Bajan Innovator Cops Future Caribbean Buildathon Challenge
Future Caribbean, an innovation engine and venture studio developing Agentic AI companies for Caribbean and global markets, announced the winners of its Buildathon at an Investor Showcase broadcast live from the New York Stock Exchange on November 13. The global competition brought together approximately 450 builders from 39 countries to create artificial intelligence ventures tailored for regional and international deployment, culminating in top awards for electricity grid management, industrial waste heat recovery, and home-based physical rehabilitation.
First place was awarded to Caribbean Grid AI, founded by Andrew Narine of Barbados. The venture is developing an intelligence and coordination platform designed specifically for island electricity grids. As utilities incorporate growing capacities of solar, wind, and battery storage, grid stability increasingly depends on real-time resource coordination. Caribbean Grid AI integrates climate data, renewable energy forecasting, and Agentic AI to assist operators in determining optimal timing for electricity storage, dispatch, reserve allocation, and generation curtailment. Following initial forecasting assessments conducted in response to requests from Barbados Light & Power, the team is preparing a utility pilot that combines electricity demand metrics with climate intelligence.
Second place went to Neptune Energetics of Trinidad and Tobago, founded by Simon Neptune. The company pairs physical hardware with Agentic AI to convert industrial waste heat from power plants and data centers into electricity. Its system dynamically evaluates whether recovered power should serve host facilities or be sold back to the electrical grid, while assessing whether thermal energy should be stored for generation later in peak demand cycles. Neptune Energetics has conducted demonstrations with prospective industry partners and secured a non-binding letter of intent regarding a potential deployment in Tobago.
Third place was secured by Canadian venture Mirra Call, led by occupational therapist Brenda Luo. Mirra Call addresses the gap between formal therapy appointments by introducing a smart mirror that combines augmented reality guidance with AI coaching for home rehabilitation and daily self-care. The system observes movement, flags physical difficulties, provides real-time exercise feedback, and transmits structured care data to clinicians and caregivers. For dispersed Caribbean island communities, home-based rehabilitation could extend specialist reach and reduce travel demands. Having completed early testing with health organizations in Alberta, Mirra Call is actively seeking Caribbean pilot partners.
Specialized awards were also announced during the showcase. SG Nature Intelligence received the Ocean Prize from the Hub Culture Ocean Climate Fund. Presented by Ben Ross Deutscher and Chelsie Lin, the venture applies Agentic AI to review and verify ecological restoration evidence for tidal wetlands and seagrass projects against verification methodologies, accelerating human validation and enabling conservation projects to access capital more efficiently. Meanwhile, Harvest earned the Special Food Systems Award in recognition of its work utilizing technology to streamline agricultural supply chains and strengthen regional food security.
The NYSE showcase highlighted a broad suite of additional industry applications. Standout presentations included WAM Connect for cross-border payments and regional currency liquidity; Dataffluent MSME Cap, led by Raquel Seville, addressing access to finance for underserved small businesses; and WellNest, presenting clinician-controlled AI documentation and triage systems. In disaster management, FieldWatch, founded by Onassis Alexander Nottage of The Bahamas, presented a shelter-monitoring pilot combining physical sensors, satellite imagery, and an AI assistant to support emergency operations. Additional presentations explored automated workflows across tourism and real estate.
Hosted by Future Caribbean founder Lily Dash, the event featured keynote remarks from Jamaican Minister of Finance Fayval Williams and venture capitalist Bill Tai. Both speakers emphasized the Caribbean’s unique position to shape global AI deployment through technologies that improve industry efficiency and public services.
Program execution relied on Future Caribbean’s Buildathon-in-a-Box platform, supported by a network of technology partners. Compute resources were provided by Highrise AI, Nebius, and Impala AI, while developer infrastructure was backed by MiniMax, Shogo.ai, NoInfra, OllyGarden, and Giotto.ai.
Accelerator and advisory support were delivered by DMZ, Enterprise Cayman / Cayman Enterprise City, and EY Caribbean, with travel logistics supported by Bookit / Book Better. The showcase itself received institutional backing from Invest Barbados, Andrik Capital, and Polymath Research. Looking ahead to its next phase, Future Caribbean is partnering with ACTAI Advisors to advance commercialization, enterprise integration, and strategic investment across its venture portfolio.
