Industry: Education Software

Words Liive

Origin: Falls Church, VA | Grant Awarded: 2024 | Status: Active

Visit Website →

What is Words Liive?

Words Liive is a futuristic EdTech startup dedicated to achieving a “Moonshot Goal” of reversing the literacy crisis by getting 2/3rds of the nation’s students to or above their grade-level reading proficiency by the year 2045. Words Liive converts real and popular song lyrics into literacy tools for middle and high school students struggling with reading and writing performance.

Company Leadership

SAGE SALVO

ceo

Armed with a patent-pending algorithm to convert song lyrics into literacy tools, Gil Perkins (doing business as Sage Salvo) developed a digital platform as a service (PaaS), called The Opus App, to facilitate the mass collaboration between music artists and classrooms for automating lesson plans for literacy instruction. Salvo is the award-winning social-entrepreneur founder of Words Liive and the 2022 Milken-Penn Education Business Grand Prize Winner! Sage is also a 2023 a16z Talent x Opportunity entrepreneur, receiving investment from Andreessen Horowitz, and also a 2021 Aspen Institute Tech Policy Fellow. As an ‘EdTech entrepreneur’, Sage was selected as a 2021 Elite 200 GSV Cup Startup, 2020 AfroTech World Finalist, 2020 Harvard Alumni Launch Lab Accelerator Fellow, 2020 Education Pioneers Fellow, and a 2018 AT&T Aspire Entrepreneur. He is a current graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE) where he is completing a Master’s Degree in Literacy Studies and is also a 2017 graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School where he earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA) with a focus on Social Innovation. In 2019 and 2017, Sage was honored as a selection into the US Delegation of Entrepreneurs to represent the U.S. at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in The Hague, Netherlands and in Hyderabad, India, respectively. Sage was awarded the 2022 Educator Innovator of the Year by Montgomery College’s BOND Academy.

Connect on LinkedIn→

ASL Aspire

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

Visit Website →

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.

Connect on LinkedIn →

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.

Connect on LinkedIn →

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.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Top Tutors For Us

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2023 | Status: Active

Visit Website →

What is Top Tutors For Us?

By Black tutors, for Black students, Top Tutors for Us designs educational programs and curriculums for predominantly Black public schools. These curricula work hand-in-hand with the company’s supplementary private tutoring services to provide the younger generation equal opportunity to succeed in the college admission process. Top Tutors has also developed a custom suite of resources including prep books, online videos, and practice problems so that students have access to everything they need to succeed. As an outside source, Top Tutors has the benefit of connecting students with a mentor who has had similar experiences, creating a network. This specialized connection is something many other generic tutoring services are unable to offer. We keep our students in the system so that after they graduate, they can become a Top Tutor, creating a community and cycle of teaching each other.

Company Leadership

ANGELICA HARRIS

FOUNDER & CEO

Angelica Harris earned her third WashU degree, a Masters in Computer Science. Before college, she received $1.5M+ in scholarships, gaining entry to top universities. Starting with a 16 ACT score, she self-improved to 32. Now, for 7 years, she aids students in similar journeys. Noticing low Black student numbers in prestigious institutions during undergrad, she founded a business guiding Black students to boost their university prospects.

Connect on LinkedIn →

King of the Curve

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2023 | Status: Active

Visit Website →

What is King of the Curve?

King of the Curve is revolutionizing the journey from high school to physician by offering a comprehensive platform tailored for aspiring medical professionals. Our unique blend of high-quality test prep, personalized mentorship, and cutting-edge predictive analytics ensures students are not only prepared for medical entrance exams but also receive insights into top-tier medical school admissions. While our core expertise is in medical education, the adaptability of our platform means we’re poised to expand our transformative approach to other academic domains in the future.

Company Leadership

Heath RUTLEDGE-JUKES

Co-Founder

Heath Rutledge-Jukes is currently a medical student at Washington University in St. Louis, co-founder of ed-tech company King of the Curve, and a TEDx speaker. Faced with a challenging childhood, Heath managed to climb out and attend college, where he was a pre-medical student who studied psychology with a focus on pedagogical design. His hard work yielded him a 522 on the MCAT (99th %-tile), as well as numerous publications in venues such as The Journal of Arthroplasty and the Global Health Catalyst Summit.

Connect on LinkedIn →

William KELLY

Co-founder

William triple-majored in Accounting, Economics & Finance, and Business Administration and recently graduated from Cornell University with a Master’s degree in Accounting. He is excited to have have helped so many premedical students through the King of the Curve app.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Wayfarer

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2022 | Status: Active

Visit Website →

What is Wayfarer?

Our Knowledge-as-a-Service interactive platform helps libraries prevent resources from collecting digital dust.

Patrons don’t think about the “resource” they need. They think about the problem they need to solve. The Wayfarer helps libraries translate resources into problem-based, patron-centric micro-tasks that are then compiled into curated paths on discrete topics (“Find a Job” or “Start a Business,” e.g.). The patron selects the Wayfarer path that solves her problems and follows the steps along the path.

The Wayfarer uses AI, smart questions, customized UX, and micro-action tracking to provide a personalized experience and connect patrons to resources like never before. And the discovery element helps connect the dots between resource topics. The platform is available in multiple languages and helps to bridge the digital divide.

Wayfarer is currently in 13 library systems nationwide reaching a service-population area of 4.6 million patrons, including Missouri patrons in Kansas City, St. Charles County, and Joplin, as well as Houston. It also recently won SBA’s veteran-owned business of the year award.

Company Leadership

Chris Daming

Co-Founder & CEO

Chris is the co-founder and CEO of Wayfarer. Prior to Wayfarer, Chris spent 4 years in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. Afterwards, he got his J.D. and LL.M. at Washington University, and practiced law serving entrepreneurs.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Jorik Ittmann

Co-founder

Jorik is the co-founder and COO of Wayfarer. Originally from the Netherlands, Jorik has founded one medical tech company, and he helped lead another in a successful exit to a publicly traded firm.

Pivto Digital Learning

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2022 | Status: Active

Visit Website →

What is Pivto Digital Learning?

Pivto Digital Learning transforms digital learning for the healthcare industry. Pivto provides custom eLearning experiences through consumer-focused technologies – mobile, micro, and social. Cinematic quality video-based learning is delivered through E-Laborate, our online LMS platform. Our platform, E-Laborate, is simple to use with a modern user interface. Our clients include leading healthcare systems, medical organizations, pharmaceutical & medical device companies, and public health agencies & associations. We help healthcare organizations train employees, customers, or patients anytime, anywhere, from any device.

Company Leadership

Kelley Robson

founder & cEO

Kelley Robson brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in healthcare – including several startup organizations. Kelley’s healthcare industry experience includes sales, marketing, and training roles at GSK, Baxter Healthcare, and Siemens. Kelley is a graduate of the University of Missouri.

Connect on LinkedIn →

MARSfarm

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2022 | Status: Active

Visit Website →

What is MARSfarm?

There is a technological revolution occurring in the agricultural industry to ensure that humans will be able to sustainably feed our growing population in a changing climate. For over a century, U.S. farmers have learned the technical skills they need from vocational programs in secondary schools. Teachers working in these agriculture programs are desperate to bridge the growing disconnect between the technology being used in the industry and what is accessible to them.

MARSfarm brings ag-tech into the classroom by providing a platform for agricultural educators to give students early exposure to emerging industry practices and problems. Countertop-sized greenhouses designed for the classroom are the enabling hardware of this platform. Our software provides the ability to execute control sequences (called “recipes”) in these greenhouses and remotely monitor them. Consumable kits consisting of seeds, fertilizer, etc. are paired with “recipes” designed in partnership with pioneers of emerging agricultural technologies. This combination of equipment, software, and consumables will ensure that educators are always teaching industry-relevant skills that lead to valuable career education.

Company Leadership

Peter Webb

cEO

Peter Webb began his career working first as a database administrator and then in a business development role at Hussmann Corporation. Peter has also consulted for The Open Agriculture Initiative at the MIT Media Lab and served as the Director of Indoor Farming at The Yield Lab Institute where he mentored several startups in the IN2 program.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Drew Thomas

coO

Drew Thomas comes from a background in engineering, manufacturing, and career technical education. After experiencing CTE training firsthand at Ranken Technical College, he spent his career programming CNC machines to serve the aerospace industry. This led to consulting opportunities for Quip and a teaching position at TechShop, a maker-space formerly in Cortex.

Connect on LinkedIn →

JAKAPA

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2022 | Status: Active

Visit Website →

What is JAKAPA?

JAKAPA measures, trains, and tracks soft skills. Bad soft skills are the #1 reason someone will be fired, and bad manager soft skills are a top reason why great employees quit. JAKAPA helps businesses improve their productivity and decrease turnover by providing data-driven answers to 3 of our client’s critical questions about training and engagement:
1. Are my company’s employee development initiatives actually working?
2. How can I help my employees improve their soft skills outside of training and feedback sessions?
3. How do I catch employee development disengagement early so I can intervene before it becomes permanent?
We achieve this using reliable and validated assessment technology, daily soft skill challenges, and an actionable dashboard. JAKAPA gives management and individual employees data clarity around their real-time strengths, weaknesses, and engagement metrics.

Company Leadership

Gavin Pringle

cEO

Gavin Pringle got his entrepreneurial start when he noticed a lack of focus on soft skills in traditional education. This alarmed him due to his experience managing successful teams as a Navy Submariner. Gavin was inspired to found JAKAPA when he learned that bad soft skills are a top reason for employee turnover. He wants to help every business focus on improving their employees’ soft skills by providing frequent measurement, training, and tracking.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Lisa Riegel

coO

Dr. Lisa Riegel is the chief designer for the Skill Builder Challenge Platform in JAKAPA. She is an internationally sought-after thought leader for program improvement and leadership development. She feels her life experiences as a recruiter, educator, administrator, state-level education policy maker, workforce development consultant, and leadership coach have all led to the development of the JAKAPA platform.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Keara Pringle

ctO

Keara Pringle is an engineer and project manager. She is an agile project management enthusiast that has taken numerous engineering projects from ideation to full commercial release. Keara is passionate about JAKAPA due to her experience working in Corporate America and seeing what poor soft skills can do to team performance. She wants to help businesses develop stronger corporate cultures through better soft skill training and hiring practices.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Equalizer Games

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

Visit Website →

What is Equalizer Games?

Equalizer games is a sports and education AI software platform that helps athletes improve player IQ through virtual coaching and interactive training: helping athletes improve their game and safety before they ever take the field. This platform allows the coach to speak to the player away from the field through a web portal that provides teaching and tracks assessment of the player’s virtual practice from his or her mobile device. Our communication system increases engagement and allows for training away from school all at the fingertips of the student-athlete.

#STLOnward Awards – Powered by NISA

Company Leadership

John Tomlinson, Jr.

co-Founder & CEO

Co-Founder and CEO, John has over 27 years of QB coaching experience in high school, college, and the NFL. John’s experience with developing players’ IQ and on-field skills at all levels of football and knowing what triggers the IQ for student-athletes to produce successful results on the field are the ingredients he uses to fuel this product.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Marcus Matthews

CTO

20+ years of sports game development and entrepreneurship, including development of original NBA 2K and NFL 2K for Sega. He’s our catalyst for technology innovation, development, and communication with our potential software development partners.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Kathy Tomlinson

co-Founder & president

Co-Founder and President/COO Kathy has over 22+ years of finance and customer service experience. Kathy is helping shape operations of equalizer games as it continues to evolve. She is also the catalyst of building the idea of IQ development for Equalizer Games’ future tools.

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.

LEARN ABOUT THE COMPETITION
See How You Can Get Involved →