Rev: Ithaca Startup Works is excited to announce the 20 startups making up the sixth Manufacturing Hardware Accelerator cohort.

The accelerator helps teams turn their advanced prototypes into manufactured products. Participants gain access to business mentorship, connections to local manufacturers, and introductions to investors.

“This year’s teams include SBIR recipients, award winners, and teams with both open and closed funding rounds. We’re especially excited to launch our first official pitch competition for this group. With a $10K stipend and added engineering resources, this cohort benefits from a diverse range of resources,” said Deanna Kocher, Associate Director of Hardware Programs.

Participants of the cohort will be able to enter the Manufacturing Pitch competition at the end of the accelerator. The finalist receives a six-month extension of Rev mentorship and engineering support, and a $10,000 stipend to further develop their product.

Program leads will provide weekly sessions with periodic guest speakers throughout the 9‑month curriculum, covering topics from SBIR and funding to packaging, distribution, sales, and pitching, with one in‑person week of workshops and manufacturing site visits.

The 2026 cohort consists of 20 teams that all fall into a focused track. These tracks include Classic, Climate Tech, and AgTech each offering insights from industry experts in their respective areas.

The Classic Track is open to innovators in any field. Rev’s Classic Track provides manufacturing programming and mentorship across all industries. The 2026 cohort has 6 teams entering this track, including:

• AskQuerida: Querida Thomas Walker has developed a device that delivers clear information about indoor air quality while helping combat dust mites and clean the air.

• Little Oxford: Dr. Kelly Northridge has crafted heirloom‑quality fabric books of classic texts to give parents a way to share rich stories and vibrant language with their babies.

• Monty & Friends Literacy Club: Angela Becker has created reading toys that transform literacy through play‑based learning and meaningful, interactive experiences that build critical thinking.

• Motion X: The team led by Allan Zhou has created everyday wearable devices that let people seamlessly add dynamic art and content to their appearance while reducing waste from traditional merchandise.

• Photonect Corp: Co-founders Juniyali Nauriyal and Harshavardhan Vibhandik have developed PIX‑Attach, which uses a fast, glue‑free laser process to easily connect fibers to chips, cutting errors, speeding production, and lowering costs.

• Urban Bike Bench: Hiba Selznick has built a lightweight child seat that securely attaches to shared bikes, providing urban caregivers with a safe way to transport young children within flexible, one‑way bike-share systems.

The AgTech track gives participants access to specialized industry programming and connected to experts and potential partners within the agriculture technology industry. The 2026 AgTech track has 7 teams, including:  

• Arden Ag: The team led by Ben Provan has developed a modular AI camera system that brings accessible, real‑time agricultural intelligence to existing machinery.

• City Greens Farms: Jen Levy and Susan Kimura have engineered a modular, energy‑efficient urban hydroponics system that brings fresh produce directly to communities while creating jobs and strengthening local supply chains.

• Cloud and Field: The team led by Gregory Everhart delivers accessible retrofit automation that upgrades existing tractors with practical autonomy, helping family farms save time, cut costs, and enhance productivity.

• Conduit: The team led by Andrew Wang, Ayush Agarwal and Kireeti Kompella have made a compact robot that autonomously installs and maintains drip irrigation lines and adaptable emitters, addressing water scarcity and the high cost and labor of traditional drip irrigation.

• Growcast: The team led by Ivan Podoroska has built a software platform that replaces the hand‑managed climate and watering routines common in greenhouses.

• Kingfisher AG: Co-founders Kevin Bett and Raphael Trudel have made a plug‑and‑play, AI‑automated aquaponics system that produces high‑quality protein and vegetables with 90% less water, offering a personal food infrastructure designed to counter costly, import‑dependent urban food systems

• Luya Tech: Francisco Wang has developed an AI‑powered microgreens system that automatically fine‑tunes light, climate, and nutrients, learning from each growth cycle to deliver nutrient-dense produce that addresses the widespread lack of accessible plant‑based nutrition.

The MedTech track participants receive specialized mentorship and networking opportunities with potential partners in the MedTech sector. The 2026 cohort has 7 teams in the MedTech track, including: 

• CLYTE: Mojtaba Javid has pioneered a tool that standardizes and accelerates scratch assays by generating consistent wounds across multi‑well plates, saving researchers significant time and yielding higher‑quality data for wound‑healing research.

• Graiy: The team led by Prajwal Shetty has produced a wearable, multimodal sensor headset to capture precise, data‑driven indicators of concussion, giving NCAA programs a comprehensive view of key vitals and metrics to assist concussion assessments.

• Lemonaide: Sybil Berry has created adaptable, stylish medical‑grade canes with interchangeable components, offering a confidence‑boosting alternative for users of all ages who avoid traditional canes due to stigma.

• mPulse-02: Victor Ochoa-Gutierrez has designed a tool to accurately measure blood‑oxygen levels and reinvent pulse‑oximetry technology by detecting hidden hypoxia in patients with darker skin tones, addressing long‑standing gaps in medicine

• NuBiru: Nicole Levi has developed a two‑part tagging device designed to keep breast‑tissue markers securely in place, preventing shifting after insertion and simplifying cancer diagnoses for radiologists.

• RedEnvelope: Co-leads Danielle Nicklas and Dr. Corinna Torabi have created an on‑the‑go menstrual collection system that collapses, expands, and seals itself, offering a cleaner, more accessible alternative to traditional cups

• TailHeart Technologies: Kathy Le and Alexandra Tarzanin have engineered CanineClip, a minimally invasive heart implant designed to reduce mitral valve regurgitation in dogs, offering an accessible option for veterinarians and pet owners while improving and extending canine lives.

 

Follow Rev: Ithaca Startup Works on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn to see the progress these teams make in the coming months.