Hire Henry won the first round of the AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup pitch competition in the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence vertical. The St. Louis startup took home $3,000 and validation.
Keiry Moreno-Bonnett, Hire Henry COO
“It means a lot because we are able to engage a network, not only in the United States, but as well as around the world,” Keiry ‘Katie’ Moreno-Bonnett told the 4thEst8.”We met somebody in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and people in India. Everywhere around the world.”
The two person startup was founded in 2015 by CEO George Holmes, Ph.D. Moreno-Bonnett joined the company in 2018. Hire Henry recently came out of the University of Missouri, St. Louis ‘Accelerate D.E.I’ accelerator. The autonomous mower platform they’re developing is light enough that contractors don’t need a trailer to haul it around, and Hire Henry expects to lease it’s machines to make commercial lawn mowing accessible to a broader range of customers.
The mower has sensors and AI that integrates with a mapping app to navigate the area to be mowed. The company has a Beta model cutting grass this summer for real-world feedback.
“In the fall we are going to be building up more our technology, improving the areas that need to be improved, and go from there,” Moreno-Bonnet said. “We currently have filed for three provisional patents right now, so we are going to be filing for the full patent for this upcoming next year.”
Winning this round at AlphaLab puts them in competition for next month’s Clean Tech, Consumer Products, Smart Homes, and Smart Cities competition by AlphaLab. The winner there walks with a $50,000 undiluted grant. The competition is hosted by Venture Cafe, Rotterdam.
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