Summer Cohort for Pre-Accelerator Launched to Support High Demand
DETROIT — Five newly selected standout startups earned a spot in the highly competitive Michigan Founders Fund Summer 2025 Pre-Accelerator Program powered by gener8tor. This is the second cohort of this groundbreaking program offering early-stage startups cash grants, in addition to resources and mentorship.These Michigan-based, underrepresented and high-growth founders are tackling some of the most pressing challenges across biotech, mobility fintech, SaaS for energy, SaaS for supply chain sourcing, and materialtech — shaping the industries of tomorrow across Southeast Michigan.
The cohort members include: Dr. John Anagli, founder of Neurotheranostics; Farai Gundan, founder of Bhadala; Ademole Fagade, founder of SynaFox AI; Chris Genteel, founder of Race to a Trillion; and Tanvi Gadamsetti, founder of BRCĒ.
“Our initial request for applications for this program yielded such a tremendous response from the entrepreneurial community,” said Rishi Moudgil, Executive Director of Michigan Founders Fund (MFF). “Following our first cohort, we stayed engaged with many of the founders who were still building and hungry to reach the next level. We launched this second cohort soon afterwards in order to support the incredible promise of these entrepreneurs.”
The MFF Pre-Accelerator is a free, seven-week program that provides early-stage startups with mentorship, networking, and cash grants to help them scale. Throughout the seven weeks, cohort members receive expert coaching, access to investors, and connections to Michigan’s leading entrepreneurial ecosystem to prepare them for investment and long-term success. The MFF Pre-Accelerator is powered by gener8tor’s gBETA accelerator program, customized in partnership with Michigan Founders Fund to bring capital and exclusive support highly tailored to underrepresented founders in Michigan.
“We continue to see extreme demand for the Michigan Founders Fund Pre-Accelerator in our recruiting phases,” said Nate Domenighini, gBETA Associate VP. “That speaks to not only the need for more programming for underrepresented founders in Michigan, but also the value of the ecosystem and the support offered to founders through Michigan Founders Fund. We are really proud of the impact we’ve seen this program make in less than a year.”
Unique to accelerators at this early stage of a company’s life cycle, each qualified founder receives a $15,000 grant from Michigan Founders Fund, creating an opportunity for them to turn the traction from the program into immediate impact for their companies.
“I’m elated to continue supporting talented Michigan founders and their ventures. Founders in our region are eager to grow and make an impact in their communities. We are honored to continue providing a way for them to make that a reality,” said Brittni Abiolu, MFF Pre-Accelerator Program Manager.
The Summer 2025 cohort began May 1 and will work closely between Michigan Founders Fund and gener8tor, which includes experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders to refine their business models, get capital ready, and prepare for future growth. The program will culminate in a Founder Showcase on Thursday, June 26, 2025, where participants will pitch their companies to potential investors, stakeholders and ecosystem builders.
For more information about the program or to get involved, visit www.gener8tor.com/mffpa or contact Brittni Abiolu at [email protected].
Michigan Founders Fund Pre-Accelerator powered by gener8tor Summer 2025 Cohort
NeuroTheranostics (NTI) developed a nasal spray treatment and blood test to address the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Current TBI care is limited to keeping patients stable and relieving brain pressure, with no treatments that help the brain heal or tools to track long-term damage. NTI’s therapy, NTI-101, promotes brain repair when given within hours or days after injury, aiming to prevent lasting cognitive and emotional issues. NTI is also creating a blood test to detect and monitor chronic TBI-related brain disorders. To date, NTI has received $1,000,000 in non-dilutive funding from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense and Michigan Emerging Technologies Fund. NeuroTheranostics are currently in a key R&D phase and have completed proof-of-concept and initial preclinical studies of the TBI therapeutic.
Founder & CEO: Dr. John Anagli
Based In: Detroit, Michigan
Learn more: https://www.neurotheranostics.com/
Bhadala is a smart transit platform that helps cities, transit agencies and companies make transportation more accessible and efficient. Many communities struggle with unreliable transit, poor scheduling and limited access. Bhadala solves this by offering real-time tracking, digital payments, and easy trip planning — all in one platform. Bhadala’s goal is to close transportation gaps and make urban travel more connected, fair and sustainable for everyone. Bhadala has already launched in South Africa in partnership with WiTaxi to deploy WiTaxi Pay, a localized version of the Bhadala platform tailored to the unique needs of the market. The number of unique users on the South Africa platform has been growing at an average monthly rate of approximately 120% since launch. Bhadala also recently launched in the United States, securing the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Mobility Wallet contract, a $500,000 paid pilot, which positions Bhadala to establish a strong footprint in Southeast Michigan.
Founder & CEO: Farai Gundan
Based In: Detroit, Michigan
Learn More: https://bhadala.com/
BRCĒ is is a material-tech startup revolutionizing athletic and safety gear with the World’s First Shoelace That Never Comes Untied™, using patented composite materials to prevent injuries, enhance performance, and outperform traditional materials at a fraction of the cost. BRCĒ serves athletes, first responders, industrial professionals, and kids with performance-driven gear designed for safety, speed, and strength in high-impact environments. In 2024 BRCĒ generated $93k in total sales with $32K generated in just 45 days, sold out at Sneaker Con Detroit in 4 hours, and secured partnerships with teams in the NCAA, NFL, and USA Rugby League. The BRCĒ team projects $760,000 in sales for 2025 with $410,000 already committed via their B2B material-tech licensing product.
Founder & COO: Tanvi Gadamsetti, [email protected]
Based In: Canton, Michigan
Learn more: https://www.brce.shop/
Synafox AI is a software platform that helps energy infrastructure developers modernize operations using artificial intelligence. Outdated systems, unexpected breakdowns and high maintenance costs create massive challenges for energy infrastructure developers. Synafox solves these problems by utilizing our proprietary large language models to generate cloud based project data, conducting predictive analytics and virtual simulations — creating a “digital twin” of the assets and operations. This empowers companies to aid energy transition mandates by streamlining asset development, meeting compliance, reducing cost, reducing waste, predicting failures and optimizing performance to extend asset life and reduce downtime. To date, Synafox AI has conducted 135 customer discovery interviews, developed a functional MVP, secured three letters of intent, launched product testing and is currently initiating pilots with early adopters.
Founder & CEO: Ademola Fagade
Based In: Detroit, Michigan
Learn More: https://synafox.com/
Race to a Trillion (RTAT) is an AI-powered software platform helping large enterprises find innovative, diverse suppliers aligned with key priorities like sustainability, cybersecurity and IT. Today, many corporate buyers struggle to identify and connect with qualified diverse suppliers. RTAT solves this with a smart recommendation engine that adds business context, uncovers overlooked vendors, and simplifies supplier searches with conversational AI. Following a successful pilot that led to real contracts and 26 follow-up meetings at the National Minority Supplier Diversity Conference, RTAT is executing its product vision and preparing for a 2025 launch with early adopters.
Founder & CEO: Chris Genteel
Based In: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Learn More: https://racetrillion.com/
