Your voice can reveal more than words. But can a few seconds of speech become the next vital sign?

In this episode of Capital Calling, Nyamitse-Calvin Mahinda, Founder and CEO of Vital Audio, pitches a healthtech company turning ordinary voice recordings into clinical insights. Vital Audio is building AI-powered voice biomarker software that can extract signals like heart rate, heart rate variability, rhythm, respiratory metrics, and other physiological indicators from short voice samples, without requiring wearables, apps, or new hardware. Its platform, Sonometrik, is designed to turn any phone into a low-friction tool for remote patient monitoring and patient screening.

The company’s thesis is simple but powerful: if patients already communicate with providers by phone, then the voice itself can become a new layer of health data. Vital Audio is focused on helping healthcare systems, cardiologists, pulmonologists, and care teams monitor patients more efficiently, especially in remote, underserved, or post-hospital settings where traditional monitoring can be expensive, fragmented, or difficult to maintain. The company is positioning voice as a scalable interface for cardiac and respiratory care, with the potential to reduce avoidable hospital visits and improve access to continuous clinical insights.

Nyamitse-Calvin’s story gives the company its emotional core. His healthcare journey began more than a decade ago as a first responder before moving into clinical research, healthcare operations, and in-home care delivery. Trained as a bioengineer with a focus on interactive medical robotics and digital signal processing, he founded Vital Audio after seeing firsthand how gaps in follow-up care, access, and monitoring can change lives. The company has since moved through the NYU entrepreneurial ecosystem, Techstars Los Angeles, and clinical partnerships, while building toward a future where the patient’s phone becomes a medical device and the patient’s voice becomes the biometric sample.

Across the table, investors René Bastón of Covenant Venture Capital, Sabriya Stukes, PhD of SOSV, and Doug Hayes of Junto Health & Hubble engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They assess whether voice biomarkers can be clinically trusted, how Vital Audio can navigate healthcare adoption and regulation, whether its AI models are defensible, and whether voice-based monitoring can scale into a venture-backed infrastructure layer for remote care.

Capital Calling provides a behind-the-scenes look at a real pitch from both sides of the table. Each episode begins with a live founder pitch and product demo, followed by direct investor questioning. After the pitch, investors enter into a private debrief conversation where they debate the opportunity openly: without the founder present. The founder, on the other hand, enters the On-Call Room to discuss the pitch one-on-one from their perspective. Then, the investors give their verdicts, where feedback is delivered candidly and decisions are made.

Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen, and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies.

Founders pitch live. Investors decide.

Fitness apps are everywhere. But can a platform built around community, competition, and real-world accountability convince investors it belongs at the center of how people stay healthy?

In this episode of Capital Calling, Ethan Noblesala, Founder of WeFit Labs, pitches a social fitness platform designed to make movement more engaging, consistent, and communal. WeFit turns everyday activity into a game which combines wearable tracking, challenges, and leaderboards to help users stay accountable, compete with friends, and build lasting habits.

The company is built on a simple but powerful insight: most people don’t fail fitness because of knowledge. They fail because of consistency. WeFit is betting that gamification, social pressure, and community-driven experiences can transform fitness from an individual task into a shared, habit-forming system. The platform blends digital tracking with real-world events, from pickleball to group runs, aiming to make movement both social and rewarding.

Ethan’s journey is deeply personal. After a period of burnout and declining health, he rebuilt his life through small, consistent habits and community-driven fitness. That experience became the foundation for WeFit, a product designed to reward consistency over intensity and make health something people pursue together, not alone.

Across the table, investors Jennifer Wolf (Former Managing Partner at Initialized Capital), Jeremy Kagan of Textbook Ventures, and Neel Murthy of Rippling engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They examine user behavior in fitness apps, retention and engagement dynamics, the role of community as a moat, and whether a gamified social platform can scale into a venture-backed consumer product.

Capital Calling provides a behind-the-scenes look at a real pitch from both sides of the table. Each episode begins with a live founder pitch and product demo, followed by direct investor questioning. After the pitch, investors enter into a private debrief conversation where they debate the opportunity openly: without the founder present. The founder then enters the On-Call Room to discuss the pitch one-on-one from their perspective before final verdicts are delivered.

Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen, and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies.

Founders pitch live. Investors decide.

What if your body could generate power? But can a company built on turning everyday human movement into energy convince investors it belongs in the future of climate and infrastructure?

In this episode of Capital Calling, Yasha Gruben, Founder and CEO of Gaian, pitches a hardware company building energy-generating wearables that convert human motion into clean, usable electricity. Gaian is developing human-scale energy infrastructure designed to reduce reliance on centralized grids, cables, and finite batteries by turning movement — walking, running, and everyday activity — into a source of power.

The company sits at the intersection of climate technology, hardware, and wearable design, with a vision of making energy generation more distributed, personal, and embedded into daily life. Rather than relying solely on large-scale systems, Gaian is betting that micro-generation at the individual level can become a meaningful layer of future energy infrastructure.

Before founding Gaian, Yasha worked across film, design, and technology, leading complex creative and technical projects from concept through execution. That interdisciplinary background shapes Gaian’s approach to building products that are not only functional, but culturally resonant and designed for real-world adoption.

Across the table, investors Zac Geinzer of Commonweal Ventures, Ella Molony Cook of DFX, and Max Rivera of GHOST Angels engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They evaluate the feasibility of human-generated energy as a scalable solution, the technical constraints of wearable power generation, potential use cases, and whether Gaian can evolve from a compelling concept into a venture-backed infrastructure play.

Capital Calling provides a behind-the-scenes look at a real pitch from both sides of the table. Each episode begins with a live founder pitch and product demo, followed by direct investor questioning. After the pitch, investors enter into a private debrief conversation where they debate the opportunity openly: without the founder present. The founder then enters the On-Call Room to discuss the pitch one-on-one from their perspective before final verdicts are delivered.

Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen — and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies.

Founders pitch live. Investors decide.

Protein snacks are everywhere. But can a chocolate brand built on buckwheat, high protein, and indulgence convince investors it has what it takes to break through in a brutally crowded category?

In this episode of Capital Calling, Tatyana Jones, Founder of DEFI Snacks, pitches a better-for-you snack brand built around what she calls “Delicious Energizing Fitness Indulgence.” DEFI makes chocolate-covered crispy superfood bites using sprouted buckwheat, whey, and casein protein, delivering 25g+ of protein per bag while remaining naturally gluten-free and grain-free. The company is betting that consumers no longer want to choose between indulgence and function — and that snacks can be both nutritionally dense and genuinely craveable.

Rooted in Tatyana’s Ukrainian background, where buckwheat is a staple ingredient, DEFI is positioning itself at the intersection of functional nutrition, premium snacking, and cultural authenticity. With over 15 years of experience across companies like Mars Wrigley, Johnson & Johnson, and Bausch + Lomb, Tatyana brings a deep understanding of product innovation, brand building, and consumer behavior into a category dominated by legacy players.

Across the table, investors Johnnie Yu of Listen Ventures, Christian McKenzie of Lofty Ventures, and Horace Madison of The Haven engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They assess DEFI’s differentiation in the crowded protein snack market, pricing power, consumer demand for indulgent functional foods, and whether a buckwheat-based product can scale into a venture-backed consumer brand.

Capital Calling provides a behind-the-scenes look at a real pitch from both sides of the table. Each episode begins with a live founder pitch and product demo, followed by direct investor questioning. After the pitch, investors enter into a private debrief conversation where they debate the opportunity openly: without the founder present. The founder then enters the On-Call Room for a one-on-one conversation from their perspective before final verdicts are delivered.

Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen — and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies.

Founders pitch live. Investors decide.

Photos and videos capture moments. But can a platform built to turn memories into immersive 3D experiences convince investors it belongs in the future of social media?

In this episode of Capital Calling, William Yeh, Founder and CEO of Braintrance, pitches a spatial social platform built around sharing and experiencing 3D memories across devices. Braintrance enables users to capture their lives in three dimensions using point clouds, with or without LiDAR, and share those memories across mobile, desktop, VR headsets, and AR glasses. The company is building at the intersection of consumer social, spatial computing, and creator tools, with a product designed to make immersive content easier to create, easier to share, and more native to the next generation of devices. Through the American Frontier Fund accelerator and the viral Founders, Inc. studio cohort, Will has built Braintrance in public, gaining attention for technology that feels reminiscent of the immersive world imagined in Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One.

What makes Braintrance different is its bet that 3D media can become a new social format, not just a niche capture tool. The app lets users create and upload spatial photos, generate point clouds with Depth AI even without LiDAR-enabled phones, and view content in the app, on the web, in VR headsets, in AR glasses, and on desktop. The product also leans into viral internet behavior, positioning point cloud capture as a way to create “interdimensional videos” that can be shared with friends or used to build a following through the Braintrance community.

Across the table, investors Michelle Kwok of Draper Associates, Michael Nogen of Overton Venture Capital, and Vansh Langer of Pioneer Fund engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They assess whether 3D memories can become a mainstream consumer behavior, how Braintrance differentiates itself in the spatial computing and social media landscape, what distribution could look like for a new content format, and whether an early product with cross-device utility and viral potential can scale into a venture-backed platform.

0:00 Introduction

0:46 Investor Introductions

1:08 Founder Pitch

2:54 Live Demo

5:33 Investor Q&A

16:08 Investor Debrief

22:46 On-Call Room

37:18 Investor Verdict

43:15 Closing / End


Capital Calling provides a behind-the-scenes look at a real pitch from both sides of the table. Each episode begins with a live founder pitch and product demo, followed by direct investor questioning. After the pitch, investors enter into a private debrief conversation where they debate the opportunity openly: without the founder present. The founder, on the other hand, enters the On-Call Room to discuss the pitch one-on-one from their perspective. Then, the investors give their verdicts, where feedback is delivered candidly and decisions are made.

Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen, and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies.

Founders pitch live. Investors decide.

This startup made edible tape for burritos. But can a viral product idea become a real sustainable packaging company?

In this episode of Capital Calling, Marie Eric, Founder and CEO of Tastee Tape, pitches a biomaterials company developing edible, compostable, and biodegradable packaging film designed to replace conventional plastic food wrap. What began as a student project at Johns Hopkins to stop burritos from falling apart quickly exploded online, but the bigger opportunity turned out to be much broader than burritos. Tastee Tape is now building plant-based flexible packaging designed to be food-safe, moisture-resistant, home-compostable, and strong enough to compete with the performance demands of traditional plastic.

The company’s story is no longer just about virality. Through customer discovery and early traction, Tastee Tape identified a much larger problem in food packaging: businesses want sustainable alternatives, but most options still fail on performance, scalability, or cost. Tastee Tape is positioning itself as a biomaterials platform for flexible packaging, with ambitions to serve foodservice and packaging supply chains at scale through manufacturing and licensing.

Across the table, investors Zac Geinzer of Commonweal Ventures, Ella Molony Cook of DFX, and Max Rivera of GHOST Angels engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They examine whether Tastee Tape’s plant-based film can truly compete with plastic on performance and price, whether a product that first captured attention as “burrito tape” can grow into a serious materials company, and whether this unusual wedge is quirky enough to go viral yet credible enough to become venture-backable.

Capital Calling provides a behind-the-scenes look at a real pitch from both sides of the table. Each episode begins with a live founder pitch and product demo, followed by direct investor questioning. After the pitch, investors enter into a private debrief conversation where they debate the opportunity openly: without the founder present. The founder, on the other hand, enters the On-Call Room to discuss the pitch one-on-one from their perspective. Then, the investors give their verdicts, where feedback is delivered candidly and decisions are made.

Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen, and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies.

Founders pitch live. Investors decide.

Tendon injuries are notoriously hard to heal. Even after surgery, recovery can be slow, complications are common, and today’s tools often stop at mechanical repair instead of actively promoting regeneration. But can a biomaterials company built to improve healing in the operating room convince investors it belongs in the future of surgical care?

In this episode of Capital Calling, Asser El Ashwah, Founder of Vitalis Regenerative Materials, pitches a company developing regenerative biomaterials designed to improve surgical outcomes. Vitalis’s lead product, BioBlend, is a bio-integrated tool that combines advanced biomaterial formulations with PRP at the point of care, with the goal of enhancing tissue regeneration, reducing complications, and improving recovery in sports medicine procedures and beyond. The company is initially focused on tendon repair, where existing interventions often fail to deliver sustained biological support during healing. (NYU Tandon School of Engineering - https://engineering.nyu.edu/news/asser-el-ashwah-molecular-architect-building-new-biomaterials-new-way-heal-and-new-company)

What sets Vitalis apart is its delivery mechanism. Unlike conventional PRP therapies, which can dissipate quickly and lose effectiveness, Vitalis is building a system designed for localized, sustained release of growth factors through a biocompatible polymer formulation. The product is intended to fit directly into existing surgical workflows, turning regenerative medicine from a post-operative add-on into an integrated biosurgical tool. Over time, the company sees broader applications across orthopedic, vascular, reconstructive, and wound healing procedures. (https://nyusternberkleycenter.com/2025/03/revolutionizing-recovery-with-vitalis-regenerative-materials/)

Across the table, investors René Bastón of Covenant Venture Capital, Sabriya Stukes, PhD of SOSV, and Doug Hayes of Junto Health & Hubble engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They assess the clinical and commercial need in tendon repair and sports medicine, the defensibility of Vitalis’s biomaterial approach, the practicality of integrating the product into surgeon workflows, and whether a regenerative platform built around sustained growth-factor delivery can scale into a venture-backed medical device company.

Capital Calling provides a behind-the-scenes look at a real pitch from both sides of the table. Each episode begins with a live founder pitch and product demo, followed by direct investor questioning. After the pitch, investors enter into a private debrief conversation where they debate the opportunity openly: without the founder present. The founder, on the other hand, enters the On-Call Room to discuss the pitch one-on-one from their perspective. Then, the investors give their verdicts, where feedback is delivered candidly and decisions are made.

Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen, and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies.

Founders pitch live. Investors decide.

Professional networking is more fragmented than ever. Young professionals are told that relationships matter, yet most platforms still leave them cold messaging strangers, collecting weak ties, and hoping something turns into opportunity. But can a platform built to make networking more intentional convince investors it belongs at the center of career growth?

In this episode of Capital Calling, Celia Davis, Founder of ConnNext, pitches a professional relationship platform built for young professionals looking to form more meaningful connections. ConnNext is designed to help users build real professional communities through a matching system focused on career growth, support, and relationship quality rather than passive social feeds or transactional outreach. The company’s core thesis is that networking should feel more human, more relevant, and more useful than sending hundreds of cold messages or endlessly applying to jobs online. (make-connexions.com (https://www.make-connexions.com/faq?utm_source=chatgpt.com))

ConnNext positions itself as a new layer in the professional networking ecosystem, aimed at Gen Z and millennials across industries who want to meet the right people digitally and in person. The platform is built around the idea that strong professional relationships can be matched, nurtured, and maintained more effectively through a purpose-built product focused on community, career development, and trust. Celia has described the company as a response to the uncertainty of the current job market and the need for a better way to network. (make-connexions.com (https://www.make-connexions.com/faq?utm_source=chatgpt.com))

Across the table, investors Jennifer Wolf, Former Managing Partner at Initialized Capital, Jeremy Kagan of Textbook Ventures, and Antonio Calderon of Distributed Ventures engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They assess professional networking behavior among younger users, the challenge of building trust and engagement in a relationship platform, the product’s differentiation from LinkedIn and other social networks, and whether ConnNext can scale into foundational infrastructure for meaningful professional connection. (LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/make-connexions?utm_source=chatgpt.com))

Capital Calling provides a behind-the-scenes look at a real pitch from both sides of the table. Each episode begins with a live founder pitch and product demo, followed by direct investor questioning. After the pitch, investors enter into a private debrief conversation where they debate the opportunity openly: without the founder present. The founder, on the other hand, enters the On-Call Room to discuss the pitch one-on-one from their perspective. Then, the investors give their verdicts, where feedback is delivered candidly and decisions are made.

Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen, and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies.

Founders pitch live. Investors decide.

🔔 Subscribe to Coeus Collective on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CoeusCollective
📰 Early Access newsletter: https://coeuscollective.beehiiv.com/
📲 Follow us everywhere: @CoeusCollective

Special thanks to the NYU Stern School of Business Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship. Follow @nyuinnovation for updates on their programs.

Hosted by Antonio Di Meglio and Leon Li

DISCLAIMER: The Capital Calling podcast, and any related media properties produced by Coeus Collective, are provided solely for informational and educational purposes. Nothing presented in this episode should be construed as an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, investments, or financial products. Coeus Collective does not provide investment advice, and all opinions expressed are those of the hosts or guests at the time of recording.

A beverage category built on energy drinks, soda, and canned alcohol is starting to fracture. But can a sparkling tea brand inspired by natural wine convince investors it has the taste, positioning, and brand power to break through?

In this episode of Capital Calling, Sophia Spring (Racciatti) and Oliver Spring, Co-Founders of OOSO, pitch a better-for-you beverage brand building a bold and elevated take on tea. OOSO is a sparkling tea inspired by natural wine, formulated with organic teas, adaptogens, L-theanine, vitamin B12, and vitamin C, and sweetened with organic honey instead of artificial ingredients or fake sugars. Positioned as a sophisticated, functional alternative to traditional canned beverages, the company is trying to carve out space at the intersection of wellness, flavor, and modern social drinking culture.

Across the table, investors Johnnie Yu of Listen Ventures, Christian McKenzie of Lofty Ventures, and Horace Madison of The Haven engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They examine OOSO’s brand positioning within the crowded functional beverage market, customer acquisition and retail strategy, flavor and product differentiation, and whether a premium sparkling tea company raising $500K with 60% already committed can scale into a venture-backed consumer brand.

Capital Calling provides a behind-the-scenes look at a real pitch from both sides of the table. Each episode begins with a live founder pitch and product demo, followed by direct investor questioning. After the pitch, investors enter into a private debrief conversation where they debate the opportunity openly: without the founder present. The founder, on the other hand, enters the On-Call Room to discuss the pitch one-on-one from their perspective. Then, the investors give their verdicts, where feedback is delivered candidly and decisions are made.

Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen, and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies.

Founders pitch live. Investors decide.

Fashion discovery today is fragmented. Shoppers jump between apps for inspiration, resale, rentals, and sustainability checks just to find one great piece. But can a platform built to unify fashion discovery and sustainable shopping convince investors it can become the next generation marketplace for conscious consumers?

In this episode of Capital Calling, Samira Salifu and Rukaiah Edhah, Co-Founders of Masira, pitch a startup building a fashion-tech platform designed to simplify how people discover and style sustainable clothing. Masira functions as a fashion search engine and off-price marketplace, helping consumers discover pieces from vetted brands while also showing how each item can be styled into complete outfits. By combining AI-powered search, creator-led styling content, and access to excess inventory from fashion brands, the platform aims to reduce waste while helping shoppers build cohesive wardrobes instead of isolated purchases.

Masira sits at the intersection of sustainable fashion, creator-led commerce, and AI-driven discovery, allowing shoppers to describe what they want in natural language and instantly see curated items along with multiple outfit combinations that show how each piece fits into a real wardrobe. At the same time, the company provides brands with a new distribution channel to sell excess inventory that might otherwise go unsold.

Across the table, investors Michelle Kwok of Draper Associates, Michael Nogen of Overton Venture Capital, and Vansh Langer of Pioneer Fund engage with the pitch as it unfolds. They evaluate Masira’s marketplace dynamics, creator-driven growth strategy, supply acquisition from fashion brands, and whether the founders can build a scalable platform in the rapidly evolving fashion-tech ecosystem while raising $300K to bring the product to market.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Introduction

1:28 Founder Pitch

2:29 Live Demo

5:22 Investor Q&A

17:35 Investor Debrief

26:19 On-Call Room

35:35 Investor Verdict

39:50 Outro & Disclaimer

Capital Calling provides a behind-the-scenes look at a real pitch from both sides of the table. Each episode begins with a live founder pitch and product demo, followed by direct investor questioning. After the pitch, investors enter into a private debrief conversation where they debate the opportunity openly: without the founder present. The founder, on the other hand, enters the On-Call Room to discuss the pitch one-on-one from their perspective. Then, the investors give their verdicts, where feedback is delivered candidly and decisions are made.

Produced by Coeus Collective in partnership with the NYU Stern Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship, Capital Calling offers founders, operators, students, and investors an unfiltered look at how early-stage investment decisions actually happen, and what separates compelling ideas from fundable companies.

Founders pitch live. Investors decide.

🔔 Subscribe to Coeus Collective on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CoeusCollective

📰 Early Access newsletter: https://coeuscollective.beehiiv.com/

📲 Follow us everywhere: @CoeusCollective

Special thanks to the NYU Stern School of Business Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship. Follow @nyuinnovation for updates on their programs.

Hosted by Antonio Di Meglio and Leon Li

DISCLAIMER: The Capital Calling podcast, and any related media properties produced by Coeus Collective, are provided solely for informational and educational purposes. Nothing presented in this episode should be construed as an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, investments, or financial products. Coeus Collective does not provide investment advice, and all opinions expressed are those of the hosts or guests at the time of recording.