Iowa State University Startup Factory Announces Cohort 19 Entrepreneurs

Ames, Iowa – [2/19/2026] – What happens when cutting-edge research leaves the lab and enters the marketplace? The Iowa State University Startup Factory has spent the last decade answering that question. Since launching in 2016, the program has supported 165 startups across 18 cohorts, helping founders raise more than $108 million in outside funding and achieve five successful exits. Now celebrating ten years of impact, the ISU Startup Factory welcomes Cohort 19—its newest class of high-tech innovators ready to turn breakthrough ideas into scalable businesses.

“Cohort 19 participants are bringing deep technology inventions led by several faculty and graduate student teams,” said Startup Factory Director Peter Hong. “As with many deep research innovations, the challenge for the startup founders is to learn to think like business leaders and not scientists. The curiosity that drove their invention is now being channeled by the Startup Factory teaching team into making sure the founders understand the needs of the markets and customers they hope to sell to.” This newest cohort reflects that mission, featuring ventures from across Iowa and the United States built on transformative research and bold problem-solving.

Introducing the founders and companies that make Cohort 19:

• Dr. Jessica Kustas, Dr. Andrew Kustas, Dr. Frank Kustas, and Mrs. Gretchen Kustas with Precision Materials Engineering LLC (PRIME): Precision Materials Engineering LLC provides a refractory-metal alloy that retains mechanical properties at elevated temperatures, resulting in higher part reliability, longer part lifetime, and cost savings for companies that use high-temperature manufacturing processes.
• Saeed B. Nia and Dr. Behrouz Shafei with BioCrete: BioCrete makes low-carbon concrete the drop-in default for ready-mix and precast producers with a cost-competitive, bio-based, low-cement mix that meets specs and fits existing operations.
• Dr. Sree Nilakanta, Dr. Srini Reddy, and Mr. Hari Sarma with Big Data in a Box, Inc. Big Data in a Box, Inc. helps recover lost time and money through SPIDER, a set of digital eyes and ears that captures multimodal data, completes forms and reports, builds insights, and enhances profits. 
• Fahima Noor with Ecolash Duo: Ecolash Duo is a reusable, dual-chamber mascara system that combines sustainability with all-natural ingredients in an innovative design.
• Avnish Poonia, Kunal Suresh, Sahil Jain, and Chaitanya Landge with FlowtingAi. FlowtingAI answers the grad student question of “Which LLM should I use?” by unifying many leading AI models into one solution that remembers imported research and routes each step to the most relevant option, allowing students to stop guessing and get results. 
• David Okoronkwo with LunarSync. LunarSync offers Autonomous Satellite architecture and computing hardware that improves system reliability without physical maintenance, designed specifically for satellite integrators who struggle with failures and disruptions during radiation events.
• Dr. Pete Collins, Thomas Ales, Erin Cleary-Clark, and Levi Nusz with AIQA. AIQA produces light-weight safety solutions for manufacturers of metals that protect people, vehicles and infrastructure while simplifying manufacturing processes.
• Dr. Pranav Shrotriya and Sabyasachi Paul with GraphiLaserLab: GraphiLaserLab utilizes lasers to turn low-cost and waste materials into high-performance graphite, reducing energy use and supply-chain constraints for battery and electronics manufacturers.

To learn more about these ventures, join us for the ISU Startup Factory Demo Day on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, where founders will present their progress following the intensive 18-week program. The event will feature presentations, networking opportunities, and insights into Iowa’s entrepreneurial system. 

For more information, please contact ISU Startup Factory Program Manager, Hannah Kirkendall (hkirkend@iastate.edu) or visit http://isupjcenter.org/programs/isu-startup-factory/.

About the Iowa State University Startup Factory

The ISU Startup Factory is an intensive 18-week incubator where startup founders receive training, resources, and mentor support. Participating founders build business acumen, improve communication skills, and gain deep customer insights, and will leave with a commercialization plan in place. ISU Startup Factory is open to all innovators residing in Iowa or having ties to Iowa State University who have scalable product or service business opportunities.