seed-startup
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Jason Craparo
Jason Craparo is the founder and CEO of Hovr, a Philadelphia-based marketing technology company whose patented, no-code tool sits on top of hotel and travel brand websites and turns static pages into interactive, video-rich experiences that drive direct bookings. A Babson MBA who started as a dishwasher at 14 and ran Sonic Drive-In franchises by 21, Jason spent six years at social enterprise Juma Ventures before founding networking apps Contap and Hio, then pivoting the technology into hospitality. He holds a dozen granted patents, is a certified private pilot who flies aerobatics, runs triathlons, and is a father of three.
Ana-Maria Constantin
Ana-Maria Constantin is the CEO and co-founder of Cascade AI, a Bellevue-based startup building agentic AI that automates the grind of HR and back-office operations. A Harvard dual major in computer science and astrophysics who left Romania after high school, she spent five-plus years as a software engineer at Microsoft writing code that touched millions of users on Azure before deciding HR - the function that touches more lives than any other in a company - was the perfect place to point machine learning. She raised a $5.45M-plus seed round led by Google's Gradient Ventures with AlleyCorp, was named GeekWire's Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2024, and recognized as a 2025 Google Cloud Partner All-Star.
Jack Sardinia
Jack Sardinia is the co-founder and CEO of FavorDrop, a Buffalo-based platform for sending time-bound digital gifts and promotions. He launched it in 2021 with his father, longtime Buffalo restaurateur Tim Sardinia, around a simple idea: buy a friend a drink at their favorite bar even when you cannot be there. What began as a consumer app for sending restaurant gift cards grew into a B2B customer-engagement tool used by car dealerships, marketing agencies, and home-services companies, with more than a million FavorDrops sent and a patent on the 'bounce back' that returns unredeemed gifts to the sender.
Matt Stone
Matt Stone is the Chief Business Officer of Corvic AI, the Mountain View startup building an Intelligence Composition Platform that sits between raw enterprise data and production AI. A Stanford-trained engineer who once walked on as a quarterback at the University of Arizona, Stone has spent more than a decade turning hard enterprise technology into revenue - first at Boeing, then as an operating partner at Intel Capital, and most recently leading strategic partnerships at the cybersecurity firm SecurityScorecard. He joined Corvic AI in March 2026 to scale its enterprise go-to-market across pharma, manufacturing, and logistics.
Roberta Sotomaior
Roberta Sotomaior is the co-founder and CEO of Bloom Care, a Sao Paulo digital health platform for women and families that she built after walking away from a career in international diplomacy. She spent roughly six years studying conflict resolution in Boston, decided prevention beat firefighting, and turned that conviction into a B2B2C company now embedded as a corporate benefit at hundreds of Brazilian employers including Natura, Sanofi and SulAmerica. She raised a R$3M pre-seed in 2021, drew angel checks from the presidents and ex-CEOs of Novartis and Gympass, and made CB Insights' global list of promising digital health startups as the only one founded entirely by women.