NEW YORK -- Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) announced the 2024 global cohort of the Inclusive Ventures Lab, with 25 companies selected from the Americas and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Over the next five months, the companies will participate in an in-house accelerator program designed to further develop and scale technology and technology-enabled startups in the seed to Series A funding round stage.

Chosen from thousands of applications, the 25 startups represent a range of disruptive technologies across industries such as Climate Tech, Retail, Healthcare, FinTech, SaaS, Enterprise Software, Consumer and Travel - with many incorporating AI and sustainability into their products and services. Cohort companies will receive a $250,000 investment (£250,000 in EMEA) from Morgan Stanley, as well as a variety of mentorship opportunities, a tailored entrepreneurship curriculum and business-growth resources from the firm’s ecosystem of internal and external partners.

“In today’s challenging venture capital environment, we are proud to welcome our largest cohort of groundbreaking startups to the Inclusive Ventures Lab and are eager to support them as they scale their innovations and work to build a better world,” said Selma Bueno, Global Head of the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Group. “Each year since the Inclusive Ventures Lab’s launch in 2017, we have expanded our efforts to ensure that more entrepreneurs around the world can succeed - and this year is no different.”

The companies selected to participate in the 2024 cohort include the following:

· Agri-Trak digitizes small farm operations with a smart platform for real-time labor, crop yield and cost tracking to optimize productivity, sustainability and profitability (US)
· Beta Financial provides a transparent and comprehensive small business credit scoring solution, fostering financial inclusion and access to capital through innovative AI-driven technology (US)
· Blip Energy is building a drop-in distributed energy resource to mitigate surging peak demand, optimize energy costs for users and reduce operating costs for utilities (US)
· Compare Ethics is an AI-powered sustainability compliance platform that reduces costs by helping retail brands simplify, streamline and scale the way they make accurate green claims (UK)
· Darent is a vacation rental marketplace platform in Saudi Arabia for travelers to search for properties with a focus on local experiences, a secure payment system and property insurance for hosts (Saudi Arabia)
· For The Creators is an omni-channel circular fashion marketplace where women can rent and buy high-quality clothing for each stage of motherhood (UK)
· GroceryList is a marketplace connecting immigrants worldwide with local merchants across Latin America and the Caribbean, enabling them to purchase groceries and essentials for their loved ones back home (US)
· HANX is a consumer platform bringing together medically designed women’s reproductive health products, prescription treatments and community-focused content (UK)
· Hire Ground is a B2B software platform that enables enterprise buyers to source and manage third party vendors while optimizing their procurement process (US)
· Infinite Giving is a fintech platform that enables nonprofits to raise money, manage their cash reserves, and conservatively invest and grow (US)
· Juniver is a health company leveraging AI technology to provide personalized digital interventions for lasting eating disorder recovery (UK)
· KSI Vision uses existing AI on store and shopping center security cameras to generate real-time customer data and increase sales conversion (Uruguay)
· Mavity is an AI-powered operating system for design and marketing teams that connects companies with on-demand creatives to streamline asset creation (US)
· MyARC is a platform that enables fitness content creators to train their fans at scale (UK)
· NÜWIEL provides electric mobility solutions for the cities of today and tomorrow (Germany)
· OVUM is a one-stop shop for fertility wellness, providing educational resources, products and services for improving fertility outcomes (UK)
· Research Grid is an automation engine for admin-free clinical trials (UK)
· Revere is reinventing how allocators manage their alternative asset portfolios through AI, workflow automation tools and custom reporting (US)
· Route is a platform of business management tools for commercial cleaning companies to automate sales, streamline operations, build contractor relationships and connect the entire cleaning industry (US)
· Sanarai connects the Latino community to mental health professionals in Latin America and the US to offer culturally sensitive, Spanish-language emotional support at accessible prices (US)
· Soralink leverages AI and smart sensors to assist manufacturers in preventing critical machine failures (Canada)
· Sortile provides the textile industry with a system that enables the identification, traceability and recycling of textiles (US)
· SWYE360 Learning is a data analytics company that uses machine learning and AI in education to measure software efficacy and detect students at risk of dropping out (US)
· Tendo Technologies addresses the challenges faced by aspiring online retail entrepreneurs in Africa by connecting independent resellers to suppliers (Ghana)
· Zest Equity is digitizing private market transactions, building tools to streamline and ensure greater transparency in how entrepreneurs, funds and investors transact (UAE)

Programming will culminate in February 2025 with a global Demo Day, when participating companies will present to potential investors, business partners and customers. The investment firms in attendance at the last showcase represented over $40 billion of dry powder and indicated a high level of interest following the event.