Photo | Courtesy of Boundless Futures Foundation
Emily Molstad is the co-founder and CEO of Valis Insights.
July 29, 2024
Co-founder of Worcester recycling tech firm receives $20K grant in support of women entrepreneurs
Photo | Courtesy of Valis Insights
VALIS Chief Technology Officer Caleb Ralphs examines the company's software performance at a metal recycler.
Worcester-based software company Valis Insights received a $20,000 grant from a Michigan-based foundation seeking to assist female-owned businesses in making a social impact.
The grant from Michigan-based Boundless Futures Foundation awarded Emily Molstad, co-founder and CEO of Valis Insights, for her work in improving scrap metal sorting and recycling by using software and artificial intelligence, according to a Tuesday press release from Boundless Futures Foundation.
Valis, a winner of WBJ Manufacturing Excellence Award in 2023, started with an idea at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Lemonister manufacturer Solvus Global to give recycling factories solutions by offering them proprietary software to make decisions about what to do with the materials the recyclers have collected.
Molstad is one of six female entrepreneurs selected by the Boundless Futures Foundation, a private nonprofit created in 2023. The foundation awarded a total of $135,000 in its third round of EmpowHer grants to female-owned businesses in the early stages of starting a business that addresses a social issue.
“This EmpowHer grant will greatly support our ongoing sales and customer support efforts and will allow us to grow our team and expand our impact in the recycling industry,” Molstad said in the press release. “Recycling is a clear intersection between my passion for metals and sustainability. Valis is dedicated to creating the data solutions that are needed to increase the efficiency of the recycling process and further reduce the need for emission intensive primary metals.”
Each of the EmpowHer grant recipients from five states across the U.S., will be introduced to an advisory circle of experienced female entrepreneurs who will provide resources, including leadership development, skill-building assistance, mentorship, and networking opportunities.
“We are inspired every day by the amazing stories of the female founders who apply for our EmpowHer grants and the businesses they are creating to positively impact their communities and our world,” Soon Hagerty, founder and president of Boundless Futures Foundation, said in the press release.
Boundless Futures Foundation has invested $285,000 in 14 female founded businesses across 10 states.
Sara Bedigian is a participant in the Editorial Internship Program at Worcester Business Journal. She is a rising junior at the University of Connecticut, where she studies journalism and political science. She will be the editor of the student-run newspaper The Daily Campus in the fall.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments