Chris Rust

MEXT, established by the Turkish Employers’ Association of Metal Industries in 2020, is the world’s most comprehensive digital, green and AI transformation and capability-building center. Nestled within its cutting-edge 10,000-square-meter facility, MEXT is equipped with a state-of-the-art digital factory, training facilities, office spaces, a vibrant co-working area, and a dynamic conference center. Over the past five years, MEXT has welcomed more than 20,000 visitors from over 1,000 companies and organized more than 400 events with international participation. It has delivered digital, green and AI transformation services to over 900 firms across 15 sectors in 42 cities in Türkiye and 5 countries in the region. MEXT published +15 insight reports shedding light on the digital, green and AI transformation of our industry. Our core mission revolves around accelerating the digital, green and AI transformation of the Turkish industry. We offer an array of transformative services designed to pave the way for a more innovative, sustainable and digital future and we are proud to be an official partner of the European Innovation Council, further solidifying our commitment to innovation. Our key services are: 1. Digital Factory: A training hub and testbed for innovators from all around the world including over 200 digital, green and AI use cases as best practices for the industry. 2. Digital, Sustainability and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Assessments and Consultancy: Insight into the current status of the industry followed by a roadmap provided by certified MEXT assessors. 3. Capability Building and Training: Tailor-made and designed to enhance the capabilities of the industry workforce. 4. Ecosystem Building: A platform that supports technology ventures with +100 ecosystem partners, brings together solution providers, and fosters collaborations with industrial companies.

Most financial decisions are made without expertise, analysis, or data. Meanwhile, the most successful people and companies have access to expensive consultants with deep financial expertise. Our vision is to level the playing field. We’re combining reasoning, machine learning, and generative AI to capture financial expertise and make it available to everyone. We’re initially focused on small businesses, helping them to achieve better outcomes for their owners, their employees, and their communities. How do you combine reasoning, machine learning, and generative AI? For us, this is the most interesting and challenging problem in AI today. Accounting is a “goldilocks” domain for tackling these problems — it’s sufficiently constrained to be tractable but sufficiently complex to require something new. Accountants will tell you that accounting is all about rules, judgement, and understanding your client — reasoning, learning, and generative AI. We are a seasoned team that is excited to take on a big technical challenge with a big impact. We care about the ethical implications of our work and are excited to work with others that do too.

Changing availability and variability of concrete raw materials as well as environmental conditions lead to inconsistencies in performance and appearance resulting in extra production costs and customer dissatisfaction. Further, roughly 8% of carbon emissions in the world comes from Portland cement production alone. The needs of the concrete industry today require us to innovate and optimize concrete mixtures for the future. This is why AICrete Corp. came into being to focus on combining data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) with robotics to optimize, discover, and develop more cost-effective, durable, and sustainable concrete mixtures that meet expectations.

GEn1E Lifesciences is a Clinical-stage, multi-target company with a unique AI platform. They develop novel, next-generation, immunomodulatory therapies for rare & inflammatory diseases with no effective treatments. GEn1E is supercharging the drug development cycle by applying AI to multiple-mechanism-of-action protein targets and their natural platform capabilities—creating novel therapeutics at an unprecedented pace. Their AI platform has enabled them to develop a purpose-built therapy for ARDS to reduce its $20 billion cost on society (just in the USA). GEn1E has built a rich pipeline of 21+ novel and selective immunomodulators and has plans to accelerate 2 additional devastating diseases (beyond their lead indication) to IND in the next 12 months. Their AI platform enables tremendous pace and capital efficiency as demonstrated by their progress in ~2 years with seed capital—a stark contrast to the typical spend of $100M+ and 7+ years exhibited in the pharmaceuticals / biotech industry. With ~90% of rare diseases having no therapeutic treatment at all, GEn1E is taking a giant swing that will hopefully bring life-saving therapies to the lives of patients in need. GEn1E’s team has decades of experience in drug development and machine learning, and they graduated from YCombinator and Stanford-StartX in late 2019. GEn1E is based in Palo Alto, CA.

Acante is creating the industry’s first end-to-end data security platform that empowers security teams to comprehensively protect the ever-growing data attack surface in their cloud-native environments.

Semiconductor interconnects

Tignis (a Cohu Analytics Solution) offers production-proven machine learning models that enable semiconductor manufacturers, OEMs and operators to continually improve physical fab assets and processes. Insights are provided in real-time so changes can be made even while systems are in use (run-to-run control) Our solutions enable you to quickly identify your most critical manufacturing issues, predict future problems before they occur and optimize performance. Our customers do not need to build and maintain machine learning models or staff specialized software teams. We offer Tignis as a service in the cloud or as an on-premise edge computing solution so customers can easily use machine learning and AI to identify anomalies and patterns and then take action to improve quality and throughput. Tignis is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cohu, Inc! (acquired in January 2025) Cohu (NASDAQ: COHU) was founded in 1947 and is a global technology leader supplying test, automation, inspection & metrology products and services to the semiconductor industry. The company is headquartered in Poway, CA. To learn more visit https://www.linkedin.com/company/cohu/ or https://www.cohu.com

Frore Systems is a pioneer in advanced thermal technologies that unleash performance across data centers and edge devices. The company’s flagship solutions include LiquidJetTM, a multi-stage 3D short-loop jetchannel multi-stage liquid cooling coldplate for data centers delivering higher GPU performance, improved PUE and reduced TCO; LiquidJetTM Nexus, a light weight integrated coldplate system that integrates multiple LiquidJets and eliminates all hoses, connectors and manifolds enabling ½U compute trays and AirJet®, the world’s first solid-state active air-cooling chip used in consumer, industrial, and IoT markets delivering higher performance in ultra-compact, silent, light, dustproof and water-resistant edge devices. Frore Systems’ patented cooling technologies are integrated into products from major OEMs and system builders worldwide. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, with manufacturing operations in Taiwan, Frore Systems is redefining thermal architecture for the AI era.

Drive employee experience and engagement programs in new and meaningful ways with Espresa’s leading product, global Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSA). And, with LSA Plus™, you have even more ways to power inclusive flexibility with integrated total wellbeing, recognition, and community. Give your employees freedom of choice while using the HR tech engine that supports People Teams with attraction and retention, minimal administration, and with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) built in. Discover the future of Human with Espresa.com.

Swift Navigation is a global technology company pioneering reliable, affordable high-accuracy satellite positioning to unlock autonomy and automation at scale. Its SkylarkTM Precise Positioning Service improves the accuracy of standard Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as GPS, from several meters to a few centimeters. Skylark powers more than 10 million vehicles and devices deployed by leading automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, robotics companies, and IoT system integrators. Learn more about how Swift is building the infrastructure to enable a safer and more productive future at swiftnav.com.

Robin.io's hyperconverged Kubernetes for Stateful Edge automates deployment of complex 5G, edge and enterprise apps to improve productivity and reduce cost.

From a small startup of just a few people, our team has grown to 400 employees hailing from more than 50 countries who work at offices in Berlin, Prague, Melbourne, London and Bangalore. We come together daily to bring our vision to fruition, with the goal of empowering customers to go on journeys that move them. Our innovative technologies, passion for travel, and diversity are our strengths. Working at Omio is a journey in and of itself, one that moves us to share in the beauty of travel.

Reflektion’s AI-powered personalization platform listens to the behaviors of each individual shopper, utilizes artificial intelligence to calculate their preferences and intent, and then responds to every moment-to-moment interaction by displaying the most relevant content and products in real-time and across the digital touchpoints that matter most—including site search, product recommendations, category and landing pages, and email. Leading retail brands such as TOMS, Ann Taylor, Sur La Table, Godiva, and Destination XL rely on Reflektion’s platform. Founded by pioneers in artificial intelligence and named to CB Insights​ prestigious AI 100 list for 2018, Reflektion combines individual shopper insights, product intelligence, and AI to create more intimate and impactful commerce experiences. Reflektion is backed by leading investors including Battery Ventures, Hasso Plattner Ventures, Clear Ventures, and Intel Capital. Learn more at Reflektion.com.

Vera is the security platform chosen by the Fortune 500 to secure, track, and control sensitive information that needs to be shared externally. With a keen focus on the user experience for employees and security pros alike, Vera can protect any kind of information, no matter how it's stored or shared, anywhere it travels - without affecting how work gets done. With robust policy enforcement, strong encryption, and strict access controls, Vera's data-centric security solution enables teams to collaborate freely while ensuring the highest levels of security, visibility and control. For more information, visit www.vera.com

CloudPassage is the recognized leader in automated cloud security and compliance for dynamic application deployment environments like AWS and Azure. A true pioneer, the company's groundbreaking innovations received the first-ever patents granted in the cloud security domain. Today, CloudPassage safeguards cloud infrastructure for the world's best-recognized brands in finance, e-commerce, gaming, B2B SaaS, and digital media with Halo, its flagship solution. Halo is an award-winning cloud security platform that automates continuous visibility for millions of serverless, server-based, and containerized assets across hundreds of public and hybrid cloud environments. Halo is software-as-a-service, deploying in minutes and scaling effortlessly. Halo integrates with configuration management and CICD tools such as Puppet, Chef, and Jenkins to align security functions with automated DevOps processes. CloudPassage is a proven solution for delivering automated security and compliance visibility, critical to protecting data and applications migrating to public IaaS environments. Visit www.cloudpassage.com to learn how Halo can enable faster, more effective cloud infrastructure security for your enterprise.

MEXT, established by the Turkish Employers’ Association of Metal Industries in 2020, is the world’s most comprehensive digital, green and AI transformation and capability-building center. Nestled within its cutting-edge 10,000-square-meter facility, MEXT is equipped with a state-of-the-art digital factory, training facilities, office spaces, a vibrant co-working area, and a dynamic conference center. Over the past five years, MEXT has welcomed more than 20,000 visitors from over 1,000 companies and organized more than 400 events with international participation. It has delivered digital, green and AI transformation services to over 900 firms across 15 sectors in 42 cities in Türkiye and 5 countries in the region. MEXT published +15 insight reports shedding light on the digital, green and AI transformation of our industry. Our core mission revolves around accelerating the digital, green and AI transformation of the Turkish industry. We offer an array of transformative services designed to pave the way for a more innovative, sustainable and digital future and we are proud to be an official partner of the European Innovation Council, further solidifying our commitment to innovation. Our key services are: 1. Digital Factory: A training hub and testbed for innovators from all around the world including over 200 digital, green and AI use cases as best practices for the industry. 2. Digital, Sustainability and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Assessments and Consultancy: Insight into the current status of the industry followed by a roadmap provided by certified MEXT assessors. 3. Capability Building and Training: Tailor-made and designed to enhance the capabilities of the industry workforce. 4. Ecosystem Building: A platform that supports technology ventures with +100 ecosystem partners, brings together solution providers, and fosters collaborations with industrial companies.

Most financial decisions are made without expertise, analysis, or data. Meanwhile, the most successful people and companies have access to expensive consultants with deep financial expertise. Our vision is to level the playing field. We’re combining reasoning, machine learning, and generative AI to capture financial expertise and make it available to everyone. We’re initially focused on small businesses, helping them to achieve better outcomes for their owners, their employees, and their communities. How do you combine reasoning, machine learning, and generative AI? For us, this is the most interesting and challenging problem in AI today. Accounting is a “goldilocks” domain for tackling these problems — it’s sufficiently constrained to be tractable but sufficiently complex to require something new. Accountants will tell you that accounting is all about rules, judgement, and understanding your client — reasoning, learning, and generative AI. We are a seasoned team that is excited to take on a big technical challenge with a big impact. We care about the ethical implications of our work and are excited to work with others that do too.

Changing availability and variability of concrete raw materials as well as environmental conditions lead to inconsistencies in performance and appearance resulting in extra production costs and customer dissatisfaction. Further, roughly 8% of carbon emissions in the world comes from Portland cement production alone. The needs of the concrete industry today require us to innovate and optimize concrete mixtures for the future. This is why AICrete Corp. came into being to focus on combining data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) with robotics to optimize, discover, and develop more cost-effective, durable, and sustainable concrete mixtures that meet expectations.

GEn1E Lifesciences is a Clinical-stage, multi-target company with a unique AI platform. They develop novel, next-generation, immunomodulatory therapies for rare & inflammatory diseases with no effective treatments. GEn1E is supercharging the drug development cycle by applying AI to multiple-mechanism-of-action protein targets and their natural platform capabilities—creating novel therapeutics at an unprecedented pace. Their AI platform has enabled them to develop a purpose-built therapy for ARDS to reduce its $20 billion cost on society (just in the USA). GEn1E has built a rich pipeline of 21+ novel and selective immunomodulators and has plans to accelerate 2 additional devastating diseases (beyond their lead indication) to IND in the next 12 months. Their AI platform enables tremendous pace and capital efficiency as demonstrated by their progress in ~2 years with seed capital—a stark contrast to the typical spend of $100M+ and 7+ years exhibited in the pharmaceuticals / biotech industry. With ~90% of rare diseases having no therapeutic treatment at all, GEn1E is taking a giant swing that will hopefully bring life-saving therapies to the lives of patients in need. GEn1E’s team has decades of experience in drug development and machine learning, and they graduated from YCombinator and Stanford-StartX in late 2019. GEn1E is based in Palo Alto, CA.

Acante is creating the industry’s first end-to-end data security platform that empowers security teams to comprehensively protect the ever-growing data attack surface in their cloud-native environments.