In recent years, Westchester County has become home to a growing community of entrepreneurs building companies with national reach.
At the center of that momentum is Element 46, a startup accelerator program in Westchester County. The program was created to give local founders access to mentorship, resources, and community without having to leave the county. Recently Element 46 welcomed 11 innovative startups into its fall 2025 cohort.
“There were tons of entrepreneurs here who didn’t have a natural place to launch or grow,” says Deborah Novick, the director of entrepreneurship and innovation for Westchester County. “We wanted to create a local community so founders could support one another and build their companies right here.”
This year’s accelerator program was led by Quay Acceleration, an organization focused on scaling startups across the country. Over several months, founders met three times a week for expert-led workshops, peer sessions, mentorship roundtables, and pitch practice. The program culminated in a Demo Day on December 2, during which entrepreneurs presented their ideas to investors, partners, and community leaders.
Ideas from founders ranged from youth employment to student mental health and public safety. Among them were three companies that reflect both the diversity and ambition of Westchester’s innovation ecosystem.
Starteryou: Helping Students Find Their First Job
For Michael Berlingo, founder of Starteryou, the idea behind his platform was born out of personal experience.
“Navigating the job world as a student was incredibly difficult,” Berlingo says. “I was only able to find work because I had connections through my parents. A lot of students don’t have that.”
Starteryou is a web-based job and career platform designed specifically for high school and early college students. Partnering with school districts and colleges across the tri-state area, the platform connects students to part-time jobs, seasonal work, and internships while also helping them learn how to build resumes, prepare for interviews, and understand employer expectations.
Unlike traditional job boards like Indeed or LinkedIn, Starteryou is built exclusively for young people entering the workforce for the first time. A mobile app is set to launch in the coming weeks.
Participating in Element 46 helped Berlingo sharpen his focus.
“One of the biggest things they helped us with was narrowing our geographic strategy,” he says. “Instead of trying to be everywhere at once, we’re really focusing on Westchester and building something that works here before scaling that model outward.”
EDmotionsAI: Addressing Student Mental Health in Real Time
Another education-focused startup gaining traction is EDmotionsAI. The company has developed what it calls the world’s first Emotional Management System (EMS) for schools.
It is a group effort run by Michael Rivera, chief operating officer; Brian Halloran, chief financial officer; and Dr. Andrew Taylor, chief executive officer.
Designed to provide proactive, real-time emotional support for students, EDmotionsAI allows educators to identify emotional trends early, rather than relying on infrequent surveys or delayed interventions.
“As schools continue to grapple with rising anxiety, stress, and emotional challenges among students, we wanted to build something that supports emotional readiness every day,” Dr. Taylor says.
The company plans to begin piloting the platform in schools across Westchester this spring, with a goal of serving more than 25 schools by the end of 2026.
For Taylor and his team, Demo Day was about more than pitching.
“There’s something powerful about presenting in front of a live audience,” he says. “It sharpens your message and reminds you why the work matters.”
MIDL: Democratizing Public Safety Through AI
When something goes wrong in public, the warning signs are often already there. Maybe a person is seen pacing back and forth, a door opens after hours, or a fall is caught on camera. The problem isn’t a lack of data. It’s that no one is watching it all in real time.
That gap is what MIDL, a public safety technology startup founded by Gabe Ajram, is designed to close. The AI-powered platform analyzes live data from security systems and alerts first responders when something looks wrong, helping agencies act faster in moments when seconds matter.
Ajram’s interest in public safety began with a personal experience. Years ago, a friend was seriously harmed during a trespassing incident that was fully captured on security cameras. Despite the footage, there were not enough resources to monitor it as events unfolded.
“I thought because the cameras were there, someone would be able to act,” Ajram says. “But unless a human is watching, nothing happens.” The delay, he said, had devastating consequences and revealed a larger, systemic problem.
MIDL was built to address that reality. The platform aggregates live video feeds, sensors, panic buttons, and other safety inputs and processes them onsite, using AI to identify potential threats or emergencies as they occur.
“A lot of critical information today is delayed, expensive to collect, or not available at all,” Ajram says. “MIDL brings those signals together so leaders can make informed decisions as events unfold.”
Unlike traditional surveillance tools, MIDL is hardware-agnostic, allowing organizations to use the systems they already have rather than investing in new equipment. Privacy is also a core focus. The platform emphasizes movement and behavior over identity, often blurring faces or blocking license plates, and does not centralize sensitive data in the cloud. Data remains within the environment it is collected and is only shared with first responders when explicitly authorized.
Initially developed for law enforcement and emergency services, MIDL is expanding into broader municipal and institutional uses, including campus safety, severe weather response, flooding, and road closures. With customers already operating across the country, Ajram says the company’s next phase is awareness.
“The cameras are already everywhere,” he says. “People just don’t realize how much more they could be doing to keep communities safe.”
Building the Future
Since its launch, Element 46 has supported more than 100 Westchester-based founders and their startups. Many have raised capital, hired locally, and built companies with national or even international reach.
“Entrepreneurship can be lonely,” Novick says. “Element 46 is about building community, connecting founders to mentors, and making sure they know they don’t have to do this alone.”
For Westchester residents, that means the next generation of innovative tools, businesses and jobs may be closer to home than they think.
Next Steps
Learn more about Element 46 and what it takes to apply.
Related: 15 Makers and Shakers to Know in Westchester’s Business Scene
