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NEWS FEED
Startup News Digest 09/11/26
Congress returns with consequential startup policy fights unresolved
The Kids’ Online Safety State Patchwork Status
As most state legislatures have adjourned for the year, they’re leaving behind an increasingly complicated patchwork of rules that are aimed at keeping young Internet users safe but create a variety of obligations, prohibitions, and compliance burdens for startups—especially for startups that don’t intend to, or knowingly interact, with young users.
#StartupsEverywhere: Coupeville, Wash.
AETHEON, a Washington-based startup, is an AI-powered workforce platform that helps individuals turn their work, education, military, and life experiences into structured, verified skill profiles. It also helps employers identify talent based on demonstrated skills and competencies rather than traditional resumes or degree requirements. We sat down with founder Marie Gill to discuss AETHEON’s mission to reshape the broken talent marketplace, the strategic decision to prioritize trade secrets over patents, and the critical policy reforms needed to support transitioning military veterans.
#StartupsEverywhere: Indianapolis, Ind.
RelateXR is an addiction recovery software that has been making waves at Indiana University since it was founded three years ago. Izzy Branam is the CEO and co-founder of RelateXR. We sat down with him to talk about his company, RelateXR’s experience with Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants, and more.
The Trump tariff rebuild continues and trade wars are back. What does it mean for startups?
Headline-grabbing tariffs have startups paying attention as the administration takes steps to reconstruct the sweeping tariff regime struck down by the Supreme Court and ignites trade conflict with top trading partners.
AI Essentials: What is Distillation?
It’s often easier to learn from an expert than start yourself from scratch. When it comes to AI model training, the practice of one model learning from a more developed or expert model is called distillation, and it’s one used by industry leaders and startups alike.
#StartupsEverywhere: Jacksonville, Fla.
After pioneering commercial in-space manufacturing and leading the team that designed the cameras for the Artemis II mission, Andrew Rush set out to solve the need for magnitudes more power for satellites in low Earth orbit. Star Catcher is building a power grid in space, concentrating energy from the sun and beaming optical and near-infrared beams of light that can greatly increase the energy output of solar panels on existing satellites. We sat down with Andrew to talk about Star Catcher, the importance of patenting technology, the evolution of capital formation in the space sector, and more.
#StartupsEverywhere: Atlanta, GA.
Alehra, an Atlanta-based startup co-founded by Ayobami "Ayo" Adewole and Adekunle "Ade" Oyaniyi, is a purpose-built "operating system" for behavioral health created to eliminate the administrative burnout caused by fragmented software systems. Their approach enables providers to prioritize patient care over manual paperwork by unifying scheduling, clinical documentation, and billing into a one-stop-shop platform, while also allowing practices to integrate their own preferred tools. We sat down with Ayo and Ade to discuss the origins of Alehra, the role of agentic AI in modern care, their talent and funding journeys, and the policy hurdles that founders in highly regulated industries face.
Startup News Digest 08/07/26
Senate committee advances bills that will require age verification
#StartupsEverywhere: New York, N.Y.
After an idea conceived and prototyped in business school went viral, founder and CEO Chris Lucas raised a $2 million pre-seed round for his company Secondsense, a platform that aggregates data across resale listings to determine the fair market value of commercial goods on the secondhand market. We sat down with Chris to talk about his company, the perception of algorithms versus their actual use, and more.
Engine comments to Federal trade commission on a national policy framework for AI
Engine shared comments with the FTC on their proposed AI policy statement interpreting following state AI laws as a potential violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act.
Predictable, consistent policy and open source key to startup competitiveness
Startups need to be able to know that the AI tools they invest their limited time and resources in as they build their companies will remain available as they scale.
#StartupsEverywhere: Los Angeles, Calif.
Offleash’d, a Los Angeles, CA area-based startup, is building a social ecosystem to bridge the gap between digital connection and physical community for pet parents. Since its launch in 2022, Offleash’d has rolled out its proprietary AI companion and added hyper-local features. We spoke with Terry James, CEO & Co-founder, about scaling responsible content moderation, introducing their AI agent “EVE,” the unique pet-parent demographic, and advocacy for policy changes to make pet parenthood more accessible.
Startup News Digest 07/24/26
Administration pieces trade authorities together to keep up tariffs
#StartupsEverywhere: New York, N.Y.
New York-based startup Barnwell Bio is modernizing disease analysis in the poultry industry without compromising the efficiency and biosecurity that farmers depend on. Their metagenomic sequencing platform—analyzing all DNA present in a sample—converts traditional reactive disease testing into a proactive health management system. We sat down with CEO and co-founder, Michael Rhys, to discuss his transition from COVID-19 wastewater tracking to animal agriculture, the role of AI in characterizing the microbiome, and his experience navigating federal grants and research funding.