Where Startups Start 

Graduate student Alex Tang is striving for expanded digital accessibility through his venture, Ablenaut. Tang is developing a complete keyboard for the Vietnamese language and hopes to build a website for users to download its software by the end of the summer.  

“As a human species, we’ve built rockets, spaceships and even the Voyager Golden Record,” Tang said. “My mission is to build a Vietnamese keyboard to save the language from extinction.” 

Bodhi’s Garden 

Founder Alex Lewis is making landscaping visions a reality with his company Bodhi’s Garden. The business does home and commercial landscaping and incorporates native plants that can last for years. 

Air-to-Water Generators 

Air-to-Water Generators is a startup founded by Executive Doctorate of Business Administration student Darian Jones. The company strives to meet communities’ needs by pulling water from the air. 

“During my master's program, I became aware of how many parts of America are distressed because of lack of water,” he said. “Think Flint, Michigan, Jackson, Mississippi, and other small rural communities that don’t have access to clean water. Learning about that and this technology led me on the journey to solve this problem.”  

Gentive  

Led by Bauer MBA alumni Felesia Harden and Rehkai Gibson, Gentive is a behavioral AI platform designed to help teams create products that meet the needs of their users.  

“We both have similar backgrounds in psychology, and we wanted to pivot into product management,” Harden said. “What started as a project for our product portfolio has transitioned into what we're building now in RED Labs.” 

Story Square 

Story Square is a one-stop-shop that creates unique family literacy experiences. Founded by Fran-Victoria Stephens and Vyckye Cox, Story Square hopes to build literacy-focused habits that result in better life outcomes for the participants.  

“One of the things that I hadn’t considered prior to RED Labs was to get more intel from customers, in my case the people who I want to buy our services,” Stephens said. “Talking to principals and decision makers at the district level has been so eye opening.” 

At Arlo Espresso Club, founder Jose Salinas shoots to create a community through coffee and matcha pop-ups. More than just caffeinated beverages, Salinas said he’s serving belonging and connection. 

“Seeing how products like coffee and matcha can help people make new friends is so cool,” he said. “A drink can just bring us together as humans and spread the feeling of unity.” 

Kindled Candles 

Kindled Candles wants to be the light at special events, creating custom candle bouquets. Founder sophomore Sonaina Irfan said the custom gifts are the perfect piece of decor and are great for an elevated event.  

“Not only has RED Labs given structure to my business, but it helped me as a person as well,” Irfan said. “It has allowed me to think a lot broader than before and given me a different perspective. I feel able to explore many more options.” 

Kahlab 

Founded by Kahlil Martin, Angel Shamba and Godfrey Obeng, Kahlab is a software platform that helps people connect and build community. By putting all the necessary tools in one place, they hope to free more time for curators to build experiences. 

“We wanted to build something that could help connect people to spaces but also help community builders and networks have a place where they can really connect and grow with each other,” Obeng said.  

 Timeless Apparel 

Timeless Apparel brings luxury streetwear to the market at an affordable price.  Founded by Kaleb Nyamayaro, the brand aims to increase its fashion accessibility to young adult men.  

“I've just learned a lot more about the technical side of business this summer,” he said. “My brand was very unrefined for its first year of business. If you had asked me what my business thesis was at the time, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you. Now, I’ve gotten down to the foundation of it.”  

Houston Pilates Club 

Management information systems junior Kristi Vo-Manh wants to bring people together through movement. Her startup, Houston Pilates Club, brings pop-ups to various locations where people can work out together and enjoy a social gathering.  

“Going to Pilates myself and being an instructor, I felt there was a lack of a sense of community,” Vo-Manh said. “You go to class and leave afterwards. At Houston Pilates Club, you're able to meet new people, be in a new environment and branch outside of the typical studio.” 

Chromality 

Led by Mitchell Urbanovsky, Suleman Khan and Daoud Qamar, Chromality believes the future of marketing strays away from the ways of traditional advertising. The media production agency focuses on short and long-form content that builds brand identity beyond going viral. 

“RED Labs has helped us put the pieces together,” Urbanovsky said. “We better understand the business side and have clarity on what we’re doing right and what still needs to be done. We’ve also connected with successful mentors who have shared their insights.” 

Simu-Life  

Venture team Simu-Life is looking to change the medical landscape, starting with pets. They are building a detection device to catch early IV leakages for patients at pet clinics. In the future, they hope to expand the tool to humans as well.  

With a strong engineering background, their team consists of Robert Ozaeta, Ethan Kua, Christina Tran, Seth Smith and Ayla Bouzari. 

“We got the idea from a hackathon-style competition where we placed second internationally and beat 34 other teams,” Kua said. “After that, we realized that there was potential in the idea, and we decided to pursue it a bit further.” 

Skrat 

Ph.D. student Samundra Regmi aims to change the current financial landscape through his startup, Skrat. Regmi’s vision is to develop an AI financial operating system where people can anonymously post their financial portfolio and receive feedback. 

“My father was a small business owner, so entrepreneurship is something that I've always enjoyed, but I never had the formal training,” Regmi said. “Now with my computer science background, RED Labs is helping me with the business aspect.”