Blue Startups 2025 Wrapped – Happy New Year!

Aloha from Blue Startups!

Blue Startups 2025 was a standout year of building in Hawai‘i!

East Meets West 2025 was our largest event yet, drawing 400+ attendees, 50+ speakers, 100+ startups, 20+ VC firms, and nine global pitch finalists, with Maiven Energy taking the top prize. Other top moments included our Cohort 17 Open House, Honolulu Demo Day, Palo Alto Demo Day, and our East Meets West Panel at SF Tech Week.

Last year, we reviewed 585 startups and accepted only the top 2% into Cohort 17. The cohort includes seven portfolio companies: Abra Hospitality, Bayze, Cracked Gaming, G-SPACE, ʻŌlelo Intelligence, Stacklist, and TANK & BEAR, and five advisory companies: Gliss Wellness, Mission Mālama, Namaka Algae, Savor Live, and Social Brick. Cohort 17 raised $1.83M, with AI emerging as the leading industry. It was also a record year for female founders, with 60% of Cohort 17 led or founded by women.

Blue Startups alumni continued to grow, raising a combined $75M in FY2025. Highlights include dataplor’s $20.5M Series B and Hostfully’s $50M strategic investment. Additional wins include LiquiDonate being named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2025 and G SPACE featured by NASA.

This year also took Blue Startups around the world from Honolulu to San Francisco, Palo Alto, Tokyo, Okinawa, and New York, as our global footprint continues to expand.

Mahalo for being part of our journey. Click below to share Blue Startups 2025 Wrapped.

Mahalo,

The Blue Startups Team

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