2026 Most Fundable Companies
Wednesday, September 23, 2026 at 12:00 PM PT / Virtual 12:30 PM PT
The Winners
Congratulations to the 2026 Pepperdine Graziadio Most Fundable Companies! In our 9th year, more than 2,100 early-stage US startups from across all 50 states vied for a space on the list.
Additional special features from 2026 included selecting a Startup World Cup Los Angeles Regional competition winner, plus three audience-selected Fan Favorites.
All winners are worthy of serious investor consideration based on several company variables including financial projections, market opportunity, intellectual property, competitive advantage, and management-team expertise.
Company highlights are included in the event replay and in the list winner profiles below.
- Featuring 2026 Most Fundable Companies
- See all Finalists and Semi-Finalists
- Special thanks to our Event Sponsors
AcQumen Medical, Inc. 
Fan Favorite
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Founders: Dori Jones, David Lerner, Rodney Houfburg, John Erb, Michael McCormick
Website: acqumenmedical.com
About: AcQumen Medical is rewriting the future of pediatric critical care with ultrasound-guided
hemodynamic monitoring and analytics to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare
costs.
Cerebrum Sensor Technologies, Inc.
Location: Burbank, CA
Founders: Keith Ferry, Jason Busch
Website: cerebrumsensor.com
About: Cerebrum transforms tires into intelligent data sources, giving the transportation
industry real-time insights to improve safety, efficiency, performance, and sustainability.
Data Squared USA, Inc.
Location: Wilmington, DE
Founders: Jon Brewton, Jeff Dalgliesh
Website: data2.ai
About: data² delivers the world's only patented hallucination-resistant, explainable decision
intelligence platform. Enterprises and government agencies get auditable decisions
they can verify and defend.
Elysium Therapeutics, Inc.
Location: Hendersonville, TN
Founders: Greg Sturmer, Thomas Jenkins
Website: elysiumrx.com
About: Elysium Therapeutics develops proprietary medicines that rescue and protect people
from opioid overdose, relieve pain, and control drug exposure to reduce suffering.
Emerging Technology Ventures, Inc.
Location: Las Cruces, NM
Founders: Cliff Hudson, Deborah Hudson, Amanda Hudson
Website: etvamerica.com
About: Emerging Technology Ventures’ patent-pending KeenAI® technology delivers edge-autonomous,
multi-modal sensing, and AI-driven predictive performance analytics in mission critical,
cannot fail environments.
Enexor Energy, LLC
Location: Franklin, TN
Founders: Lee Jestings
Website: enexor.com
About: Enexor converts organic and plastic waste into clean, reliable, on-site energy
through its patented Bio-CHP system, cutting energy and waste disposal costs for customers.
Modal Motors, Inc.
Location: Farmington Hills, MI
Founders: Michael Van Steenburg
Website: modalmotors.com
About: Modal Motors builds electric motors with two to four times conventional torque density.
Rare-earth optional, patent-pending claw-pole transverse-flux architecture, assembled
in a single automated cell.
NeuroQure, Inc.
Location: Irvine, CA
Founders: David Justus, John Jay Gargus
Website: neuroqure.com
About: NeuroQure’s ASD Insight® is a novel biology-based solution to detect autism as soon
as birth, enabling timely intervention, improved outcomes, and future targeted treatments,
available in 46 states.
Notey, Inc.
Location: Columbia, SC
Founders: Mak Grgic, Adithya Bellathur, Yishai Pinchover
Website: notey.co
About: Notey is a GenAI platform that turns any music content into personalized video games
and any musical instrument into a game controller — turning practice into play.
SetaTech USA, Inc.
Fan Favorite
Location: Huntsville, AL
Founders: Blair Blacker, Lisa Chen
Website: setatech.global
About: SetaTech transforms waste keratin from human hair and poultry feathers into innovative,
sustainable biosolutions that enhance crop performance, deter wildlife, and protect
the environment.
The 4Jacks Group, Inc.
Location: Yonkers, NY
Founders: David Barbag, Andrew Chin, Jim Conti
Website: 4jacksnitro.com
About: 4Jacks is a fast-growing beverage company revolutionizing premium draft cold brew
through broadline distribution and proprietary nitrogen-from-air dispensers, generating
recurring and strong operator margins.
The Crease Beast, Inc.
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Founders: Matt Jones, Xavier Correa
Website: creasebeast.com
About: The Crease Beast is an innovative shoe care brand dedicated to developing products
that enhance every aspect of the sneakerhead lifestyle.
Tiny Sprouts Foods, Inc.
Fan Favorite
Location: Glenview, IL
Founders: Kim Pabla, Tina Rajani
Website: tinysproutsfoods.com
About: Tiny Sprouts is redefining children’s health with functional, real-food nutrition
boosters that effortlessly deliver essential nutrients to support daily wellness and
gut, brain, and immune health.
Vivifi Medical, Inc.
Location: Houston, TX
Founders: Tushar Sharma
Website: vivifimedical.com
About: Vivifi Medical is fixing the root cause of BPH (enlarged prostate) without surgery,
implants, or sexual risk.
Finalists
- Axioforce, Inc.
- Beyond Silicon, Inc.
- Crossover Quality Meats Group, Inc.
- EmGenisys, Inc.
- Global Neighbor, Inc.
- KarbonPay, Inc.
- PrivacyHawk, Inc.
- Tenfold Security Consulting, Inc.
- Twill AI (Twill Payments, LLC)
- VERN AI (Virtual Emotion Resource Network, Inc.)
- Xpece Drones (Xpece, LLC)
Semi-Finalists
- Active Membranes, Inc.
- Ai.Fish, Inc.
- AIXI, Inc.
- Bandgap Technologies (RockeTruck, Inc.)
- Beacon (Updawg, Inc.)
- BleedIo Tech, Inc.
- BOLTS Technologies, Inc.
- Boom AI, Inc.
- Calypto, Inc.
- Chantico Technology, Inc.
- Cloud Closet, Inc.
- CollabWorkx, LLC
- DispatchMVP, LLC
- Electric Avenue Yard Care Holdings, Inc.
- Emission Free Generators, Inc.
- Eye Guardian Device Corp.
Facio Labs, Inc. - HitCheck (HHITT, Inc.)
- Hybrid Reefs (Hybrid Reef Solutions, Inc.)
- inncivio (INNCIVIO, Inc.)
- Legion Space, LLC
- LogisticsMRO, Inc.
- Longtonics, Inc.
- Mixta, Inc.
- Neighborhood News, Inc.
- Odin Diagnostics (Odin Ventures, Inc.)
- Onselex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
- Orasi Media, Inc.
- Oye Therapeutics, Inc.
- Pitchcraft, LLC
- Popper Power, Inc.
- Powerpulze Inc.
- Produce'd, LLC
- Pulsar Informatics, Inc.
- QGC (Quantitative Coin Grading, LLC)
- Rhea Space Activity, Inc.
- sayhii, Inc.
- Sendr (URBNED, Inc.)
- Sentencingstats.com, Inc.
- SibylSoft, Inc.
- SplitEV, Inc.
- SummaCor, Inc.
- TeroAI, Inc.
- ThermoShade Solutions, Inc.
- Valeb, Inc.
- VeriChem, Inc.
- Vigilic, Inc.
- Vittas, Inc.
- Vroom Power (Vroom Solar, Inc.)
- Wamy AI, Inc.
- Wearable Artificial Organs, Inc.
- Western States Fire, Inc.
- wrkspace, Inc.
- XENA Intelligence, Inc.
- Zen Stax, LLC
Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors for their support of entrepreneurship at Graziadio Business School
Title Sponsors
Contact: Geoff Howard, CEO
Legacy Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
Contact: Ronald Munman, Managing Director,
The Munman Group
Contact: Vince Phorn, Partner
Silver Sponsors
Contact: Gary Hewamadduma, CEO
Contact: David Feingold, Executive Director
Contact: Scott Alderton, Managing Partner
Contact: Jasmine Jiang, Senior Vice President of Investment Operations
Resource Partners
Contact: Bala Sriraghavan, CEO
Contact: Eric Cox, Head of Growth
Contact: Michael Scherzer, CTO
Contact: Jonathan Pearce, Partner
Contact: Dan Gallagher, Head of Partnerships
Contact: Mark Osborne, CEO
In-Kind Premium
Contact: Dan Davidson, Venture Outreach
Contact: Damoder Reddy, Chairman
Contact: Sean Walsh, CEO
Contact: David Newman, Chair
Contact: Tom Vogelsong, Life Science and Tech Advisor
Contact: Connie Harrell, President
Contact: Jon Shapiro, Principal Consultant
Contact: JJ Richa, CEO
Contact: Margeaux Doremus, Strategic Advisor
Contact: Ashish Saboo, CEO
Contact: Garrett Gilbertson, Founding Partner
Contact: Dave de Csepel, Chair
Contact: Davide Accomazzo, Chief Investment Officer
Contact: Venkatesh Sankaran, President
In-Kind
Disclaimers: Pepperdine University, in its sole discretion, may choose not to publish a company for any reason it deems appropriate. The Pepperdine Most Fundable Companies List does not represent an offer to sell securities. It does not constitute investment advice, nor is it an endorsement of any particular product or service. Pepperdine University is not a broker-dealer and does not perform services provided by a broker-dealer, including but not limited to any financial or investment advising.