Reviewed by: Cindy Hatcher
These 3 founders walked away from Alabama Launchpad with over $200K
Reading time: 5 minutes
Sponsored
Big news—in this year’s first Alabama Launchpad competition, three local startups won a combined total of $225,000 in funding.
Read on to learn more about these three award-winning startups, and how they’re using their funding to further development, jumpstart business and invest in Alabama’s bright future.
About Alabama Launchpad
Alabama Launchpad is known for nurturing early-stage businesses and offering support and mentorship for aspiring entrepreneurs, culminating with the distribution of over $200,000 in funding for founders to launch in Alabama.
This year, the program introduced a more specialized approach, splitting finalists into three distinct tracks—life sciences, technology and consumer goods—with tailored mentorship for each industry.
Meet the new class of Alabama Launchpad winners.
Life Sciences: Cognera Health wins $100,000
Cognera Health, co-founded by Jupudi Vamsi Kalyan, started from a personal experience—moving to the U.S. and facing mental health challenges as a student.
Originally launched as “BrightLyf,” Kalyan and his team connected through Troy University’s IDEA Bank and quickly grew to include experts in mental health and healthcare technology. Together, they saw a big problem: traditional therapy only covers a small part of the mental health journey. People often feel alone between sessions and providers are overwhelmed with paperwork and limited insight into how their patients are really doing.
Cognera is building an AI-powered platform that fills those gaps, offering continuous, guided support to help people feel connected and cared for between appointments.
“The Alabama Launchpad experience has provided invaluable mentorship from advisors and other industry experts helping us refine our go-to-market strategy, understand the healthcare landscape better and prepare for scaling across the Southeast.
This funding will enable us to launch pilot programs across multiple Alabama healthcare facilities.”
Jupudi Vamsi Kalyan, Co-founder, Cognera Health
Technology: Proxylink wins $75,000
Handling customer service requests from AI assistants (A.K.A. proxies)—like canceling subscriptions or updating addresses—is becoming increasingly common, but it’s also expensive and inefficient for businesses. That’s where ProxyLink steps in.
Founded in 2024 by John Walter, ProxyLink provides a secure, streamlined channel for businesses to authenticate and fulfill requests from consumer AI agents. Acting as a trusted intermediary, ProxyLink ensures that AI assistants are legitimate and operate only within the permissions granted by the user.
ProxyLink services streamlines common functions between businesses and consumers. (ProxyLink)
“I work out of Innovation Depot in Birmingham, where I’ve encountered several entrepreneurs whose companies have won the Alabama Launchpad competition, and whose success inspired me to participate too. We plan to use the prize money to go towards hiring additional engineers and marketing professionals, enhancing our technical capabilities and expanding our market reach.”
John Walter, Founder, Proxylink
- Based in: Birmingham, Alabama
- Website | LinkedIn
- Interested in joining the team? ProxyLink is now hiring—reach out to john@proxylink.co for more information.
Consumer goods: Darling Grey wins $50,000
Darling Grey is a clothing and lifestyle brand founded by recent Auburn graduate Anna Grace Wesson.
While the brand started as her senior design project, it has grown into a full-fledged vision: classic, high-quality pieces with a touch of Southern charm. Beyond timeless fashion, the brand is driven by a mission close to Wesson’s heart—to help prevent sex trafficking and support survivors through job creation and partnerships with local organizations in the Birmingham area.
In fact, every piece of Darling Grey merchandise features a small blue heart, the symbol of human trafficking awareness, serving as a reminder of who they’re fighting for and the hopeful future they aim to create.
“As a 23-year-old who bootstrapped this company from the ground up, receiving non-dilutive funding like this is a game changer. Every dollar counts when you’re building something from scratch, and this support allows me to scale with confidence. This experience has given me the tools, the momentum and the belief that we are building something long-lasting.”
Anna Grace Wesson, Founder, Darling Grey
Congrats to the finalists + winners of Alabama Launchpad Cycle 1!
Congratulations to all of the finalists of Alabama Launchpad Cycle 1:
- Psigryph Corp. | Huntsville, AL | Life sciences
- Cognera Health | Newton, AL | Life sciences
- Score Pharma | Huntsville, AL | Life sciences
- Move to Happy | Auburn, AL | Technology
- Core Prototyping | Huntsville, AL | Technology
- ProxyLink | Birmingham, AL | Technology
- Ranalia Biotech Inc. | Huntsville, AL | Technology
- Darling Grey | Birmingham, AL | Consumer goods
- Herban Soul Café | Birmingham, AL | Consumer goods
- The World Baseball League | Birmingham, AL | Consumer goods
Applications for Alabama Launchpad Cycle 2 are now open!
If you’re ready to take your startup or small business to the next level, now’s the time to act.
Submit by the priority deadline, June 28, to receive early access to feedback and the opportunity to revise your application before final review. The final deadline is August 18, and all applications must be submitted by this date to be considered for Cycle 2.
With stipends, awards and prizes, you can walk away with valuable funding even if you don’t win.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of this exciting new chapter in Alabama’s innovation story.
Sponsored by:
