2026 Semifinal Round Teams

AgentForge, Inc.

In modern defense and crisis management, decision-makers are drowning in data. 

Imagine a military commander or a disaster response coordinator trying to make life-or-death decisions while staring at fifty different screens (feeds from drones, satellites, sensors, and field reports). The human brain simply cannot process that volume of information fast enough to stay ahead of a rapidly moving threat. This ""data overload"" leads to missed opportunities, critical errors, and ultimately, the loss of lives. AgentForge is building the solution to this problem with our flagship platform, Hypha. Hypha is an artificial intelligence platform that functions like a team of expert data scientists and intelligence analysts that never sleeps. While Hypha can generate written reports, its true innovation lies in its ability to create live, intelligent dashboards on demand. Our value proposition is simple: we turn data overload into ""decision dominance."" 

By automating the heavy technical lifting of building ML pipelines, we allow human leaders to focus on what they do best: making the final, critical decisions. As a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), our team understands these stakes personally. We are already gaining traction, having been selected to demonstrate our technology to United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). 

We are building Hypha to ensure that when American service members go into harm's way, they have the clarity and speed they need to win and come home safely. 

Aniwear

Aniwear was born out of a simple frustration: our environments are dynamic, yet regular clothing is static. 

After repeatedly dealing with outdoor heat and cold discomfort, I found that existing solutions like bulky cooling fans and layering were only temporary and ineffective. I wanted a solution that could adapt in real time, without compromise.

Aniwear develops wearable devices that provide on-demand heating and cooling directly to the body. Using solid-state thermoelectric technology, our products deliver fast, targeted temperature control in a compact, durable form factor. By focusing on the individual rather than the environment, Aniwear offers a more targeted and responsive approach to thermal comfort.

The current focus of the company is to serve those who face repeated thermal stress and need reliable, high-performance solutions. With over 20 prototypes developed and tested, Aniwear is preparing for its first production launch this summer. Our mission is simple: eliminate the limits of weather so people can perform, explore, and work comfortably anytime, anywhere.

ExcelATC

A self-paced classroom learning platform that includes concept maps, flashcards, quizzes, and interactive airspace maps based on official FAA materials. This allows trainees to study anytime and better prepare before formal instruction.  

On-demand radar simulation software that includes AI-generated pilots, speech-based communication, automatic performance scoring, and replay features. This allows trainees to practice realistic radar scenarios outside scheduled simulator lab time. 

Our goal is to reduce certification time by at least three months and significantly cut trainee idle time. By modernizing controller training with cognitive learning tools and AI-driven simulations, ACTS helps Air Navigation Service Providers certify controllers faster, reduce attrition, and ultimately make airspace safer and more efficient. 

Snowball

Snowball is a student-powered customer acquisition and marketing platform designed to help small and mid-sized local businesses grow—without the high costs or complexity of traditional marketing agencies. 

Most local businesses struggle to consistently attract new customers. Professional marketing services are expensive, digital ads are increasingly competitive, and business owners rarely have the time, training, or staff to handle outreach themselves. Maintaining an in-house outreach team is also costly—many businesses do not have the consistent deal flow to justify hiring a full-time outreach employee, and even when they do, the additional expenses of salary, payroll taxes, vehicles, fuel, insurance, and management quickly add up. As a result, many rely on word of mouth or unstructured social media with limited results. Snowball solves this problem by combining real human outreach with modern technology. 

We bridge this gap by leveraging an often-overlooked workforce: university students. Students need flexible work hours, want to build professional networks, and are eager to learn in real-world business environments. They value opportunities to meet successful business owners, attend prestigious conferences and networking events for free as Ambassadors, and gain exposure to industries they may pursue after graduation. Importantly, students already have the mobility and independence—such as personal vehicles and insurance—needed to execute local, in-person outreach efficiently. We connect vetted university students with local businesses to act as trained outreach and business development representatives. 

These students help businesses grow through direct local outreach, networking and event participation, and relationship-building within professional associations—the channels that consistently drive trust and long-term customers but are often ignored because they are labor-intensive. Snowball can be thought of as an “Uber for outreach and growth.” Businesses subscribe to Snowball, and the platform matches them with nearby students based on location, skills, and interests. 

Students represent businesses in their communities—introducing services, attending events, and generating real leads—while Snowball equips Brand Ambassadors with state-of-the-art creatives and manages training, coordination, and quality control. 

AeroHealth

AeroHealth is a health technology startup developing a non-invasive, breath-based approach for early detection and monitoring of breast cancer. 

By analyzing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath, AeroHealth aims to identify molecular biomarkers associated with cancer development—offering a faster, more accessible complement to traditional imaging methods. 

Our solution is designed to support earlier detection, continuous monitoring, and improved peace of mind for patients between clinical visits. By translating emerging research into a compact, user-friendly device, AeroHealth seeks to bridge the gap between when disease begins and when it is detected. 

ArcAid

ArcAid designs and manufacturers an Automated Floating Station-Keeping Powerline (AFSPL). The AFSPL enables ship-to-shore transportation of humanitarian aid using an electric heavy lift drone. 

The AFSPL is a deployable offshore power system that enables electric cargo drones to deliver humanitarian aid directly from ship to shore. During humanitarian disasters, ports are often damaged or inaccessible, forcing Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to rely on helicopters, ferry vessels, or floating causeways, which have been deemed to be slow, expensive, and unreliable in the face of a crisis. Advances in technology enable electric heavy-lift drones, but their range and payload capacity are limited by onboard batteries. 

The AFSPL solves this problem by creating a floating powerline between the cargo ship and shore. The system consists of a series of autonomous floating platforms that deploy from a ship and form a continuous power connection. This allows drones to operate without relying on onboard batteries, increasing payload capacity, improving delivery speed, and enabling continuous operation. This enables humanitarian organizations to deliver aid faster, more efficiently, and independently in disaster and remote environments.

CareAble

CareAble - A Tool to Reduce the Number of Preventable Doctor/Hospital Visits Experienced by Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD)

Over 2 million individuals in the U.S. live with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD); these are lifelong conditions causing mild to moderate intellectual limitations that often require assisted living support. Examples include down syndrome, autism, and cerebral palsy. Around 23% of the IDD population live in group homes or assisted living facilities that house 6 to 8 residents.

Additionally, 64.8% of the IDD population are nonverbal, with 90.7% of this group limited to one word phrases or gestures. As a result, early symptoms of serious conditions often go unreported, leading to preventable doctor visits and hospitalizations at rates 3–4 times higher than the general population. Care today relies heavily on Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), who face high turnover, limited training, and inconsistent communication—making it difficult to track symptoms over time and identify worsening conditions before they escalate.

CareAble is a mobile application that enables DSPs to easily record and track daily resident behaviors, symptoms over time. The system automatically timestamps entries, flags concerning patterns, and classifies symptom severity to help care teams detect issues earlier and respond proactively.

Our solution improves continuity of care, enhances communication across caregivers, and supports better clinical decision-making. By reducing preventable doctor/hospital visits and improving health outcomes, CareAble delivers both cost savings for facilities and a higher quality of life for individuals with IDD.

Sky Shield Ag

Founded by Alexia Joachim, a junior Mechanical Engineering student, Sky Shield Ag is a nonprofit dedicated to protecting farmers from the dangers of pesticide exposure. 

We develop standardized operating procedures (SOPs) for safe and effective drone-based pesticide applications. We work closely with local organizations and farming communities to make sure our solutions are practical, accessible, and tailored to real needs. Our goal is to reduce preventable illnesses and create safer job opportunities.

MASTRO

MASTRO is a consumer-to-business (C2B) marketplace for physical AI skill data, developed by 
George Mason University students for the 2026 Patriot Pitch Competition.

Physical AI systems robots, autonomous machines, and embodied agents require real-world 
human demonstration data to learn complex tasks. Yet sourcing that data is slow, expensive, and 
legally murky. Today, 15–25% of robotics AI project budgets are consumed by data acquisition 
alone, and small research labs and early-stage startups are structurally locked out of enterprise 
data pipelines built for Fortune 500 companies.

MASTRO solves this by connecting skilled workers directly with physical AI buyers. Workers 
record first-person (egocentric) task demonstrations precision assembly, surgical instrument 
handling, tool use and MASTRO packages each dataset with consent documentation, provenance 
records, and structured metadata. Buyers receive trust-verified training data on demand, starting 
at $2,000–$5,000 pilot deals. Workers keep 80% of every transaction.

The platform's core differentiator is its trust layer: consent, provenance, and dataset cards are 
built into the product from day one directly aligned with California's AI Training Data 
Transparency Act (AB 2013, effective January 2026) and the EU AI Act's Article 53 disclosure 
requirements.

MASTRO targets the underserved segment that enterprise players like Scale AI cannot 
efficiently serve: 5–10 person robotics labs and early-stage startups that need narrow, taskspecific datasets fast. With the global physical AI market projected to grow from $5.4B (2025) to 
$49B+ by 2033 at ~32% CAGR, and NVIDIA formally validating physical AI data infrastructure 
as a core industry need in March 2026, MASTRO enters at a structurally timely moment.

Omnia Workspace

Omnia Workspace is the AI-powered productivity platform that replaces your scattered tools with one intelligent workspace. 

Email, calendar, tasks, notes, and automations — all connected, all in one place. 

At its core is Omnia AI — an intelligent layer that doesn't just answer questions, it learns how you work. It remembers context across conversations, understands your priorities, and proactively surfaces what matters before you even ask. The more you use it, the more it feels like a colleague who knows your style, your goals, and your day. 

Instead of switching between apps and bouncing between AI tools, Omnia brings everything together and gets smarter over time — so you can stop managing your work and start actually doing it. 

PawNutri360

Pawnutri360 is an early-stage digital pet wellness platform designed for dog owners who want to feed their pets healthier, home-cooked meals but are unsure how to do so safely and correctly.  

Many pet owners view their dogs as family members and want to provide better nutrition than traditional one-size-fits-all commercial kibble. However, cooking for pets can be confusing and risky without proper guidance. Owners often worry about portion sizes, missing nutrients, allergies, digestive issues, or whether a recipe is appropriate for their dog’s breed, age, or activity level. Pawnutri360 was created to remove this uncertainty and make personalized pet nutrition simple, safe, and accessible.  

The platform uses AI in the backend to generate breed-specific, personalized meal recipes based on each pet’s unique profile. Users create a pet profile by entering information such as breed, age, weight, gender, activity level, and any medical conditions or allergies. Using this input and a knowledge base built from researched institutions and nutritional guidelines, the system generates tailored home-cooked meal recipes designed specifically for that pet.  

Each recipe includes clear instructions, portion sizes, and a detailed nutritional breakdown showing what the dog receives for the day, such as calories, protein, fats, and key nutrients. In addition to meals, Pawnutri360 also provides daily activity suggestions appropriate for the dog’s breed and health status, supporting overall wellness, weight management, and gut health.  

A built-in AI chatbot allows users to ask questions such as ingredient substitutions, feeding adjustments, or general nutrition concerns, making the service interactive and easy to use on a daily basis. The goal is to act as a reliable digital companion that helps pet owners make informed decisions without requiring advanced nutritional knowledge.  

Pawnutri360 primarily targets health-conscious dog owners who already cook for their pets or want to transition away from strictly commercial food, as well as owners of dogs with special needs such as allergies, digestive sensitivities, weight issues, or joint concerns. These users are often dissatisfied with generic diets and are willing to invest in personalized solutions. Multi-pet households are also a key segment, as the platform reduces the complexity of managing different breeds and dietary needs.  

The value of Pawnutri360 goes beyond recipes. It saves time, reduces stress, minimizes food waste, and can help lower long-term veterinary costs by supporting preventative health. Most importantly, it gives owners confidence and peace of mind, reinforcing their identity as responsible, caring pet parents.  

In simple terms, Pawnutri360 helps dog owners feed their pets better by combining technology, personalization, and nutrition education into one easy-to-use platform—making healthy, home-cooked pet meals practical and sustainable.  

DealFax

DealFax gives small business owners a buyer's eye view of their own company, surfacing what the financials never show before a deal is ever on the table.

The reasons most small business sales fail have nothing to do with the numbers. They have to do with what the numbers never capture: an owner who is the business, a workforce held together by loyalty to one person, customers tied to a handshake, and processes that live in someone's head and nowhere else. These gaps do not show up in a tax return. They show up in diligence, when the buyer already has leverage and the seller has none.

DealFax is a sell-side operational readiness assessment for owner-operated businesses in the $1M to $25M range. It surfaces those gaps before a transaction begins, so owners understand where they stand on their own terms, not through the lens of a buyer's diligence team.

The assessment runs on two proprietary frameworks. The DealFax Readiness Score evaluates 30 dimensions across 6 operational focus areas. The TRUST Index evaluates post-close transition readiness through assessor observation with documentary evidence. Together they produce a structured, objective picture of how operationally ready the business is for a transaction.

Two sample reports have been completed, including a 42-page assessed report for an HVAC company with $4.2 million in revenue identifying $2.2 million in mapped risk across 9 findings in dollar terms. The methodology has been validated through direct sessions with CPAs, ABVs, M&A operators, business valuation specialists, and serial entrepreneurs. Business brokers, exit planners, chambers of commerce, and realtor associations throughout the DC, Maryland, and Virginia region have engaged with the methodology directly. These are the gatekeepers into a business owner's mindset and the most direct path to owners who are ready to act.

70 to 80 percent of listed businesses never sell. 2.9 million business owners are approaching transition, representing up to $14 trillion in business value. Most have no formal plan and no independent view of what a buyer will find. DealFax is built for that moment.

More at dealfax.io.

EduVerse

EduVerse is a skill-verified hiring and portfolio platform built for the AI era — where resumes no longer tell the truth and employers can no longer trust what candidates claim on paper. 

The problem runs in both directions. Students graduate with degrees but struggle to prove what they can actually do. Employers are buried in AI-generated resumes and ATS systems that no longer filter for real ability. The result is a broken signal on both sides — and a hiring process that costs companies an average of $6,200 per technical hire, takes 8–12 months to reach full productivity, and fails 74% of the time. 

EduVerse replaces guesswork with real work. 

Students build real projects on the platform — APIs, interfaces, engineering challenges — and EduVerse evaluates not just the output but the process: problem-solving, decision-making, code quality, and growth over time. That becomes their verified portfolio. Not what they claim they can do. What they actually built. 

For employers, EduVerse is a pre-interview evaluation layer. Companies run role-specific challenges and receive a ranked leaderboard of candidates based on real performance and job readiness — eliminating unqualified applicants before the first interview is ever scheduled. 

The long-term vision is bigger: a trusted digital work identity for every professional in the AI era. One that reflects what people can actually do, not just what they put on a resume. 

Founded by George Mason student Jagan Yetukuri, EduVerse has secured 19 letters of intent across 15 startups and 4 enterprises, 500 pilot users, 10 startups actively on the platform, and direct partnership interest from National Instruments — all pre-revenue, all built on customer conviction validated through 30+ NSF I-Corps structured interviews and 100+ additional customer conversations. 

At 97% gross margins and a break-even point of four paying companies, the business model is as lean as the product. EduVerse already has ten. 

Rumi Legacy Schools

Rumi Legacy Schools (RLS) is a U.S.-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, formally incorporated in May 2024 with IRS tax-exempt status, delivering structured secondary education (grades 7–12) to Afghan girls who are banned from attending formal schools under Taliban rule. 

Founded in February 2022 with 58 students, RLS has expanded to serve over 400 students across three underground learning locations in Afghanistan, operating under risky conditions to ensure continuity of education. 

RLS implements a direct-service educational model in which funding is deployed to operate and manage fully structured learning environments, with resources allocated primarily to teacher compensation, classroom instruction, curriculum delivery, academic supervision, student progress monitoring, and the daily operations of three coordinated underground campuses. Administrative costs are intentionally maintained at minimal levels to ensure that the majority of funds directly support instructional services and school management. 

The primary customers of RLS are Afghan girls who are denied access to formal secondary schooling; they receive structured coursework, mentorship, assessment, and safe learning environments that restore academic continuity and future opportunity. The customers are individual donors and funding partners who contribute monthly or through fundraising efforts; RLS provides them with a verified, legally compliant, and transparent platform to support girls’ education, ensuring financial accountability and measurable program delivery by reporting to the IRS(Internal Revenue Service) in one of the world’s most restrictive educational environments. 

TIZA

TIZA transforms any input into interactive classroom games in just 60 seconds on any topic, saving hours of teacher prep. 

Serving hundreds of K-12 educators across more than 60 languages in over 30 countries, we help reduce teacher burnout while boosting student engagement — built by a teacher with a decade of experience who truly understands teachers' struggles. Teachers spend over 12 hours weekly on lesson planning and material creation outside of class time — evenings and weekends they should spend with their families. This heavy workload has caused around 40-50% of new teachers to leave the profession within their first five years, with burnout being the main reason. Meanwhile, students are disengaged. 73% of K-12 students say they feel disconnected during traditional lessons. Research shows that game-based learning boosts retention by 40%, yet most teachers can’t afford the prep time needed.  

Existing tools like Kahoot, Google AI Studio, Blooket, and Quizlet still require 45-90 minutes of manual question entry per game – time teachers don't have. TIZA solves this by instantly turning any URL, document, or text into a dozen interactive classroom games. What makes us different is our speed (60 seconds instead of hours), curriculum alignment (works with teachers’ own content in any language), various game formats (trivia, picture-based games, geography activities, chronological sequencing), and no learning curve. 

Virginia Vitesse 

Virginia Vitesse is Northern Virginia’s only semi-pro women’s basketball team, providing elite athletes a competitive platform without pay-to-play fees. 

The organization combines high-level competition with community engagement to empower women and inspire youth.