4 months later, Orange Innovation Fund winners are expanding operations
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UPDATE: This story was updated at 6:49 p.m. on Aug. 26, 2026.
Syracuse University Libraries awarded eight student-led startups with the Orange Innovation Fund on April 1, and the winners are already making use of their funding across various industries.
The fund provides grants up to $5,000 to applicants whose projects show potential for “growth and commercialization,” as a part of SU’s effort to foster research and innovation, according to SU Libraries. Spring 2026 winners represent industries including healthcare, technology, education and finance.
The fund was founded by Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill, an SU alum and current Board of Trustees member as well as operating partner at Silicon Valley Quad. Winning proposals are selected each year by a team of SU alumni and members of the campus’ innovation ecosystem, according to SU Libraries’ Director of Strategic Planning, Marketing and Communications, Cristina Hatem.
Haley Greene, class of 2026 graduate and current founder and chief executive officer of Miirror, received the Orange Innovation Fund award for her digital healthcare startup targeting eating disorder treatment and supporting recovery. Greene credits the grant for funding the backend infrastructure and clinical testing, as well as helping the transition from a student team to a professional one.
After receiving the grant, Miirror enlisted Frank Matranga as its chief technology officer, who brought experience from Huml Health, OnePay and his own development agency. Matranga rebuilt Miirror’s codebase to fit HIPAA requirements of security.
“That decision is why we’re where we are now,” Greene said. “As of the end of this summer, the platform is complete, we’re HIPAA compliant, and we’re days away from being live on the App Store.”
Greene and the Miirror team are looking ahead to campus deployment and partnerships with eating disorder support and mental health nonprofits.
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Senior Jack Venerus won the grant as a junior for his startup WingStat, a business-to-business platform for aircraft transaction data among pre-owned business jets. The grant helped WingStat move the entirety of development from a contracted team to in-house engineers, accelerating building and iterating the product.
“We’ve been able to achieve what we originally intended and beyond with the grant,” Venerus said. “We expected to be able to get two of the four core features of the platform done, but we’ve been able to finish all four, thanks to our fantastic engineering team.”
WingStat is currently preparing for a beta launch with a select group of brokerage firms.
Founded by current senior Celes Buffard, Franchette, previously called SecondWave, is a financial wellness platform targeting Gen Z and Millennials. The grant was intended to be used to complete a minimum viable product, user testing, cloud infrastructure, trademark registration and continued customer discovery. Hatem said the company is already achieving these goals and more.
“The company has built the MVP and launched the website over the summer, continued active customer discovery and is discussing beta testing with a potential first customer,” Hatem said. “The company has also earned a co-working space in the new Raymond Von Dran Student Incubator at the iSchool.”
After winning the Orange Innovation Fund, Franchette won National Science Foundation I-Corps, the iSchool Impact Prize and first place at the New York State Regional Business Plan Competition.
“The Orange Innovation Fund was the first money this company ever received,” Buffard said. “It didn’t just start the build. It bought us the room to find out what was actually worth building.”
Testing, refining and building are the next steps for Franchette, Buffard added.
Nathan Brekke and Joshua Varkey, 2026 graduates, teamed up to pioneer Phloat, a magnetically attachable flotation device used to bring submerged phones to the surface. Phloat won the grant once before and was eligible to receive it again after completing their first set of goals. This time, the company’s goal was to complete a trial run of 10-20 units produced for demos, testing and presentations.
“We are currently talking with manufacturers and firms right here in New York state to make that happen very soon,” Brekke said.
Other grant recipients are making waves across skincare, AI in education and medical technology.
Dr. Alexis Bromley and Jayson Bromley, 2014 graduates, spearheaded InDeazy, developing a single-use device to bring the procedure time of the incision and drainage of skin abscesses from 30-60 minutes to less than three.
After receiving the grant, the company was accepted into the SUNY Upstate Medical University CNY Biotech Accelerator Medical Device Innovation Challenge “to help prepare for investment and next stage development,” Hatem said.
Ethyra, a company founded by 2026 graduate Nicholas Davis, is developing an AI-powered platform to automate grading and provide teachers with student performance insights. The fund supported the development of Version 1.0, LMS integration, cloud infrastructure and beta testing. After winning the grant, the company formally launched and is now looking for five schools to partner with as it rolls out its software.
Senior Yasmin Madmoune founded a Moroccan-inspired clean beauty and wellness brand called Yas Apothecary, which has fulfilled over 4,500 retail orders and generated over $150,000 in revenue, Hatem said.
Since receiving the grant, the brand has expanded production capacity to support wholesale sales, with a focus on boutique, hotel, spa and retail expansion.
Ronan Hussar, another 2026 graduate, pioneered MacroFlow, a Microsoft Excel add-in that automates macro creation. Hussar previously received $2,500 as third place at Whitman’s 11th Annual Orange Tank Pitch Competition Award on Oct. 17, 2025.
Since then, Hussar has moved onto Yale’s Master of Business Administration program, where he will continue his work and study at its School of Management.
“It’s been wonderful to see Syracuse University’s innovation programs so enthusiastically embraced by students across all disciplines,” Gill said in an interview with Syracuse Libraries’ Fall 2026 Connection magazine. “My goal is that this fund helps remove barriers student entrepreneurs may encounter as they develop their products for market.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Ethyra is in beta testing at the University of Washington. This is incorrect. Ethyra is looking for five schools to partner with as it rolls out its software. The Daily Orange regrets this error.
