Two companies focused on post-natal feeding, a 3D bicycle helmet printer, a would-be scholastic testing disrupter and a company looking to grow live music are all part of RAMP’s fall cohort.
RAMP, short for Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program, introduced the companies during its twice-yearly Meet the Cohort event at the Shenandoah Club in Roanoke. Principals from the five startup businesses discussed what they intend to accomplish with RAMP’s help during the program’s 14th session.
Milkmade is creating a smart device that measures breast milk in real time, said founder Jenny Lynn Walding, while Back to Eden is developing a whole food-based infant formula, said co-founder Eric Sanctuary.
Walding said the idea came to her when her baby was losing weight and “failing to thrive,” even though she was breastfeeding her “24/7.”
“Milkmaid is a patent-pending smart nipple shield that provides insights from breast into baby’s mouth, latch, quantity and milk-flow data,” she said. “This data is integrated with health care providers, including lactation consultants, to promote breastfeeding longevity and also improve our health rates.”
Sanctuary said he is a stay-at-home dad working on Back to Eden with his co-founder and wife, Megan Sanctuary, a scientist at Virginia Tech. She was studying human milk during grad school when they decided to work on their own organic formula, he said. The company will look to manufacture its product and track customers’ needs by their infants’ age and tolerance, according to the RAMP website.
Strokes of Genius founder Douglas Pitzer said his company addresses an educational gap he noticed during the pandemic. He created what he calls the Immersive Literacy Learners Platform, or ILLP, for students who struggle to perform well on traditional tests.
“Standardized testing does not support creativity, engagement or the way today’s students actually think,” Pitzer said. “Our goal is to partner with schools, hospitals and youth programs to offer these immersive literacy assessments and eventually provide nationwide data on students’ learning.”
Anthro Systems Ltd. co-founder Will Makowski said he is working to develop custom 3D-printed bicycle helmets geared toward maximum safety and comfort
“Research shows that a poor-fitting helmet can increase the cyclist’s risk of head injury by 52%, so I created a process where I can scan a rider’s head, create a digital lattice structure and 3D print a custom fit helmet,” he said.
The Music Advocacy Project is “still in the discovery process,” aiming to use AI tools to support the live music industry, founder Campbell Bloomfield said.
His goal is to predict an event’s success by analyzing ticket sales, pricing, competition, even the weather to help venues, artists and promoters as they plan for high audience turnout, according the the RAMP site.
“We’re really setting out to decrease risk in the live music industry,” Bloomfield said. “In 2024, 64% of independent music venues nationwide did not operate profitably. Now, to bring that a little closer to home, that number creeps up to 67% here in Virginia. Now that really threatens the backbone of the live music industry, a place where young artists can really cut their teeth and start to make it big.”
Each member of the twice-yearly cohorts receives support that includes $10,000 in funding from Roanoke Blacksburg Innovation Alliance, or RBIA, and the city of Roanoke, one-to-one mentoring, free office space, free membership for two years in the Roanoke Blacksburg Technology Council and three years free at the Shenandoah Club, along with a one-year Virginia Bio membership.
[Disclosure: Roanoke Blacksburg Innovation Alliance is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
According to RAMP, 66 companies have completed the program, and 77% of them are still operating. Alumni companies have raised $28 million in funding, and the businesses have supported more than 900 jobs in the region.
The fall cohort will conclude Dec. 3 with Demo Day, when members will present pitches at the German Club Manor in Blacksburg.
In other RAMP news, former director John Hagy has left the program. Hagy, who joined RAMP in January 2024, was there just shy of two years. Emails sent to RAMP and RBIA, its umbrella organization, were not returned.
Hagy said in an email exchange that he and his wife decided to raise their son in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, close to his wife’s family. He was offered a job at Caterpillar and moved in early September.
RAMP program coordinator Jessie Dunn and alumni relations representative Sarah Spotswood ran the Thursday event. Hagy wrote that he was excited to see where they will take the program.
“They have been the backbone of the accelerator work for years, leading much of the Founder engagement and operations,” he wrote. “They are empathetic to the Founders and have forward-thinking views of what RAMP can be for the ecosystem. I will be cheering them on as they grow and improve an exceptional regional asset.”
A director of innovation job that the Roanoke Blacksburg Tech Alliance posted on its website includes multiple RAMP tie-ins, including “programming strategies” for RAMP and Verge’s investment arm, Commonwealth Angels.
Correction 11:10 a.m. Oct. 14, 2025: Each RAMP cohort member receives support that includes $10,000 in funding from Roanoke Blacksburg Innovation Alliance and the city of Roanoke. Sixty-six companies have completed the program, and 77% of them are still operating. Alumni companies have raised $28 million in funding, and the businesses have supported more than 900 jobs in the region. Those details, based on outdated information that RAMP supplied at the event, were incorrect in an earlier version of this story. Also, RBIA has recently rebranded from its former name, Verge.
