The Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst List
The nine founders with visions of a more equitable, sustainable future who make up our 2025 class.
New Economy’s 2025 class of Catalysts recognizes nine people with a vision of a more equitable, sustainable future—and the drive to make it happen. These founders are solving problems that plague farmers, aging populations, female entrepreneurs in the developing world and more.
Yaw Bediako
Co-founder and CEO
Yemaachi Biotech, Ghana
A Ghanaian immunologist, Bediako co-founded Yemaachi Biotech in June 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. In his research he’d found that a lack of ethnic and genetic diversity in clinical trials limits discovery of novel drug targets and biomarkers. To fill the gap and support innovation in cancer diagnostics and treatment, Yemaachi created the African Cancer Atlas, a database of genomic data on tumors.
Yateendra Deshpande
Co-founder
Conifer, US
After stints at Apple and Lucid Motors, Deshpande co-founded Conifer, a startup that’s seeking to develop billions of small electric motors that use magnets to power machinery, including vehicles. He envisions magnet technology as an alternative to traditional electric motors, which require rare earth minerals—for which much of the world is dependent on Chinese supply. Conifer raised $20 million in seed funding earlier this year.
Maria Mateo Iborra
Co-founder and CEO
Ibisa, Luxembourg
Parametric insurance is a nontraditional type of coverage that pays out an agreed-upon amount when a trigger event occurs. As such, it’s particularly appealing to farmers facing extreme weather events and climate risk. Leveraging technical expertise acquired while working in the satellite industry, Mateo Iborra uses satellite data and blockchain technology to deliver affordable, parametric insurance to smallholder farmers and other vulnerable communities.
Ben Maruthappu
Founder and CEO
Cera Care, UK
Prior to becoming a startup founder, Maruthappu was a practicing physician and served as an adviser to the head of Britain’s National Health Service on technology and innovation. Seeing the urgent need for home health care for an aging population, Maruthappu founded Cera in 2016. The company delivers some 2.5 million in-home care visits each month and has developed proprietary artificial intelligence tools that can forecast falls and infections, allowing caregivers to take preventive action.
Emily McAteer
Co-founder and CEO
Odyssey Energy Solutions, US
Founded in 2017, Odyssey Energy Solutions operates a digital platform that connects developers of distributed renewable energy projects, such as microgrids, with capital and supply chain credit. McAteer and her team have facilitated $3 billion in capital across 50 countries, including Brazil, India, Mexico and several African nations, to date.
Mira Mehta
Co-founder and CEO
Tomato Jos, Nigeria
Mehta named her startup after an Ibo slang term for a woman who’s not only beautiful but also impeccably put together. Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest tomato producers, but it lacks adequate transportation, storage and processing facilities. Tomato Jos’ mission is to address those deficits and also empower farmers. The business has 350 partner farmers, and it opened a tomato paste plant in 2021.
Durreen Shahnaz
Founder and CEO
Impact Investment Exchange, Singapore
Shahnaz’s 2022 book is titled The Defiant Optimist—an apt description of an entrepreneur who’s devoted her career to helping women and other marginalized groups access capital and find new opportunities. Impact Investment Exchange has brought new financial classes such as the Women’s Livelihood Bond and the Orange Bond to financial markets across Asia and the Pacific and has mobilized $1.3 billion so far.
Samir Ibrahim
Co-founder and CEO
SunCulture, Kenya
After placing second in a pitch competition while at New York University Stern School of Business, Ibrahim took his idea to Kenya and co-founded SunCulture. The startup helps farmers transition from gravity- or diesel-powered irrigation systems to solar ones. Since it was founded in 2012, SunCulture has deployed more than 60,000 solar irrigation systems across several African countries.
Prashant Warier
Co-founder and CEO
Qure.ai Technologies, India
A data scientist by training, Warier is on a mission to disrupt the radiology status quo and speed diagnosis times. Qure.ai uses deep-learning technology to provide automated interpretation of radiology exams, such as X-rays and CT and ultrasound scans, with the goal of getting patients to treatment faster. AI can’t replace doctors, but Warier’s work has shown it can lighten workloads for health-care providers and improve access by lowering costs.