18 Early-Stage Founders Enter Discovery Phase at mHUB
mHUB welcomes a new class of startups to the 2025 mPOWER Program, designed to fast-track ventures through the earliest stage of business creation. The program offers six months of immersive, hands-on support to help founders transform bold ideas into scalable hardtech businesses.
This year’s cohort will operate on two specialized tracks: HardTech and Energy & Sustainability.
By the end of the program, founders leave with a clear understanding of the problem they’re solving, who their customers are, the size of their market opportunity, and a validated roadmap from prototype to commercialization.
Energy & Sustainability Track
The Energy & Sustainability track features 8 companies addressing waste reduction, resource efficiency, and sustainable production with innovative approaches that span biotechnology, AI, and the circular economy. This track is supported by Salesforce — a global leader in customer relationship management and innovation.
Aura is ending the trade-off between profit and planet through photosynthetic biomanufacturing that reduces costs and eliminates CO2 emissions. Our break-through technology enables biomanufacturers to reduce production costs by up to 4x, while transforming their chemicals, ingredients, and inputs into bioalternatives with no CO2 emissions.
Connect with Jacob Bhoi and Emilio Balderas
ECOGRAINS
EcoGrains is transforming distillers grains into sustainable aviation fuel using microbial fermentation and catalytic conversion. Their approach delivers cost-competitive, high-performance fuels that reduce reliance on fossil resources.
Connect with Janet Namutebi
FLORAMINGO
Floramingo is creating an emotionally intelligent smart planter that supports mental well-being and plant care. Integrated with environmental and emotional sensors, it reacts to the plant’s needs and the user’s mood in real time.
Connect with Enock Niyonkuru, Annie Stardess Karitonze, and Aimee Elyse Ishimwe
GRAVITY FARMS
Gravity Farms is building an indoor greenhouse focused on growing rare houseplants. By cloning and growing plants locally, we help plant shops get unique plants faster and more affordably.
Connect with Dylan Swartz
HYPHAE COMPOSITES
Hyphae Composites is combining hardware and machine learning to help manufacturers reprocess industrial plastic waste, from extrusion and injection molding runs, into high-quality, polymer resin. Their solution integrates an on-site system and software for chemical analysis and optimization.
Connect with Adriana Esparza
LEGACY BIOMASS
Legacy Biomass turns local food scraps into energy. Smart kiosks, located throughout the community, make it easy to drop off organic waste and earn instant rewards like grocery savings. That waste is converted into electricity and heat, reducing municipal costs and building local energy resilience. It’s a neighborhood-scale circular system with meaningful community impact.
Connect with Liz Schmittgens
PRODUCED LOCAL
Produced Local commercializes local products that reduce agricultural and logistical waste and pollution.
Connect with Evan Costa
TREEIFY
Treeify offers a smart greenhouse kit that guides users through growing a native tree from seed. The product combines hands-on learning with digital tools to promote reforestation and ecological awareness.
Connect with Kathryn Hoffmann
HardTech Track
The HardTech track welcomes 10 companies developing tangible technologies that solve practical challenges across industries. These founders are building physical products with embedded intelligence—from advanced medical devices to smart wearables—that directly improve how people work, heal, and live.
ANTONIA NAVARRO
Antonia Navarro is designing a travel-friendly, foldable cup that helps children (especially girls) use public restrooms more hygienically. Future versions could incorporate diagnostics for infection detection, expanding its utility.
Connect with Antonia Navarro
ASAYA DESIGN
Asaya Design is developing smart PPE head protection specifically engineered for women in the field, addressing a critical safety gap for over 1.3 million women in the construction industry. Traditional PPE puts women at risk due to poor fit, which Asaya solves through ergonomically designed equipment that fits women properly. This innovation goes beyond safety equipment to bridge the equity gap in male-dominated industries, where ill-fitting protective gear creates real safety risks and barriers to workplace equality for women workers.
Connect with Smita Sahoo
BIOTICS
Biotics is building a non-invasive neural interface that enables above-the-knee amputees to intuitively control their prosthetic limbs. By combining EMG sensors, machine learning algorithms, and an adaptive liner, Biotics is restoring mobility and freedom.
Connect with Andrew Yeats and Naftali Bojdak-Yates
BREAKWATER LABS
Breakwater Labs is creating a modular alignment block to help orthopedic surgeons create accurate, fast, and repeatable images of the skeleton during surgery. The device is intended not only to help the surgeon orient themselves in 3-dimensional space quickly, but also serves as a drill and wire guide when fragment capture is necessary.
Connect with Brandon Gardner
CURAFITT
CuraFitt is reinventing home-based physical therapy through a smart knee wearable that provides real-time haptic feedback. It empowers patients to perform exercises correctly, avoid re-injury, and track their recovery without guesswork. CuraFitt also keeps patients and physical therapists connected—enabling clear communication, early intervention, and coordinated progress throughout the recovery journey and after.
Connect with Vidhi Gondalia, Darsh Gondalia, and Prasanna Bansode
POMWEAR
POMwear is a smart undergarment designed to deliver personalized menstrual pain relief. Combining heat, TENS therapy, and biometric sensors, POMwear responds to users’ physical signals in real time and is fully customizable via a companion app.
Connect with Brittany Ransom
STEALTHY FEET
Stealthy Feet Studios develops sensor-embedded compression socks that monitor foot pressure and motion for people adapting to a life with acute pain caused by previous injury and signs of aging.
Connect with Abiola Makinde
TARGETED TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC
Targeted Technology Solutions is bringing post-delivery visibility to eCommerce and logistics. Their patent-pending TrackSure™ device continues tracking packages for 24-48 hours after delivery, addressing chargeback and loss claims with greater precision.
Connect with Elizabeth Tarpley
OXYPENDANT
Oxypendant is developing a sleek, wearable device that delivers oxygen by extracting it directly from ambient air with no tanks and no refills. Designed to be worn as a pendant, it empowers users with respiratory conditions to move freely, stay active, and live confidently without compromising their lifestyle or appearance.
Connect with Joseph Higgins
V-TRAP
V-Trap is developing a non-invasive menstrual collection device embedded in underwear. Inspired by the Venus Fly Trap. It offers a discreet and reusable option for individuals seeking sustainable, comfortable menstrual care.
Connect with Kieanji Williams
Learn more about mHUB mPOWER Programs
