Over the past year, our 2026 LabStart fellows have been heads-down building: sharpening their science, landing partners, and getting investor-ready. On November 18th, LabStart will share the startups they’ve built over this time.
Join us to meet these entrepreneurs who have already raised 7x what LabStart has directly invested in them and have been accepted into 8 downstream programs.
Here's a taste of who you'll hear from:
Making data centers more sustainable: Tinia Pina (Stealth) is building biodegradable, flame-resistant, waterless coolants and joining mHUB’s Compute-Energy Nexus cohort, while Monica Sanders (Bonne Terre Labs) helps tech leaders make data center decisions that are backed by the communities they operate in. Bonne Terre Labs is currently launching paid enterprise pilots.
Turning waste and biology into products: Emilio Balderas (Aura Life Science) is cutting biomanufacturing costs by up to 75% by hacking bacteria’s circadian rhythms and has been accepted into Chain Reaction Innovations and the ISS National Lab’s Orbital Edge Accelerator. Sebastian Garcia (Khaya Biosciences) is turning beer and dairy waste into medical wound dressings and other hydrogel products. They are both looking for final checks to close out their seed rounds.
Rethinking materials: Warren Ndlovu (Sotera Materials) is building low-carbon cement wall panels to speed up construction timelines and will be participating in the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator’s next cohort. Pilanda Watkins-Curry, Ph.D. (AuraChrome) has developed novel, safer, and ethically sourced ingredients based on licensed IP from USC for the cosmetics and pigments industries with first product samples being distributed.
All six of the brilliant entrepreneurs from our 2026 cohort are now fundraising or looking for partners and customers.
Registration requires approval, so please sign up early: https://luma.com/0kjzm3w4