gBETA Round Rock Announces Fall 2026 Cohort, Bringing Five High-Growth Startups to Round Rock

gBETA Round Rock, a free, seven-week, no-equity pre-accelerator program run by gener8tor in partnership with the Round Rock Chamber, is proud to announce the five companies selected for its Fall 2026 cohort, the program’s third cohort in Round Rock. The program kicked off on October 1 and will culminate in a public Showcase on December 1, 2026.

The Fall 2026 cohort spans AI-powered outplacement, consumer apps, cybersecurity, and oral health diagnostics. Together, the founders bring experience from Dell, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, HP, and DoorDash, along with deep expertise in security research and clinical science.

The gBETA Round Rock Fall 2026 cohort includes:

• PearUp: PearUp is an AI-powered outplacement platform that gets laid-off employees hired, giving each job seeker a career profile, networking plan, mock interviews, and matched jobs, with employers paying only for people who activate. The company has generated $5,000 in revenue with $47,500 in pending contracts, has more than 400 job seekers on the platform, and counts People360 among its live customers. PearUp is led by CEO Kaushik Valluri, a two-time founder and former Corporate Director at Dell in Round Rock, and CTO Rama Oruganti, former Chief Product Officer at RealWear.
• Cocoo: Cocoo is an AI baby sleep coach that finds what is disrupting a baby’s sleep and gives parents a personalized daily plan and step-by-step coaching to fix it. Since launching paid features in June 2026, Cocoo has nearly tripled its monthly recurring revenue, lifted download-to-paid conversion to 11.7%, and earned a 4.8 out of 5 App Store rating. Founder and CEO Sue Ye is a former data scientist and machine learning engineer at Apple, Stitch Fix, and Expedia who built Cocoo after solving her own daughter’s sleep struggles with data.
• buggg: buggg is a social planning app that helps friends see who’s free and make plans in seconds, not weeks. Since launching at SXSW 2026, buggg was named Apple’s #1 Best New App and App of the Day and has reached more than 10,000 organic downloads with no paid advertising. buggg is led by CEO Esther Ladipo Hill, who launched new apps at Meta and led DoorDash’s Global Social Impact team, and CTO Katia Smith, a former Microsoft engineer.
• LokiMesh: LokiMesh builds LOKI Decoy Management, an enterprise cyber deception platform that places decoys across a company’s network so any interaction is a confirmed intrusion, giving security teams zero-false-positive alerts. The company has reached $10,000 in monthly recurring revenue from three enterprise customers, signed 35 reseller partners across five Latin American countries, and built a $1.5 million qualified pipeline as it expands into the US. LokiMesh is led by CEO Gabriela Szuster, who brings more than 20 years of commercial, channel, and enterprise relationship experience.
• Unique Biosciences: Unique Biosciences is a San Marcos-based biotech company that uses a simple saliva test to detect periodontal disease risk before irreversible damage occurs, paired with its own oral and gut probiotics for preventive care. The company is currently working with several dental offices and generates approximately $1,500 in monthly revenue. Unique Biosciences is led by CEO and CSO Dr. Pravin Malla Shrestha alongside a team of scientists, physicians, and dental professionals, and operates its own clinical lab at Texas State University’s STAR Park.

Over the seven-week program, founders will meet with mentors at Mentor Swarms, present to investors at an Investor Swarm, and attend Lunch & Learns on core startup topics. Each company sets Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) in one-on-one sessions and reports progress at weekly cohort standups. The program ends with the gBETA Round Rock Showcase on December 1, where each company will pitch to the Central Texas startup community.

Alumni success continues to show the impact of the program. Former gBETA Round Rock companies have been accepted into Y Combinator, received funding from the Round Rock Chamber innovation fund, and together have raised nearly $5 million since joining gBETA.

The Fall 2026 cohort was selected from a competitive pool of applicants, reflecting strong interest in the program and the growing entrepreneurial energy in Round Rock.