Fifteen founders across six states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico join the Camelback Fellowship.
Somewhere right now, a founder in Newark is building a way for immigrants to access retirement savings that most banks never offered them. A founder in Houston is designing a school for the students the system already gave up on. A founder in Puerto Rico is turning years of adversity into infrastructure for economic mobility.
Today, we are proud to welcome Cohort 17: fifteen founders joining the Camelback Fellowship, each receiving a $50,000 capital investment as part of a 16-week program built around capital, coaching, and community. It is our second cohort at this increased investment level, continuing our deepening commitment to supporting historically overlooked founders.
A Fellowship Built for This Moment
“Right now, somewhere in our portfolio, a founder is standing at the edge of real scale, and that is the exact moment they’re most likely to be left on their own,” said Elaine Atherton, Chief Program Officer at Camelback Ventures. “That can’t be the moment we step back. We’re proud to offer a sharper Camelback Fellowship experience, one that keeps supporting founders past the Fellowship finish line, because their growth doesn’t end when the cohort does, and neither should our support.”
Over the next 16 weeks, Cohort 17 Fellows will move through Camelback’s immersive Fellowship experience: intensive coaching, curated content, peer learning, and lifelong access to a national community of entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem leaders who understand what it takes to build from the margins.
Cohort 17: By the Numbers
Below is an analysis of the applications we received for Cohort 17.
The Geography of Innovation
Georgia (12%) took the top spot in this application pool, while California (10%) and New York (9%) held steady as states we consistently see show up. Texas and Michigan tied for fourth at 8% each, a sign that momentum is building in the Midwest right alongside our usual coastal and Southern hubs. Florida (5%), Illinois (5%), Maryland (4%), Louisiana (4%), and Washington, D.C. (4%) rounded out the top ten. Applicants came from 44 states plus D.C. and Puerto Rico, proof that founders keep showing up for their communities where their roots are planted.
Focus Areas: Where Change is Happening
Education leads as the primary focus area, representing 43% of ventures. The full distribution reveals diverse approaches to creating community impact and providing innovative solutions for underserved communities:
- Education (43%): Reimagining how students learn, grow, and thrive
- Community Development (27%): Taking on systemic barriers to economic and community stability
- Workforce Development (15%): Building real pathways to economic opportunity
- Health & Wellness (13%): Closing gaps in physical and mental health access
- Other/Mixed focus (2%): Ventures spanning multiple categories or emerging fields
Common Threads: The Challenges Being Addressed
Across the applicant pool, clear patterns emerge. Founders are building solutions around:
- Educational access and innovation: Reimagining K-12 literacy, STEM, and college readiness through ed-tech tools and programs designed to reach first-generation and underrepresented students
- Workforce readiness and economic mobility: Career pathway programs, job training, and small business or entrepreneurship support that connect people to sustainable income
- Mental health and culturally responsive healing: Trauma-informed, identity-centered approaches to wellness and youth development that meet young people and families where they are
- Community and economic development: Housing stability, financial inclusion, and wealth-building work, alongside capacity building for small businesses and nonprofits in communities historically shut out of traditional systems
- AI and emerging technology: Close to a third of applicants are building AI-powered tools, applying emerging technology to long-standing problems in education, health, and community development
- Justice-impacted and immigrant communities: Ventures built specifically for people returning from incarceration or immigrant communities who are both looking for resources including legal support, economic inclusion, and health and family stability
These founders share a clear pattern: they’re building for communities the system has overlooked, pulling in AI and other new tools where it helps, and staying focused on making things better rather than just building for the sake of it.
Meet the Cohort 17 Fellows
These fifteen founders are tackling everything from new school models to wellness, tech equity, and economic mobility, representing a cross-section of cities from Brooklyn to Atlanta, Houston to Baton Rouge, and sectors where bold ideas meet urgent needs:
Bianca Frezgi, Founder of Allies (Brooklyn, NY)
Allies builds insurance infrastructure that lets community-based maternal care providers accept Medicaid and private insurance, expanding access to culturally responsive birth support for underserved families.
Camron Brown, Founder of Counter (Newark, NJ)
Counter helps workers facing disability or family leave avoid financial collapse, providing guided claims support in a system that too often fails low-income and marginalized workers.
Dr. Christine Keck, Founder of The Meliora School Inc (Snellville, GA)
The Meliora School is a learner-centered public charter launching in Gwinnett County, empowering middle and high school learners through mastery-based learning, entrepreneurship, and computer science.
Daryl Holman, Founder of Revival Funds (New York, NY)
Revival helps borrowers buy out and eliminate their debt at the same discounted rates it’s sold to institutional investors.
Elliot Ikheloa, Founder of Prime Factors Lab (Newark, NJ)
Prime Factors Lab builds technical and creative skills in Newark-area youth through project-based STEM and media programs, hiring program alumni as paid youth instructors.
Fallon Ward, Founder of Louisiana Academy of Production (Baton Rouge, LA)
LAAP is a charter high school in Baton Rouge preparing students for high-wage careers in film, television, and digital media through rigorous academics and hands-on training at Celtic Studios.
JQ Sirls, Founder of Storytailor (Overland Park, KS)
Storytailor translates children’s emotional language through personalized therapeutic stories, helping adults understand what kids can’t say and kids process what they can’t articulate.
Jasmine Paul, Founder of The Wealth Playground (Dover, DE | Washington, DC)
The Wealth Playground designs award-winning edutainment and curriculum that makes financial education fun, helping young people build toward their wildest dreams.
Kayla Life, Founder of Rebrand Institute of Tech Equity (RITE) (Atlanta, GA)
RITE closes the AI literacy gap through KidoTech, the nation’s first K-4 AI curriculum, and AI-Ready Educators training, ensuring every child understands the technology shaping their future.
Kylinn Askew, Founder of Groundwork Health (Atlanta, GA)
Groundwork Health makes it radically easier for healthcare organizations to deploy community-based health workers sustainably.
Mike Brown, Founder of The Principal Learning Center (PLC) (Memphis, TN)
PLC is a 10-month, research-to-practice fellowship that builds the academic capacity of K-12 principals across the American South, transitioning them from building managers to instructional leaders.
Mohamad Maarouf, Founder of Arcadia Schools (Houston, TX)
Arcadia High School is a Houston-based public charter launching in August 2026, redesigning the high school experience through team-teaching, career exploration, and robust college counseling.
Simone Adams, Founder of Color My Outdoors (Atlanta, GA)
Color My Outdoors is changing the outdoor narrative to celebrate people of color, building learning and credentialing pathways and strengthening diverse-led outdoor organizations.
Takisha Bolden-Gastile, Founder of HomeSTEM Academy (Houston, TX)
HomeSTEM Academy is a virtual, STEM-focused homeschool and hybrid learning program offering rigorous, culturally responsive education for families seeking alternatives to traditional schooling.
Yalanis Velez Gonzalez, Founder of OverComing Adversities (OCA) (Puerto Rico)
OCAPR disrupts social isolation and promotes economic mobility for young people, especially those with experience in foster care or juvenile justice, through spaces built for creativity and solution-building.
What Comes Next
Since 2015, Camelback has invested more than $11 million in over 235 Fellows, whose ventures have created 832+ jobs, reached 6 million beneficiaries, and secured $432 million in follow-on funding.
Over the next four months, Cohort 17 Fellows will engage in the Camelback Fellowship: intensive coaching, curated content, peer learning, and lifelong access to a national community of Fellow alumni, entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem leaders.
Want to learn more about the Fellowship? Visit the Camelback Fellowship page for details on the program. Interested in joining our next cohort? Applications open in August 2026. Learn more or apply at camelbackventures.org/apply, and follow along at @camelbackventures on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
