Meeting the Impact Studio’s Winter 2026 Cohort!

The Impact Studio is home to a tight-knit, bright community of innovators and creative thinkers, and we have the honor of welcoming new (and familiar) Founders and Fellows every school year who bring fresh ideas and problem-solving skills to the table.

This school year, in order to serve even more students, the Impact Studio began having two official intakes: one in the fall and one in the winter. We are excited to bring in a broader range of ventures tackling core issues for the common good.

This Winter, we have a talented range of ventures and coaches continuing to push boundaries to make an impact in their respective industries!

Impact Studio Founders

“Tech for Good” Ventures

EduBridge (Karen Vera Sanchez, BSE ‘27)

In Mexico, 8.5M young people can’t access higher education; 70% are rejected from public universities and 71% can’t afford private tuition. With no flexible financing options, opportunity is blocked. EduBridge erodes barriers to opportunities and growth by targeting and supporting high-potential students in emerging markets who need affordable, transparent funding to reach top-tier education that opens doors.

AgriTech (Laila Zahra, MAcc ’26 and Salman Ali, BBA ‘26)

We aim to solve farm inefficiency and climate-data gaps by integrating satellite insights, AI, and carbon accounting into a unified agri-tech platform. Our product targets farmers, government institutes, fertilizer companies and mill owners across developing and developed markets, helping optimize the allocation of limited government resources and revealing critical information about unexpected weather fluctuations.

Slash (Jaiden Schraut, BS ’26 and Navya Kumar, BSE ‘26)

We aim to solve farm inefficiency and climate-data gaps by integrating satellite insights, AI, and carbon accounting into a unified agri-tech platform. Our product targets farmers, government institutes, fertilizer companies and mill owners across developing and developed markets, helping optimize the allocation of limited government resources and revealing critical information about unexpected weather fluctuations.

subLET (Courtney Chisholm, BS ‘27)

subLET makes finding and posting college subleases effortless by centralizing all listings into one clean, transparent platform that lets students search for places to live, list their own subleases in minutes, browse verified options, compare prices, and connect safely. Beyond matching students with housing, subLET also handles sending payments and required documents directly to landlords, making the entire process smooth and secure from start to finish.

Pachira (Rishab Gupta, BS ’26, and Arjun Suri, BS ‘27)

Pachira transforms gift cards from archaic, impersonal gifts to meaningful presents, offering innovative multi-brand gift cards that let you gift anyone anything, including for small businesses lacking the digital infrastructure to create their own programs. Pachira supports two-fold impact first by supporting local businesses starting in the Ann Arbor area, and second through social impact gifting that allows anyone to gift to charitable efforts.

OKAYPOP! (Maria Fields, PhD ‘27)

OKAYPOP! is a platform that breaks down the language barrier so people can connect over shared commonalities and interests, starting with K-pop fans. With a vision of impact to unite global audiences, OKAYPOP! facilitates understanding in real-time so that users can all live in the moment with each other, rather than being forced to miss these opportunities of connection.

With Haven Ai (Heather Ruby, MBA ‘28)

Haven provides 24/7 emotionally intelligent AI guidance to caregivers who face burnout, fear, and isolation with little real-time support. Focusing on family caregivers balancing overwhelming responsibilities, with future expansion into healthcare organizations seeking scalable caregiver wellness solutions, Haven empowers caregivers to feel less isolated and more resilient with empathy-driven AI that reduces burnout and improves well-being.

Health and Wellbeing Ventures

CO2 Wristband (Mousa Alhazmi, MSI ‘27)

CO2 Wristband is a simple, noninvasive way to monitor the health of COPD patients who struggle to breathe at home even with oxygen and ventilation devices. CO2 Wristband is instrumental in avoiding high healthcare costs while empowering families with accurate, timely insights that let them know when telemedicine support is sufficient, or when it’s time to call for immediate medical attention.

Helping Hand AI (Alexander Cetinel, MSI ‘27)

Helping Hand AI seeks to reduce injuries and save lives, provide independence for caregivers, and enhance patients’ quality of life by combining emergency detection with habit tracking. The system delivers insights and real-time alerts that empower caregivers and healthcare teams to respond rapidly, intervene earlier, and support well-being. Thus, they can tackle the problem of delayed emergency response and improve patient care recommendations.

Sun Stickerz (Tasmine Clements, MS, and LiAng Yao, PhD ‘26)

Children’s sensitive skin is at high risk for sunburn, increasing future skin cancer risk, due to missed sunscreen reapplication. Not enough technology focusing on the niche needs of kids from ages 3 to 9 and their parents exists, but with Sun Stickerz, families now have timely, visual reminders to reapply sunscreen on young children and effectively prevent sunburn.

Environmental Sustainability Ventures

SolStove (Siddhant Makkar, MS ’26, Jack Thompson, BS ’25; Dom Ross, BS ’26, and Ashhad Jaffer, ‘MS 26)

SolStove offers both the technology solution as well as the education and long-term support for low-income families in Guatemala and other Central American countries who currently rely on inefficient wood fires. By providing culturally-acceptable and beneficial clean cooking technology and education, SolStove enables underserved families to save time, money, and improve their health as they are empowered to transition to clean cooking.

Puffin Air Purifiers (Rachel Silcox, PhD ’26, and Rebecca Lentz, PhD ‘26)

High CO2 levels accumulate in small or poorly ventilated spaces giving occupants headaches and fatigue. With Puffin Air Purifiers, individuals can feel agency to independently monitor their indoor air quality and capture gaseous pollutants, specifically CO2. Not only does this offer environmental benefits by capturing CO2, but individuals can improve their productivity and reduce fatigue related to gaseous air pollutants.

Community Development Ventures

Akin (Jane Kim, MBA ’27, Gaurangi Gupta, MBA ’27, and Tanya Tyagi, MBA ‘25)

People feel uninspired and disconnected from their creative potential. That’s where Akin steps in, helping hobby seekers and community builders discover and book local creative classes, workshops, and third-place experiences. With Akin, young adults can successfully search for meaningful, in-person connection and creative space, and local studios can thrive thanks to greater engagement.

CRWN (Sarah Nyaanga, BS ‘26)

CRWN is a social mobile platform that connects young Black people with hair care techniques, service professionals, and a supportive community that celebrates natural beauty and all hair expressions, combating underrepresentation and generational insecurities. In a beauty industry that treats Black hair care as an afterthought, CRWN is redefining what it means to wear your crown proudly.

Motor City Commons (Lyle Rubin, MBA ‘27)

Motor City Commons connects community-led cooperatives with capital, anchor institutions, and technical support, increasing community wealth and job quality in Detroit. Motor City Commons will enable local ownership and profit circulation, and build sustainable enterprises that strengthen economic stability and opportunity in underserved neighborhoods.

Urban Tech Startup (Laila Zahra, MAcc ’26, and Salman Ali, BBA ‘26)

An urban tech startup advancing sustainable solutions through AI and machine learning driven innovation, this venture focuses on smarter planning, resilient systems, and data informed decision making that delivers measurable environmental and financial impact, helping create more efficient, adaptive, and future ready cities.

Economic Empowerment Ventures

Northstar Dental Alliance (Jakob Bouna, BBA ‘27)

Northstar Dental Alliance resolves to create a more efficient and profitable business for independent dentists through a single MSO platform, negotiating fee schedules, and providing professional business management. This way, dentists don’t have to juggle being experts in health and business, and can focus on giving patients the best support possible.

Impact Studio Fellows

This semester, we have another cohort of interdisciplinary Applebaum Impact Design Fellows who will be leveraging their technical expertise to help our Founders build their ventures!

We can’t wait to see the impact these students will make this year! Starting your own business and sticking with it is a difficult, but rewarding undertaking. We’re so proud to see the progress these students have already made, and are excited to see what the future brings — in the Impact Studio and beyond.