Half of Chicago Inno’s 2025 Under 25 Honorees Come from The Garage

Each year, Chicago Inno’s Under 25 list highlights a small group of young leaders pushing the region’s innovation ecosystem forward. This year, four of the eight honorees come from The Garage community, recognizing the creativity, ambition, and impact of founders who are building what’s next. Meet Ali Lee, Bella Campise, Ohm Vyas, and Nandan Dhanesh, whose work spans startups, research, and emerging ventures shaping the future of innovation in Chicago and beyond.

Ali Lee

Ali Lee, founder of Swarm, is reimagining insect repellent through thoughtful design and innovation. While at Northwestern University, she developed a lotion-based repellent that smells and feels good on the skin through The Garage’s many programs, including the Little Joe Ventures Fellowship and Jumpstart Pre-Accelerator. In 2025, Swarm won the $100,000 grand prize at VentureCat and has since raised $500,000 from angel investors, friends, and family. The company was also selected for REI’s Path Ahead Venture Embark program, where many startups have gone on to secure nationwide distribution in REI stores. Now preparing for EPA approval and a 2026 launch, Ali represents the next generation of young founders: creative, driven, and dedicated to building products that improve everyday life.

Bella Campise

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Aigentless founder Bella Campise took a leave from Northwestern University to build her AI-powered platform for self-guided apartment tours. The company aims to transform the real estate experience by allowing prospective renters to schedule and complete property and unit tours independently. Aigentless stands out from other self-guided tour platforms through its generative AI–driven chat feature, which highlights unit features based on user preferences and enables applicants to apply directly within the app. Aigentless has raised over $2 million in pre-seed funding and is rapidly expanding its partnerships with property management companies across the United States. 

Ohm Vyas

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Ohm Vyas is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of ShotHawk, a startup developing a wall- or ceiling-mounted security device that autonomously detects and deters active threats with non-lethal responses. Designed to bridge the gap between incident outbreaks and law enforcement arrival, ShotHawk has raised $131,000 in non-dilutive funding and deployed 25 pilot units across Illinois, including with Bradley University and the State of Illinois.

Since his time at Northwestern University, Ohm has helped redesign the device for manufacturability and led ShotHawk to recognition as a Top 15 Government Tech Startup at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. 

Nandan Dhanesh

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Nandan Dhanesh is the co-founder of Northwestern.Love, a platform helping students form meaningful connections through personalized surveys and algorithm-driven matches. Alongside his twin brother, Amal, Nandan launched the platform over the summer and has since sent more than a hundred people on first dates across Northwestern and UChicago, with hundreds more on the waitlist. The team is now preparing to relaunch at both schools and expand to Yale.

A participant in The Garage’s Residency and the Jumpstart pre-accelerator, where he received $10,000 in funding. Before Northwestern.Love, he co-founded Slow, an AI journaling app designed to provide mental health and productivity support for young people.

Congratulations to this year's honorees! Read the full list of honorees here.