning voiceover artist, lawyer & storyteller with 12+ years of experience. She is the COO & co-founder of Raknida and the Director of Communications & Operations at Insecta Studios. As Oma the Storyteller, Afoma has written, voiced, and directed documentaries and short films to help several local & international organizations bring their visions to life, e.g. the World Bank Group, UN, The Hunger Project, etc.

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