GridLink
Smarter EV fleet charging for cost savings and grid revenue.
GridLink is building software to help electric vehicle fleets charge more intelligently. Their platform reduces electricity costs by up to 50 percent and helps fleets earn new revenue by participating in utility demand response and vehicle-to-grid programs.
The company is starting with school districts, where idle buses, electrification incentives, and predictable schedules create a strong wedge. They’ve already signed several paying districts, each onboarded in under two months. In one case, a district is expected to earn $5,000 per grid event using just five buses.
Why We’re Excited
- GridLink is helping customers reduce costs and unlock revenue while supporting the clean energy transition
- The team is scrappy and product-driven, having already signed early customers with minimal capital
- Founders Joshua Silets (CEO), Gabe Bryk (CTO), and Ryan McPhail (COO) met at a college hackathon and bring strong technical and operational expertise to the table
Qixent
Full-stack infrastructure for embedded insurance.
Qixent is an Insurance-as-a-Service company that helps SMBs and digital platforms launch embedded property and casualty insurance products. Their solution handles everything from licensing and underwriting to compliance and policy administration, allowing clients to go live in under a week.
Starting in niche, large purchase markets focused on property and casualty insurance, they’ve reached six figures in early revenue and licensing in 38 states. Qixent is already supporting clients and signed their first enterprise client this year, which will allow them to provide a “sunshine guarantee” product for solar panel vendors.
Qixent combines SaaS subscription fees with transaction-based and lifecycle revenue, giving it a high-margin, scalable model.
Why We’re Excited
- Randel Bennett (CEO) is a repeat founder and former Swiss Re executive, joined by Glenn Yancy (CPO), an actuarial specialist.
- Embedded insurance is a massive, fast-growing opportunity with real distribution tailwinds
- Compared to competitors Sure or Boost, Qixent handles the entire insurance lifecycle, not just quoting and distribution. This lets them offer better economics and white-glove integration to clients.
Houndsy
Design-forward dog feeders with breakout traction.
Houndsy, founded by Pavan Bapu and Luke Wilson, is reinventing how pet parents feed their dogs with a patented, design-forward dispenser that blends utility and style. As a bootstrapped company, the founders of Houndsy have generated over $5 million in revenue in three years, remained profitable since day one, and earned an NPS of 75.
To date, Houndsy has shipped over 20,000 orders and built a following of over one million across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. The team has upcoming product launches that can uniquely capitalize on the traction they've built thus far.
Why We’re Excited
- Houndsy has bootstrapped its way to meaningful scale and profitability
- The brand has strong customer love and a clear path to recurring revenue
- With a bold and clear roadmap, Houndsy is aiming to be Chicago's next physical product company success story.
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