Why move your company from NYC to The ‘Ville? That answer and more!
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March 31, 2020  FEATURED STARTUP: BORDERLESS From the Hudson to the Ohio  Image courtesy Raffi Kayat
Raffi Kayat launched tech startup borderless in New York City two years ago but quickly started looking for a new home.
“Staying in New York would have made it very difficult to create the positive work environment and culture that we were seeking as a company,” he says.
He looked at Los Angeles, Austin, and other cities, but then happened upon an article about Louisville’s startup scene. Although he’d never been to Kentucky, he gradually realized that the city by the Ohio was a great place to grow his enterprise.
We caught up with Kayat recently to learn more about borderless and the local tech community. This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.
What is borderless?
Kayat: We are an international ACH, or what we call an interactive debit platform, that provides an alternative payment method to credit cards and bank wires. We created this cheaper, safer, faster type of infrastructure where we get to avoid middlemen. By avoiding them we naturally are going to be a little bit cheaper and a little bit faster. This can save up to 67% in payment processing fees alone.
Who does borderless serve?
Kayat: We’re live with clients in a variety of sectors. We have clients in travel, logistics, tech, e-commerce, education—really any business can sign up today.
We made it a plug-and-play integration for all types of businesses. Whether you’re a small business that does not have a technical team, or whether you’re a tech-friendly business that has an e-commerce or substantial digital presence, you can integrate Borderless.
What do you like about Louisville?
Kayat: Moving here to Kentucky was a little bit of a change to me, but I love it. I love the people. I love the community ethic. That’s kind of what stands out the most to me.
And what about the startup and tech scenes here?
Kayat: There’s so many people that just want to help out. Everyone’s supportive. It makes it easier to connect with other people and build relationships. And you can get noticed. The ecosystem is oversaturated in New York and Silicon Valley.
Speaking of getting noticed, you won a Vogt Award in 2019, right?
Kayat: Yes. That was honestly the best thing that could have happened to us. We’re very grateful for it, because it really helped us get involved in the community and better understand the ecosystem as an outside company.
How are you supporting clients during the pandemic?
Kayat: We are supporting businesses in this difficult time by waiving our monthly fees for 12 months. We really want to help businesses improve their efficiency by reducing their operational costs and payment fees during this time.
Our team believes that by helping one company retain one employee, we can help a family stay safe and healthy.
Note: Kayat is also making himself available to businesspeople in Louisville to talk about sales, working from home, operating more efficiently, or “just to connect, chat and stay sane during these difficult times.” (Click here to access his calendar.) Share this story!
MORE STARTUP STORIES Pitch your startup in Render Competition Time to polish up your pitch: The deadline for applying to the Render Competition is just around the corner—May 1st.
If you’re not familiar with the competition—or with Render Capital—and you’re looking for things like growth capital (to the tune of $100,000), pro bono services, and connections, you should check out this FAQ.
Here are a few details to keep in mind:
The competition welcomes participants from all locations and across all sectors but is especially interested in aligning with our region’s “strategic industries,” which include “advanced manufacturing, healthcare, food and beverage, logistics, data science, artificial intelligence, internet of things, and general technology.”
The competition will award eight investments of $100K each for businesses that are “at a stage where this capital will significantly impact their ability to grow and scale.”
And oh yeah, winners will have to move to the Greater Louisville area (unless you’re lucky enough to live here already). AxisPoint Alliance helps facility owners manage products A New Albany, IN, company has launched a new technology platform designed to help facility owners and real estate developers manage their facilities from design to sourcing, distribution, and maintenance.
AxisPoint Alliance has also opened a new office and distribution center in New Albany. In addition to its digital platform, the company offers concierge service to its customers to help cut through the red tape in developing facilities. The company specializes in items like lighting, flooring, plumbing, HVAC, kitchen equipment, furniture, and décor.
Users can better manage their projects, including the ability to view real-time budgets and track the progress of their projects, as well as to communicate in real time with others. TOGETHER WE STAND (APART) Speed School using 3-D printing to make face shields  Image Via Youtube
Concern about shortages of face masks used by doctors and nurses is prompting hospitals around the world to clamor for medical supplies as the coronavirus continues spreading. And companies who make the traditional masks can't keep up with the demand.
Speed School engineers at the University of Louisville are creating innovative solutions– and taking action – to address this problem.
The Additive Manufacturing Institute of Science and Technology (AMIST) facility at Speed School of Engineering has risen to the challenge by making pandemic protective face shields for healthcare workers. And they’re making them with 3-D printing technology.
Ed Tackett, director of Workforce Development at AMIST, is coordinating the program. “We have medical professionals literally on the front lines, and if we can help them be safer or keep them from getting sick, we’re going to do whatever we need to do to make that happen,” said Tackett.
Graduate assistant Kate Schneidau and four other Speed School students have increased their production output to 55 shields per day by running continuous shifts from 8 a.m. to midnight daily.
“I was taught all my life if somebody needs help, you step up and help as much as you can without expecting anything, because it’s the right thing to do,” she said. UofL researchers work with area hospitals to supply COVID-19 information Infectious disease researchers at the University of Louisville are working with ten Louisville hospitals and two southern Indiana hospitals to process tests and study the coronavirus illness.
Julio Ramirez, MD, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, and Ruth Carrico, PhD, RN, professor in the division, along with Donghoon Chung, PhD, and Kenneth Palmer, PhD, director of the Center for Predictive Medicine for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases (CPM), have developed a surveillance program to track the prevalence of the illness and which patients are most affected.
“With the information we are gathering, we will better understand how transmission occurs. When we understand how transmission occurs, that provides us the tools we need to develop some effective interventions,” Carrico said.
Chung has established and refined procedures for high-throughput testing of more than 350 clinical sample per day.
The university is supporting this research with $500,000 in funding, but additional funds are needed to continue the research over time. Donations specifically for this research can be made online here. Key to COVID-19 therapeutics could be grown in…tobacco?  It’s hard to imagine a less-likely candidate for COVID-19 treatment than tobacco. But that’s what researchers are working on at UofL.
Tobacco has long been to have unique properties that can help fight infectious diseases. The National Institutes of Health came to Louisville a decade ago to create a high-security biocontainment lab at the University where researchers can study emerging infectious diseases. The lab has conducted studies on SARS and other diseases and is growing potential therapeutic agents in host tobacco plants. Those agents could be effective against COVID-19 in the form of a vaccine or treatment.
UofL researchers already have a potent anti-viral protein called Q-Griffithsin and plan to produce a nasal spray by the end of this calendar year. If effective against COVID-19, it could be used if the virus rears its head for a second season in the way influenza does. KNOW YOUR CITY!  Have you checked your "Louis-Q" recently?
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