We Just Gave People $220,000 to Build the Future

Meet the 2025 O’Shaughnessy Grants cohort: 22 individuals changing the world from their garages, dorm rooms, and wheelchairs

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Aug 22, 2025

This is our third cohort.

While the world debates whether civilization has stalled, we’ve just awarded twenty-two Grants (in addition to twelve Fellowships) across four continents. We’re backing the defiant ones. The ones who think we can talk to animals, create new art forms, live in space, revolutionize sleep, and much, much more.

These are the folks who are actively creating the future.

Our mission is to help them do it.

Let’s get to know them. Maybe you’re next.

The Ones Decoding the Secrets of Biology (and Giving Humans Superpowers)

Addy Cha (Boca Raton, FL) is a researcher at Florida Atlantic University’s Machine Perception Cognitive Robotics Lab. As the founder of Ekkolápto, Addy’s building systems to talk to animals. “We have blind spots we don’t even know we have.” Time to hear what other species have been trying to tell us.

Alfaxad Eyembe (Kyoto, Japan) is getting Africa on the AI revolution. His Nadhari lab is training models to think in Swahili to advance frontier AI research and applications in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.“The intelligence age is an inflection point through which we can unlock tremendous value for people all over the world.”

Daniel Van Zant (Plantation, FL), is a PhD candidate in computational neuroscience at Florida Atlantic University. Tired of watching so many brilliant minds drown in garbage hallucinations by AI, Daniel built them a lifeline: an AI software that cites everything and hallucinates nothing. 150 alpha users are already on board.

Helena Rosengarten (Berlin, Germany) is a doctor by training, founder by spirit. With one goal in mind — to free humanity from biological constraints, she’s starting first with sleep — compressing it to four fully-restorative hours."This could be one of those moments you look back on and realize it completely changed your life's trajectory.”

Isaak Freeman (San Francisco, CA) escaped an Austrian valley, taught himself biology, and now, as a researcher at MIT, has decided that sleep is inefficient. His thesis is simple: we can get some of those eight hours back. Mouse trials are starting soon. Humans are next.

Zebo Furqatzoda (Khujand, Tajikistan) organized TEDx at sixteen years-old and has already built mental health programs across seven countries. Her new mission? Leveraging neuroscience to make 100,000 brains learn at superhuman speed.

The Ones Burning Down the Ivory Tower (and Building Something Better)

Advik Kapoor (Noida, India) is barely out of high school and already building Exerton, a micro-crowdfunding platform for those who build. Thirty young creators are already supported. After all, why should ambition have restrictions?

Zelda Poem (San Francisco, CA), a published author and founder of Nautilus, is running the first cohort of her three-month residency for young artists, scientists, and founders to live, create, and collaborate. With housing secured and its first 12-person cohort underway, Nautilus aims to become the cultural hub for emerging talent.

Nick Linck (San Francisco, CA) left AI research to revolutionize education. His goal is to expand The Residency — an alternative to college for ambitious inventors, founders, researchers, and storytellers. The program now operates in 12 cities worldwide, serving 100+ people per cohort.

Tommy Potter (Moline, IL) is a University of Michigan student who walked out of high school to "live in the real world instead of walking its hallways.” His mission is to grow Power Hour: a high-signal community for undiscovered talent — the CIA for entrepreneurs. Tommy has already hosted eight national retreats, collaborating with venture firms to showcase the thinkers and doers of tomorrow.

The Ones Creating Art That Matters (Both Here on Earth and Up in Space)

Elle Griffin (Salt Lake City, UT) built The Elysian to 22,000 subscribers with one rule: don’t forget the good news. She will continue to write about the future of nation states, economies, and humanity. Her cooperative media empire is living proof that optimism scales.

Jose Luis Sabau (Mexico City) is a writer and journalist who saw 600 million Spanish speakers reading in translation and decided that was unacceptable. He’s launching Perpetuo in response, envisioned as the New Yorker for the Spanish-speaking world.

Natasha Tsakos (Miami, FL) has worked with Cirque du Soleil, TED, the UN and performed on six continents. She’s now developing Paraboles: the first multimedia dance-theater performance in microgravity. “Receiving this grant is a meaningful step toward the evolution of the arts in space, and the creation of utterly original forms and content for this next frontier.” Her first Zero-G flight performance with MIT is scheduled for this fall.

Paul "Benbrick" Carter (London, England) is a Peabody Award-winning producer and multi-million-selling songwriter. The Financial Times said he was "among the most imaginative and forward-thinking producers in audio right now.” His project is the creation of an audio series that pushes the podcast medium into the stratosphere, blending orchestral composition, immersive sound design, AI experiments, and narrative storytelling. Your ears aren’t ready to hear audio stories this good.

Ti Morse (Anchorage, AK) is conducting 50 interviews with the next generation of great entrepreneurs. In person. Because the stories shaping our future deserve to be told in detail. “I want more people to be excited and optimistic about the future and I believe the best way to do that is by sharing the stories of the founders building it.”

The Ones Rewriting the Laws of Nature (and Exploring New Ones)

Chandhana Sathishkumar (Chennai, India) sees atoms as the source code of civilization. With three successful pilot studies in the bag, she’s now hunting down the biggest knowledge gaps in materials, polymers, and chemistry. "Tomorrow is forged at the atomic level as much as in code. With this boost, I'll keep rearranging matter!"

Nicholas Desnoyer (Norwich, England) is a plant researcher by day, flower artist by night. His passion is genetically engineering “designable” flowers for art and education. He’s already developed “micro-roses” from Arabidopsis thaliana that you can program like software.

Sulaiman Khan Ghori (Santa Clara, CA) believes that life is the only force that can defeat entropy. He’s researching von Neumann probes: self-replicating spacecraft to seed life across the universe. In his eyes, few other things can secure the cosmic future of humanity.

The Ones Fixing the Cracks in Civilization (and Maximizing Human Potential)

Jonny Miller (Santa Cruz, CA) has 500 people on the waitlist for Nervous System Mastery. His goal? Spreading somatic literacy in order to help humans navigate the stress of modern life. He also hosts the Curious Humans Podcast for the biochemically adventurous.

Laura London (Cincinnati, OH) is investigating how the atomic bomb reshaped America’s relationship with technology, replacing progress with caution, and how this shift now manifests in California's water policy, environmental regulation, and the retreat from large-scale infrastructure. Her goal? Get cracking on the manuscript for the book by year’s end.

Miyoba Hamuhuma (Chipata, Zambia) turned his wheelchair into a revolution. As the CEO of Enlight Abilities, Miyoba is advocating for inclusive education in Zambia. His mission is to enroll at least 500 disabled children in mainstream schools.

Shani Zhang (San Francisco, CA) draws the invisible. An artist and illustrator, she’s creating a year-long public art journal that documents the story of the city. Her work captures the quiet, everyday lives of San Franciscans in shared spaces. Solo exhibition incoming.

Are You Next?

Every one of these twenty-two individuals was already building before we found them. The grant simply gave them fuel to go faster.

Tommy was already hosting retreats. Zelda was already finding geniuses. Sulaiman was already designing spacecraft.

They didn't wait for the right moment. They didn't wait for credentials. They didn't wait for someone to say yes.

Applications for the O’Shaughnessy Fellowships & Grants reopen January 1, 2026.

What are you building that's too important to wait?

Launched in 2023 alongside the $100,000 O’Shaughnessy Fellowships, the O'Shaughnessy Grants program discovers and empowers creatives, builders, and researchers ready to make their mark on the world. Grantees receive a $10,000 grant, plus access to OSV’s network of founders, investors, and experts. As stated above, applications will reopen on January 1, 2026. To learn more, head over to our website.

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