M – Z | NJBIZ In the Lead 2025: Startups

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MAD Global Strategy

Since its 2022 launch, MAD Global Strategy has significantly grown its team – as well as its footprint.

The bipartisan public affairs firm boasts a roster of who’s-who from across all levels of politics, government and journalism, led by CEO and founder Michael Duhaime, a longtime political operative and veteran of Mercury Public Affairs.

MAD Global doubled in size from 2023 to 2024, Duhaime told NJBIZ last year, by establishing outposts as well as acquiring other operations.

So far, the firm has offices in Montclair; Columbus, Ohio; and Huntington, N.Y., as well as a presence in the Pacific Northwest. Just last month, the business expanded with a new Trenton location – and the addition of longtime Statehouse veteran Robert Garrenger to its high-profile advisory board. Other members include former Gov. Chris Christie; CSG Law co-chair Jeff Chiesa; Lowenstein Sandler partner Chris Porrino; and former N.Y. Gov. David Paterson.

The firm’s services include crisis communications, PR, public affairs campaign management, government affairs, thought leadership, traditional and digital advertising, direct mail, polling, grassroots outreach and data mining. It also operates across a diversity of sectors, such as energy, health care, transportation, sports, real estate, gaming, banking, biopharma, technology, manufacturing and more.

MAD Global’s clientele includes Fortune 500 companies, as well as leading campaigns for some of the most influential government officials nationwide, according to the firm.

MARCo Health

Newark-based MARCo Health, a connected startup with the New Jersey Innovation Institute, ended 2024 on a high note. Several changes announced in December signaled “a complete overhaul from the inside out” at the company behind the Mental-Health Assisting Robot Companion and app, which offers 24/7 support for when people need it most. The team behind the unique, future-facing concept includes suicide survivors, psychiatrists and professional counselors.

The tech – which aims to fill gaps in care, not replace humans – offers personal routines, talk support, emergency outreach, a journal, activities and multi-lingual, multi-modal AI.
At the end of the year, MARCo Health revealed a more accessible device as well as artificial intelligence enhancements. The company, founded in 2018, also revealed a new app and expanded availability. MARCo-Lite now retails on Amazon, Oz Robotics and RobotShop.

When it comes to AI, MARCo says recent developments make its product truly adaptable – interpreting and offering insights and responses based on what a user needs in a specific moment. MARCo can also pick up where users leave off, providing a continuous as well as personalized experience. And, if your mental health routine already involves a professional, MARCo can generate clinical notes for sharing.

Looking ahead, the company has plans in place throughout 2025 to support its scalability and continued growth as well as enhance its B2B initiatives.

Navigator Medicines

Navigator Medicines of Scotch Plains debuted last year as a subsidiary of Sera Medicines LLC. The company focuses on developing therapies for patients with complex, heterogeneous autoimmune diseases. And it’s off to a big start.

Last summer, Navigator Medicines secured $100 million Series A financing, co-led by RA Capital Management and Forbion, alongside in-licensing of NAV-240 and an OX40L-targeted portfolio from IMBiologics Corp. The news also brought an expansion to its executive team, which has continued to grow in 2025.

Following the appointment of a new chief medical officer in August, Navigator welcomed CEO Tausif “Tosh” Butt and Khurem Farooq as chairman in February 2025, maintaining the momentum. The seasoned leaders set Navigator “on course for strategic and operational excellence,” according to Forbion general partner Woulter Joustra, also a board member at the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.

Coupled with the Navigator’s commitment to leveraging clinically proven mechanisms to potentially address unmet patient needs, Butt offers commercial experience, including several product launches in company-related areas.

Earlier this month, Navigator presented early clinical data from its NAV-240 program at the annual American Academy of Dermatology meeting in Orlando. The clinical-stage bispecific antibody takes aim at two clinically validated targets that Navigator says are critical in the pathogenesis of several inflammatory diseases.

OculoMotor Technologies

Based in Newark, OculoMotor Technologies offers optometrists – and patients – an easy and fun way to engage with vision therapy, as well as study eye-tracking diagnostics, using virtual reality games.

A spinout from New Jersey Institute of Technology led by NJIT professor and co-founder, acting CEO and Chief Technology Officer Chang Yaramothu, OMT was the third company to benefit from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s NJ Ignite program. The effort helps cover rent support for tech and life sciences startups that move to approved collaborative workspaces.

Currently, OMT is developing two products. VERVE (Virtual Eye Rotation Vision Exercises) is a vision therapy tool for optometrists to treat convergence insufficiency and other vergence disorders. In fact, it’s the only FDA-approved VR device to treat convergence insufficiency, a condition that affects how your eyes work together when you look at nearby objects. It integrates into OMT’s VR game and automatically adjusts to match patient performance, according to the company.

Then there’s SPOT (Screening Patients with Oculomotor Testing), which it hopes to launch in 2026. OMT says the vision diagnostic platform screens for 75% of binocular disorders in “much less time” than a full binocular vision exam.

Last year, OMT continued its trajectory, taking first place at the inaugural Newark Demo Day pitch competition. The honor earned it an undisclosed cash prize from I/O Connect as well as a trophy from GlassRoots.

OLI

A member of the HAX accelerator in Newark, pre-seed company OLI is working to change the experience for patients that rely on – and those that would like to take advantage of – in-home dialysis.

Major hurdles around the ways this treatment is currently provided have hindered adoption of the practice. According to a University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics report from last year, just 13.7% of Americans opt for at-home treatment. Oli is working to turn that tide by creating compact, portable and easy to use dialysis systems. Its core technology is developed around a novel sorbent that enables forward momentum in miniaturization and simplified operation, according to HAX.

“Hax was like a glove-fit for us being able to use their resources for building out a bigger mechanical device that harnesses our core chemistry,” CEO and co-founder Tom Weindl told Pix 11 last year.

Oli plans to begin initial deployment in clinic to accelerate regulatory approval for patient use at home or on-the-go.

Founded in 2021, the North Brunswick-based medical device manufacturer most recently closed a $700,000 seed round in December, according to Pitchbook. Oli also took part in BioNJ’s Biopartnering Conference early stage startup pitch competition last spring, bringing more visibility to the company and its work.

Pocstock

Founded in Newark in 2019, pocstock is an inclusive content company that creates, curates and licenses images focused on people of color for commercial and editorial use. And in its short history, the company has made some big moves.

During 2024, pocstock’s “Year of the Partnership,” the startup collaborated with Canva, offering a platform to promote the important work it does to reflect all people in the content we consume. Overall, its network comprises more than 600 creators worldwide and 800-plus customers, including major corporations, advertising agencies and others.

A participant in Audible’s Business Attraction Program, in 2024, pocstock cut the ribbon on a brand-new headquarters and content creation space on Broad Street in the Brick City, coinciding with its fifth anniversary.

With a community of more than 200 investors, the startup has raised $1.6 million, including a $500,000 round last October. The feat sets the company apart statistically in a challenging environment. At the start of 2024, TechCrunch reported venture dollars to Black founders fell to 0.48% of total investments in the prior year.

And that distinction is important to the company, which aims to create opportunities writ large for people of color. “We [are] going to open up doors for other people that come behind us by making sure that investors have confidence in black-owned companies,” CEO and founder Steve Jones said at the opening event for the company’s new base. Looking ahead, pocstock also plans to launch its own AI imaging platform.

PolyGone Systems

It’s no secret that plastic is prevalent. And while collecting and recycling large plastic items is nothing new, PolyGone Systems targets a much smaller set of materials.

Co-founded by Nathanial Banks and Yidian Lie in 2021, Princeton-based PolyGone Systems is a direct response to addressing escalating levels of microplastic contamination. Spun out from Princeton University, the company develops and deploys critical infrastructure to intercept and recover microplastics—backed by a multidisciplinary team of designers, engineers, material scientists and chemists.

PolyGone operates with urgency, employing an ethos of build, test, iterate and deploy; testing its thesis and theories in practice and in the real world to find – and fine tune – solutions. That commitment helped the company launch the world’s first microplastic removal pilot two years after its founding, the Poly Pod.

In 2023, it was one of 14 clean tech startups to receive a grant from the New Jersey Commission on Science, Innovation and Technology.

And last September, PolyGone Systems celebrated the grand opening of the Mircroplastic Removal Pilot Project and the Educational Pavilion at the Atlantic County Utilities Authority, funded by the NOAA Sea Grant Program Marine Debris Challenge Competition 2023 and the NJ CSIT Pilot CleanTech Demonstration Grant Program. The development also includes an on-site exhibit to educate the public about microplastic pollution and PolyGone’s mission.

Portable Diagnostic Systems

A venture founded in 2019 out of New York University by Glennon Simmons, Nicolas Vansnick and Ty Gabriel, Portable Diagnostic Systems aims to address the immediate need for rapid onsite diagnostic and toxicology in a variety of markets, including emergency medicine, roadside drug screening and cause of death investigation.

After moving to New Jersey when it received a HAX investment, PDS has gone on to secure additional funding from CSIT, hired NJIT students, participated in the inaugural Newark Demo Day and taken residency in the Profeta Center.

The Newark-based biotech has developed technology to enable rapid, small scale, multiple analytics that deliver laboratory quality results onsite, in real time. Using this technology, PDS has built the Integrity-1 Analysis System – a portable “lab-in-a-box” solution for clinicians and investigators that streamlines diagnostic and toxicology testing, saving time and money, while providing impactful results.

By taking the guesswork out of impaired driving traffic stops, the platform helps police departments save both time and money. It also reduces the likelihood that an individual who is not impaired will have to go through the unnecessary hardship of arrest, lengthy medical exams and warrant-ordered blood draws for toxicology testing.

Considered the world’s most comprehensive onsite, real-time drug test for use in roadside drug testing, PDS has garnered much interest as the law enforcement community looks to purchase next-gen tools to ensure officers are equipped to address drug and alcohol abuse in the field.

PureLi

A cleantech spin-off from Princeton University’s Water & Energy Technologies Lab, PureLi aims to drive innovation and sustainability by using solar energy to extract lithium from seawater.

Renewable electricity is on track to replace fossil fuels in some sectors. However, the supply of lithium for batteries and electric vehicles falls short of meeting its rapidly increasing demand.

Since current lithium production is typically energy intensive, the PureLi team believes its approach could make lithium both less expensive and more environmentally friendly. They also hope their work will contribute to securing the supply of critical minerals and advancing the United States’ goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

The venture was founded in 2023 by Sean Zheng, a START Entrepreneurs Fellow – which is a program that’s part academic fellowship and part startup accelerator – and Jason Ren, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and associate director for research at the Andlinger Center for Energy + Environment at Princeton.

As part of the HAX program, PureLi is among the companies benefiting from substantial support, including investment, mentorship and access to cutting-edge facilities. With funding from leading international VCs like SOSV, the National Science Foundation, the NJEDA, the Grantham Foundation, Princeton Innovation and the New Jersey Commission on Science, Innovation and Technology, PureLi developed a product line that enhances productivity in lithium evaporation ponds by 50% without new capital expenditures and is aiming for full commercial deployment.

PureNanotech Inc.

Founded in 2023, Parsippany-based PureNanotech Inc. developed next-generation nanobubble technology – which uses tiny gas bubbles to improve water quality – offering performance, reliability and cost efficiency for adopters.

In the fall, PNT was recognized at the Grow-NY international business competition, earning $500,000 as one of seven prize winners. Following the achievement, PNT described the moment as a significant milestone, validating the effectiveness of its tech in boosting agricultural productivity and profitability.

Building off that momentum, PNT plans to engage more in the Grow-NY region – including Central New York, the Finger Lakes and the Southern Tier – by partnering with local farms, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facilities and research institutions. Its next steps: establishing a regional hub for production and product development to facilitate collaboration with companies in New York as well as conducting field trials to optimize for various crop types and growing conditions.

PNT’s services aren’t limited to agriculture, though. According to the company its tech is utilized across industries, such as pond and lake restoration, food disinfection, wastewater treatment and more. Its products include the PNT Flash Generator, Standard Generator and Heavy Duty Generator.

Beyond the recent award, PNT says it has also secured funding and state grants from CSIT, the Department of Energy, Department of Environmental Protection, National Science Foundation and United States Department of Agriculture.

Quarks Advantage

A high-tech digital consulting firm, Quarks Advantage uses its proprietary methodology alongside cutting-edge technology tools and artificial intelligence to provide tailored solutions to help businesses overcome challenges and achieve their goals.

Quarks Advantage is focused on leading innovative initiatives that harness AI to drive sustainable business growth with platforms like Improvement Business Plans (business management), Leaders Teach (training) and No Fear To Restart (coaching & mentoring). Quarks Advantage also develops cutting-edge research tools for the health and biotech sectors, including TRACE-AI and NeuroFlare, and it implements strategic solutions for coastal resilience through OceanComprehensive.

The company – which has offices in Jersey City and Princeton – was founded by a team of experts in the areas of strategic planning, project management and marketing: CEO José Gabriel Carrasco Ramírez Chief Operating Officer Noiralih Guere.

After securing a $400,000 grant through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s New Jersey Innovation Fellows program in January 2024, Quarks Advantage was recently among 23 startups focused on developing technology, therapeutics, and other solutions to address maternal and infant health challenges to receive a combined $1.7 million from the state.

Quarks Advantage was also invited to participate in a May 2024 hearing before the New Jersey State Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee on the future of AI and quantum computing in the state.

Queens Carbon

According to the World Economic Forum, if the cement industry were a country, it would be the world’s third or fourth-largest emitter of carbon dioxide; amounting to about 8% of total worldwide emissions. Founded in 2022, Pine Brook-based Queens Carbon is working to turn that tide—and toward the “future of cement.”

The Rutgers University startup developed technology to dramatically reduce the energy needed to decompose carbonate materials that is also capable of capturing all the CO2 produced during the reaction. The patented hydrothermal process is a low-energy solution that creates a commercially viable pathway for carbon-neutral cement production.
CEO Daniel Kopp developed the tech when he was a doctoral student at Rutgers while working with Distinguished Professor Richard Riman in his lab at the School of Engineering. And Queens Carbon has earned a lot of attention for its work.

In 2024, it was selected as part of the SCALEUP program by the U.S. Department of Energy, receiving $14.5 million in funding. The infusion will help the company develop an on-site pilot facility capable of producing carbon-neutral supplemental cementitious materials using industry standard raw materials to support decarbonized cement production. It also earned top honors as Best Venture at the 2024 NREL Industry Growth Forum.

Recently, Kopp graduated from the Breakthrough Energy Fellows Cohort, part of the climate organization founded by Bill Gates.

Shutterbug Exchange

Established in 2022 by Frank Jackson, Shutterbug Exchange is focused on developing cutting-edge technologies and innovative solutions designed to transform how we recycle and repurpose solar panels.

By using AI and 3D printing, the Jersey City-headquartered venture’s “Solar Revitalizer” works to analyze, sort and classify panels, enabling the renewable energy market to enhance sustainable practices.

SBX’s research and development efforts are focused on developing a process that can separate components of solar panels and recover for reuse; identifying ways to repurpose panels into new products and applications instead of breaking them down; and finding processes to recover and reuse materials, like silicon and glass. It is also investigating the feasibility and effectiveness of buyback programs that allow customers to sell used solar panels to companies and organizations that can recycle or repurpose them.

A Black-owned business, Shutterbug Exchange has received a $750,000 award through the New Jersey Commission on Science, Innovation and Technology’s Clean Tech Seed Grant Program to advance development of its service. SBX also partners with Montclair State University.

Sonder Research X

Established in 2019, Sonder Research X is a Weill Cornell Medical School spin-off company focused on using advanced imaging technology and new screening methods to develop diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for oncology and ophthalmic diseases.

Sonder, which is located at the New Jersey Bioscience Center in North Brunswick, utilizes biological ways to efficiently deliver recombinant proteins into the sensory tissue of the eye and retina. Currently occupying four labs in the incubator, Sonder is soon to graduate into a larger space within the campus.

It was founded by Dr. John Pena, a former assistant professor of ophthalmology at Weill Cornell Medicine and principal investigator at Dyson Vision Research Institute, and is now held by Aufbau Medical Innovations. Pena is a physician-scientists with a M.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College, a Ph.D. from The Rockefeller University, and residency training in ophthalmology completed at WCM and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Spry Therapeutics Inc.

Founded in 2021, Spry Therapeutics is the company behind the first fully integrated, AI-powered software for clinical management and administrative solutions at physical therapy practices.

By streamlining tasks from the front desk to clinical operations to the back office, the all-in-one, easy-to-use platform aims to help clinics grow profitably, save time and make better business decisions.

Since being developed by Brijraj Bhuptani and Riyaz Rehman, the business – which has ties to Jersey City – has earned a reputation for flexible workflow customizations, short migration times and high-velocity claims processing. So far, it has onboarded 105 clinics across the U.S.

In October 2024, the software-as-a-service startup secured $15 million in funds to fuel further growth. The latest round was led by Flourish Ventures, along with participation from existing investors like Together Fund, Eight Roads and F-Prime Capital to help Spry Therapeutics reach an overall equity of $25 million. The newly raised capital will be used to fund a sales and servicing team.

SymetryML

A Morristown-headquartered business, SymetryML is on a mission to unlock the life-saving knowledge buried in the vast and ever-increasing amounts of patient-related data around the world.

Co-founded in March 2020 by Philip Kearney, Scott Russo and Dustin O’Dell, the venture’s proprietary platform aims to revolutionize how health care and life science companies protect, share and analyze sensitive information.

The platform, Federis, represents a complete paradigm shift in data collection, enabling the immediate application of advanced predictive analytics and machine learning to improve patient health and outcomes. By combining large-scale data mining, high-speed machine learning and real-time processing, the system produces a high-value intelligence engine for transaction business processes and other real-time predictive modeling interactions.

SymetryML believes its breakthrough, federated learning tool can help organizations address key business needs and evidence gaps by empowering them with the ability to harness real-world data that will drive real-world evidence at scale. And its rapid model building and analysis toolkit allows companies to build, deploy and scale machine learning solutions in a manner that’s faster, easier, safer and more cost effective than ever before.

Transcend

Located in Princeton, Transcend is on a mission to transform the way asset owners, technology suppliers, and engineering firms assess and design critical infrastructure.

A global leader of infrastructure design software, the company’s Transcend Design Generator enables capital planners, project developers and engineering professionals to generate preliminary engineering designs for wastewater treatment and power sectors in a fraction of the time, delivering high-quality documentation and incorporating innovative technology options. According to Transcend, its cloud-based software is the only SaaS platform that fully automates preliminary design in eight hours or less.

By streamlining capital planning and budgeting processes, accelerating project timelines and reducing project risks, firms that adopt Transcend software tend to achieve better outcomes and lower costs, the company says. Users also tend to experience increased revenue because they’re able to bid on more projects with greater detail in less time and free up their engineers to focus on value-added work and grow business.

Since its founding in 2019 by Ari Raivetz and Adam Tank, TDG has designed over 17,000 critical infrastructure assets, impacting more than 360 million people, and has thousands of active users around the world.

Weedies

Based in Scotch Plains, Weedies is a delivery platform designed to revolutionize the way in which New Jerseyans access legalized cannabis. Thanks to Weedies’ app-based service, adults aged 21 and up across the state can place orders for pickup or receive convenient, safe and discreet same-day home delivery of high-quality cannabis from local dispensaries.

Co-owned and managed by a husband-wife team, Nicholas and Noelle Gianni, Weedies is also a certified small business and proudly veteran owned. After securing a Class 6 delivery license from the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission, the company launched its proprietary platform last year.

In 2024, New Jersey’s regulated market surpassed $1 billion in combined medicinal and recreational sales – a 25% increase from the previous year’s total of $800.2 million. Since the April 2022 launch of adult-use sales, more than 200 dispensaries have opened statewide, generating more than $2 billion in total revenue.

Through Weedies, consumers can search via map, store or specific product and purchase up to 1 ounce of marijuana legally. In addition to providing a user-friendly shopping experience, Weedies aims to offer a solution that helps partnering dispensaries save on the cost and complexities of managing a delivery fleet. Retailers are able to be featured on the app’s directory at no charge, allowing them to expand their reach and gain new customers, as well.

Wonder

An upscale food hall concept founded by billionaire entrepreneur Marc Lore, Wonder has grown aggressively in 2024, adding nearly 30 locations across the Northeast.

Though it began in 2018 as a business based on mobile kitchens that prepared chef-designed meals outside of customers’ homes, the company pivoted in January 2023 to focus on brick-and-mortar locations featuring options from restaurants with which it has licensing deals.

After securing $950 million in capital from investors, the company now has 38 spots across New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Pennsylvania — and 15 more in the works. By the end of 2025, Lore has said he expects Wonder to have 90 locations.

To support its planned expansion efforts, Wonder acquired on-demand delivery platform Grubhub in a deal worth $650 million. The transaction – completed in early January – provides Wonder with a nationwide network of restaurants and delivery people.

Wonder – which has its R&D facility in Parsippany – also teamed up with Texas food-as-a-service company FreshRealm to scale production. Under the 20-year-agreement, FreshRealm, which makes fresh meals for grocery retailers and meal kit providers, will help Wonder reduce costs by producing food in bigger batches and buying ingredients at a larger scale.

Zena Therapeutics

A drug discovery company that spun out of Rutgers University, Zena Therapeutics is focused on designing and developing effective mental health and addiction therapeutics to prevent overdose fatalities and improve outcomes.

Co-founded by Eileen Carry and Ariane Vasilatis, Zena is based on an innovation developed at Rutgers – a novel compound that does not increase the risk of overdose if taken with other central nervous system depressing substances, such as opioids and alcohol.

The Incubator at North Brunswick resident has so far received backing from sources including the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and Rutgers. Foundation Venture Capital Group LLC, the investment arm of New Jersey Health Foundation, has also provided $1 million in seed funding.
Vasilatis, who earned her doctoral degree in plant science in 2021 from Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, serves as CEO, while Carry, who graduated with her doctoral degree from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy’s Department of Medicinal Chemistry in 2021, is the company’s chief scientific officer.

Zena – which is named after the Slavic word for “woman” – is now working to move its compounds to clinical trials.

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