--- title: Meet the Winter 2026 BETA Cohort description: Meet the 14 early-stage companies in BETA's Winter 2026 Cohort, a free 12-week accelerator in Lowertown Saint Paul. --- Close - Programs - [Twin Cities Startup Week](https://www.tcstartupweek.com/) - [Accelerator](https://www.beta.mn/join-a-cohort) - [Showcase](https://www.beta.mn/programs-showcase) - [Portfolio](https://www.beta.mn/portfolio) - [Partners](https://www.beta.mn/our-partners) - [Get Involved](https://www.beta.mn/how-to-help) - [Donate Now](https://donate.stripe.com/4gw9CLfHN5GN0RW144) [![Primary\_DkGray-Orange](https://blog.beta.mn/hs-fs/hubfs/Beta%20Logos/Primary_DkGray-Orange.png?width=200&height=50&name=Primary_DkGray-Orange.png)](https://blog.beta.mn/) [![BETA Logo-1](https://blog.beta.mn/hs-fs/hubfs/BETA%20Logo-1.png?width=200&height=50&name=BETA%20Logo-1.png)](https://blog.beta.mn/) - Programs - [Twin Cities Startup Week](https://www.tcstartupweek.com/) - [Accelerator](https://www.beta.mn/join-a-cohort) - [Showcase](https://www.beta.mn/programs-showcase) - [Portfolio](https://www.beta.mn/portfolio) - [Partners](https://www.beta.mn/our-partners) - [Get Involved](https://www.beta.mn/how-to-help) - [Donate Now](https://donate.stripe.com/4gw9CLfHN5GN0RW144) [BETA](https://blog.beta.mn/author/beta) Nov 12, 2026, 10:07:40 AM 7 min read # Meet the Winter 2026 BETA Cohort [Previous Post](https://blog.beta.mn/hello-to-the-spring-2026-beta-cohort) # Winter 2026 BETA Cohort BETA's Winter 2026 Cohort started on November 4: fourteen early-stage companies in a free, 12-week accelerator, meeting Wednesdays at Owl's Eye Collective in Lowertown Saint Paul. Here's who they are. --- ## A'S Initiative **Younouss Adjibi, Owner and CEO** | [asinitiativellc.com](http://asinitiativellc.com) A'S Initiative is developing CyberShield Analytics Suite (CAS), software that records the evidence, assumptions, risks and approvals behind major organizational decisions, built for risk, cybersecurity, legal and finance leaders. Based in Waconia. --- ## Autonops Labs **Jason Boykin, Technical Founder & Chastity Boykin, Head of Operations** | [autonops.io](http://autonops.io) Autonops Labs builds InfraIQ, a cloud infrastructure and compliance platform that runs inside a customer's own environment. Its lead product, ComplyIQ, monitors infrastructure against SOC 2, collects audit evidence and generates fixes, for mid-market engineering teams without dedicated DevOps or security staff. --- ## BiasHawk **John Haggerty, Co-Founder and CEO & Jesse Lee Despard, Co-Founder and CPO** | [biashawk.com](http://biashawk.com) BiasHawk measures how the AI models behind a product make decisions, using tests drawn from behavioral psychology, so teams catch behavioral drift before their customers do. --- ## Clarent Automation **Yasmin Ramzy, Founder and Principal Consultant** | [clarentautomation.com](http://clarentautomation.com) Clarent Automation gives owners their capacity back. It designs, builds and deploys AI inside the systems a business already uses, connects scattered tools and data, automates slow, manual work with AI agents and educates the team so the change lasts. Based in Maplewood. --- ## Custos **Carlos Guerrero, Co-founder and CEO & Jad Saouma, Co-founder and CTO** | [custospay.com](http://custospay.com) Custos is a governance layer for AI agents handling accounts payable, payments, and purchases. It connects funding sources, applies spending rules and approval requirements, and tracks transactions so businesses can automate financial tasks while keeping control of their money. --- ## Dentlo **Azad Saleem, CEO** | [dentlo.ai](http://dentlo.ai) Dentlo is building an AI after-hours emergency phone system for safety-net dental clinics. It answers patient calls, collects information, applies each clinic's screening rules and sends a structured case to the on-call provider. Based in Minneapolis. --- ## Fledge Outdoors **Conner Couet** | [fledgeoutdoors.com](http://fledgeoutdoors.com) Fledge Outdoors is building the Junior Hunter Gun, a non-firing training device with a barrel camera and sensors that give beginners real-time feedback on safe handling and give instructors a live feed. It's built for hunter education programs, firearm safety instructors, conservation groups, 4-H and families. Based in Saint Michael. --- ## Flinttech **Bradley Dickover, Founder and CEO** Flinttech gives AI-agent vendors an independent security readiness review ahead of enterprise buyer security reviews: an assessment of their control evidence, prioritized improvements and draft answers to buyer security questions. Based in Anoka. --- ## Kestrel **Travis Zimbelman, Co-Founder, Business and Operations & Chuck Norris, Co-Founder, Data and Architecture** | [nmzenterprises.com](http://nmzenterprises.com) Kestrel helps legal and compliance organizations make sense of their information through data architecture and structure, and turning it into smarter decisions, better compliance, and real savings. --- ## Psync Health **Abdou Ghanim, Founder and CEO & Saji Nammari, Co-founder and CTO** | [psynchealth.com](http://psynchealth.com) Psync Health is building an AI-native operating system for outpatient behavioral health clinics that turns therapy sessions and between-session patient activity into structured documentation, longitudinal insights and follow-up, working alongside a practice's existing EHR. Based in Minneapolis. --- ## RISE Collective **Jo Bjorgaard, DNP, RN, PHN, CSSBB, Founder and CEO** RISE Collective is a systems change accelerator that helps people and organizations turn fragmented efforts into collective action. Its platform maps the ecosystem around a shared challenge, identifies complementary expertise and resources, and supports facilitated collaboration to align priorities and mobilize action across organizations, systems, and regions. Starting with climate and health, RISE is designed to address broader health and social impact challenges. Based in Saint Paul. --- ## ScorePathKids **Maha Khandker, CEO and Co-Founder & Munawwar Khan, CSO and Co-Founder** ScorePathKids is building MissionSPK, an app that helps parents of K-8 students make sense of school assessment scores like MAP and MCA and then generates practice at the matching level, on screen or printable, with scores kept on the family's device. Based in Inver Grove Heights. --- ## surf **Kevin Lentz, CEO** | [watch.surf](http://watch.surf) Roku, Amazon, Apple and Google take a cut of the subscriptions they bill, so they’re paid NOT to build a cancel button. surf built it, plus pause and resume, and handed it to anyone with an iPhone. Android is next, then the TV itself. Think Rocket Money meets Roku. Based in Minneapolis. --- ## The VSA **Mark Lacek, Founder and CEO** | [thevsaco.com](http://thevsaco.com) The VSA (Vacation Savings Account) is building a payroll-deducted, employer-matched savings benefit for travel, for mid-market employers of 200 to 2,000 employees, sold through benefits brokers. Based in Minneapolis. --- Catch the cohort at Showcase on December 16 and Demo Night on February 4. ## RELATED ARTICLES ##### [BETA Apr 12, 2024, 6:00:00 AM 11 min read Meet the Startups of the BETA Cohort Spring 2024 We're thrilled to introduce the latest additions to the BETA family! Start Reading](https://blog.beta.mn/meet-the-startups-of-the-beta-cohort-spring-2024) ##### [BETA May 21, 2024, 8:45:39 PM 4 min read Meet the Spring 2024 Founders In Training As part of BETA's Founders First mission, we've expanded the BETA Cohort program to include Minnesotans who are just getting ... Start Reading](https://blog.beta.mn/meet-the-spring-2024-founders-in-training) ##### [BETA Apr 3, 2025, 2:00:00 AM 9 min read Say Hello to the Spring 2025 BETA Cohort After a long winter, the BETA Cohort roars back to life with a brand new group of amazing Minnesota startups. Start Reading](https://blog.beta.mn/spring-2025-beta-cohort) [![BETA Logo](https://blog.beta.mn/hubfs/Beta%20Logos/BETA%20Logo.svg)](https://blog.beta.mn/) The Beta Group (BETA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization providing Minnesota's technology startup founders the resources + relationships required to scale their companies. 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