Building Solutions for the Challenges Shaping Our Communities
Every community has challenges waiting for stronger solutions.
This summer, nine entrepreneurs joined Rally's Summer 2026 Accelerator to strengthen ventures connected to some of the issues shaping Central Florida and communities beyond.
This cohort reflects Rally's continued focus on supporting social entrepreneurs whose work responds to real community challenges through practical, scalable solutions. Across housing, mobility, health, education, workforce development, energy, civic trust, disaster response, and communication access, these entrepreneurs are developing tools, technologies, and service models that have the potential to strengthen communities and improve quality of life.
While many Fellows come from outside the region, each cohort is intentionally connected to the challenges, partners, and opportunities shaping Central Florida. By bringing diverse perspectives into local problem-solving, Rally helps strengthen solutions that can create impact both here and in communities around the world.
To explore the full Summer 2026 cohort, visit rallysea.com/summer-26, where you'll find each Fellow's profile, venture overview, and opportunities to learn more about their work.
Below, we take a closer look at the regional challenge each entrepreneur is working to address, the venture they are building, and how that work connects to Rally's focus areas. Together, these stories illustrate not only what these entrepreneurs are creating, but why their work matters.
Summer 2026 Ventures
Bria Francisco — Collective Impact
Issue Connection & Scale
Central Florida's affordable housing shortage continues to affect working families across the region. An estimated 109,514 more families earning 80% of Area Median Income or below need affordable housing than there are affordable units available, with the gap concentrated across Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Lake counties. Orlando's 2025 Gap Report also ranked the region sixth nationally for affordable housing scarcity, with only 19 affordable units available for every 100 extremely low-income renters.
The Founder & Venture
Bria Francisco, Founder of Collective Impact, believes housing stability is the foundation of thriving communities. Growing up in a military family, she saw how access to stable housing and strong schools shaped family opportunity.
With more than 12 years in affordable housing finance and compliance, including managing compliance for $50 million in emergency rental assistance, Bria saw how fragmented systems slow support for families in crisis.
Collective Impact is a SaaS platform that helps CDCs and local government housing teams find, fund, and track affordable housing development in one place, replacing disconnected tools with a system built for the full project lifecycle.
Nishant Singh Rana — Vyorius Unmanned Solutions
Issue Connection & Scale
Central Florida regularly experiences storms that disrupt power, transportation, schools, and supply chains across multiple counties. During Hurricane Milton, communities faced utility outages, road closures, school closures, and infrastructure damage while emergency services continued responding to critical needs.
The Founder & Venture
Nishant Singh Rana, Founder and CEO of Vyorius Unmanned Solutions, is building technology for moments when traditional infrastructure cannot be counted on. His work is driven by a belief that lifesaving resources, medical supplies, food, and emergency response should reach people regardless of geography or infrastructure conditions.
Vyorius is a deep-tech company providing a universal operating system for unmanned fleets across air, land, and sea. Using agentic AI, the platform helps coordinate autonomous robotic fleets for disaster relief, public safety, and critical supply delivery.
Learn more:
rallysea.com/portfolioventures/vyorius
John Petrous — Tappy Guide
Issue Connection & Scale
Florida consistently ranks among the nation's most dangerous states for pedestrians, with the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metro remaining one of the highest-risk areas. The challenge affects pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchair users, seniors, and people with disabilities throughout the region.
The Founder & Venture
John Petrous, Founder and CEO of Tappy Guide, is an automotive engineer whose work is shaped by a personal connection to accessibility: his family includes multiple individuals born blind.
Tappy Guide develops AI-powered Vehicle-to-Everything technology that improves safety and accessibility for vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchair users, seniors, and people with disabilities. The platform uses AI, smartphone sensor fusion, connected vehicle communication, and smart infrastructure to predict pedestrian movement and deliver proactive safety alerts before a possible collision.
Learn more:
rallysea.com/portfolioventures/tappyguide
John Verdi — Hey, Blue!
Issue Connection & Scale
Building trust between residents and law enforcement continues to be an important civic priority across Central Florida. Local governments continue investing in community trust initiatives that strengthen relationships between officers and the communities they serve.
The Founder & Venture
John Verdi, Founder of Hey, Blue!, believes a single connection can change everything. After serving at Ground Zero on September 11, a stranger’s kindness and a handwritten card from a child shaped his belief in the power of everyday human connection.
Hey, Blue! turns that belief into a mobile platform that rewards voluntary connection between residents and law enforcement. Community members earn rewards for saying hello to officers, while officers can direct earned points to local nonprofits.
Learn more:
rallysea.com/portfolioventures/heyblue
Maria DelCorso — New Agenda
Issue Connection & Scale
Orange County Public Schools serves approximately 37,800 students eligible for Exceptional Student Education. Many neurodivergent students benefit from support that extends beyond academics to include executive functioning, emotional regulation, and self-advocacy.
The Founder & Venture
Maria DelCorso, Co-Founder of New Agenda, brings more than 30 years of experience as a pediatric speech-language pathologist, entrepreneur, advisor, and advocate for students with diverse learning and developmental needs.
New Agenda provides executive function coaching for neurodivergent individuals, including students with ADHD, and partners with schools to strengthen student support. The model helps students build confidence, independence, organization, emotional regulation, and self-advocacy so they can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
Learn more:
rallysea.com/portfolioventures/newagenda
Karen Lin — Emotivo Health
Issue Connection & Scale
Demand for behavioral health services continues to outpace the workforce available to provide care. As providers manage increasing caseloads, missed referrals and unmet social needs remain significant barriers to long-term health outcomes.
The Founder & Venture
Karen Lin, Founder and CEO of Emotivo Health, has built B2B and consumer products across startups and public companies, including systems that helped hospitals measure patient safety. Her current focus is making behavioral health treatment more equitable through technology.
Emotivo Health is an AI scribe that captures social drivers of health from mental health provider conversations and automates closed-loop referrals to community organizations, helping providers identify patient needs beyond the clinical visit and make sure referrals do not get lost after the appointment.
Learn more:
rallysea.com/portfolioventures/emotivohealth
DMA Anderson — Korgi
Issue Connection & Scale
Tourism and hospitality remain among Central Florida's largest employment sectors, while rapid advances in AI are changing workforce expectations across many industries. Communities increasingly need accessible pathways for workers to build new skills and adapt.
The Founder & Venture
DMA Anderson, Founder and CEO of Korgi, is a strategic consultant and multi-patented tech executive working at the intersection of entrepreneurship, education, and impact. Her career has focused on expanding access to systems, tools, and resources that help people and organizations reach bigger goals.
Korgi is an AI project management platform that partners with workforce agencies to help workers build AI, productivity, and project management skills as they seek best-fit employment and stronger career pathways.
Learn more:
rallysea.com/portfolioventures/korgi
Asher Popper — Popper Power
Issue Connection & Scale
As electric vehicle adoption continues to grow, so does demand on Central Florida's energy infrastructure. Communities are exploring ways to expand charging capacity while making better use of existing public assets.
The Founder & Venture
Asher Popper, CEO of Popper Power, is a serial entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in energy systems, LED technology, energy storage, EV infrastructure, and industrial manufacturing.
Popper Power turns existing streetlights into bidirectional, AI-powered energy and EV-charging nodes. Its patented architecture combines energy storage, power electronics, and EV battery aggregation to help reduce grid stress, lower upgrade costs, and support reliable electrification.
Learn more:
rallysea.com/portfolioventures/popperpower
Héctor Andrés Costa — Cboard
Issue Connection & Scale
Communication access is essential to healthcare, education, employment, and everyday life. Hundreds of thousands of people across Central Florida may experience speech or communication disabilities that affect how they access services and participate in their communities.
The Founder & Venture
Héctor Andrés Costa is a biomedical engineer, AI specialist, and assistive technology entrepreneur focused on inclusive communication tools for people with disabilities. He co-founded OTTAA Project, an AAC platform that has supported thousands of users across Latin America and beyond.
At Cboard, Héctor helps build accessible, AI-powered communication tools for people with speech disabilities. Cboard Access turns any smartphone into an instant, free AAC tool through a QR code, helping non-speaking people express their needs, choices, and rights with dignity.
Learn more:
rallysea.com/portfolioventures/cboard
Company Profiles
These are the profiles of the ventures and social entrepreneurs in the Summer 2026 Cohort.
