Startup Showcases @ Hartford Innovation Week

​Join us for the Hartford Innovation Week Startup Showcase, an evening of live pitches from early-stage founders building across Connecticut and nearby New York and New England.

​Doors open at 4:30 PM
The evening agenda and other details are coming soon.

​Startup Finalists

​AccessFlora
Keegan Jalbert, Founder
A sustainable aquaculture company with a proprietary aquafeed for raising oysters in purified water. Removing the uncertainty of coastal access and ocean conditions to bring fresh oysters wherever there's demand.

​AMPA Biosciences
Hong Li, CEO
Liquid biopsy diagnostics for earlier cancer detection. Current assay results: roughly 77% sensitivity and 94% specificity distinguishing cancer patients from healthy controls.

​Convrsy
Jan Rosikon, Founder & CEO
An AI rehearsal platform for enterprise teams to pressure-test strategies and practice high-stakes conversations. First deployed with NYU's peacekeeping and mediation students preparing for field placements in conflict-affected regions.

​Elyton
Krish Bhuva, CEO
Machines that use electricity to shape and finish hard metal parts for manufacturers. In discussion with FreeFORM Technologies on a production contract worth roughly $30,000/month.

​Huddle
Nathan Catapano, Founder & CEO
The self-improving operating system for frontline teams. Paid pilots running with daily active usage, including 10 Chick-fil-A locations.

​Lumen Labs
Chaitu Dandu, Co-Founder
Spatial computing virtual monitors and agentic AI in the surgeon's operative field. Used in ten live endovascular procedures at Yale New Haven Hospital with no device-related patient harm.

​Orchestrated Biosciences
Alex Nesta, Founder
Noel Cruz, Co-Founder
An AI analysis engine for drug development in biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Tested on real questions from MyoGenex and Praesage Bio through 40 NSF I-Corps interviews.

​Supersonic / COMP
Ryan O'Donnell, Founder & CEO
AI employment compliance for restaurant and hospitality operators, every incident, every location, documented defensibly. Live across 15 employer groups and 62 locations since its June 2026 commercial launch.

​Valuenest
Jeff Peze, Founder & CEO
Helps small-business buyers find deal risks earlier, before wasting time and diligence dollars. Placed 2nd of 10 finalists at the CTSBDC AI Pitch Competition in May 2026.

​Zemi Labs
John Toribio, CEO & Co-Founder
Kyle Mahoney, CPO & Co-Founder
Turns everyday garments into continuous biopotential sensors for research labs studying human physiology. In use across three academic studies at UConn and Yale.

​Prizes

​All 10 finalists walk away with prizes 🏆, AWS is providing $5,000 in credits to each one, with more prizes for the top winners on top of that.