Cortado Ventures Doubleshot Newsletter: January 2026

by | Jan 14, 2026 | Media, Newsletters

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front)

This month, we’re reflecting on how far we’ve come and what’s ahead, as Managing Partner Nathaniel Harding shares Cortado Ventures’ key accomplishments in 2025 and the priorities shaping the year to come. General Partner Mike Moradi, was selected as a panelist to speak at USA House alongside the WEF Annual Meeting, and featured in McKinsey & Company’s Young Global Leaders series ahead of Davos 2026. Momentum across the region continues as Agile Space Industries breaks ground on its new Space Test Center in Tulsa, supporting next-generation space research and testing. Join us at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) just one month away. Across the portfolio, companies are gaining traction with updates from Watkins-Conti, CorriXR, Safety Radar, and Lumata Health, while this month’s Portco Highlight features Ardley as it scales its platform and customer base. We round out the issue with a Builder Highlight on LaunchKC!, open roles across the portfolio, and upcoming events shaping the broader ecosystem.

Newsletter Elements

  • Cortado News
    • Nathaniel Harding’s 2025 Review & 2026 Preview
    • Mike Moradi Named Panelist at USA House alongside WEF Annual Meeting
    • Agile Space Industries Breaking Ground on Space Test Center in Tulsa, OK
    • AGM 2026 Reception & Open House
  • Portco News
    • Portco Highlight: Ardley
    • Portcos In The News
      • Watkins-Conti
      • CorriXR
      • Safety Radar
      • Lumata Health
    • Portco Jobs
  • Ecosystem News & Events
    • Builder Highlight: LaunchKC
    • Upcoming Events

Cortado News

“Five years ago, we launched Cortado Ventures with a belief that ran against conventional wisdom: that the Midcontinent wasn’t a flyover region for innovation, but one of the most compelling and underwritten opportunities in venture capital.

We launched in the middle of COVID. Capital was scarce and coastal gravity was strong. More than a few people told us that building a venture firm here didn’t make sense. If you wanted scale or ambition, you were supposed to go somewhere else.

Five years later, the companies—and the data behind them—tell a different story.

This past year marked a meaningful milestone for Cortado. Not simply because we crossed a five-year mark, but because 2025 felt like the year when the compounding effects of patience, focus, and regional conviction became visible.

What follows is a reflection on what 2025 taught us, and why 2026 feels like a genuine inflection point, not just for our firm, but for Midcontinent innovation more broadly.

We invested just over $7.5 million—” Click here to read the full letter from Nathaniel Harding on our Cortado Ventures Viewpoints Medium Page.

 

GP Mike Moradi to Speak on USA House panel alongside Davos 2026 on the Future of Space-Tech

Cortado Ventures General Partner and Sensulin CEO Mike Moradi will speak at the USA House alongside the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, joining a panel focused on the future of space technology. He will be joined by Dylan Taylor, CEO of Voyager Technologies, and Max Haot, CEO of Vast Space, for a discussion exploring how innovation, partnership, and long-term vision are shaping the next chapter of the space economy.

Ahead of the Annual Meeting, Mike was featured in a curated series by McKinsey & Company highlighting perspectives from members of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders community. In the feature, he challenges leaders to look beyond the headlines and focus on an often-overlooked issue: global cooperation in space. While conflict on Earth frequently dominates global discourse, Mike points to space exploration as a rare arena where collaboration is not optional, but essential.

Read the full McKinsey feature
Learn more about the World Economic Forum

Agile Space Industries Breaking Ground for Space Test Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Closer to home, momentum in frontier technology continues to build across the Midcontinent. Our partners at Agile Space are marking a major milestone with a groundbreaking ceremony next Friday in Tulsa, OK to begin construction on a new space test center, in Tulsa Oklahoma. The event will bring together leaders from across the space and public sectors, including Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell; Former NASA administrator and Managing Partner of The Artemis Group, Jim Bridenstine; and Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols IV.

As the midcontinent continues to play a pivotal role in advancing space and frontier technologies, this development represents another meaningful step forward. From global conversations in Davos to infrastructure being built on the ground, the Midcontinent continues to lead the way in frontier tech growth.

Read the full announcement here.

2026 Annual General Meeting Reception & Open House

Join us for an opportunity to tour The Verge OKC, the Cortado Ventures offices, and Citizen House while enjoying complementary cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Join our mailing list to stay in the loop and RSVP on all things AGM 2026.

A special thank you to our event sponsors, Magellan Executive Partners, Carta, and The Verge OKC.

Portco News

Portco Highlight: Ardley

Meet this month’s PortCo highlight, Ardley. Ardley is a fintech company based near Washington D.C founded and led by Nathan Den Herder. Seeing the struggles and lack of development in the mortgage industry, Den Herder created this platform to improve the experience for both borrowers and lenders.

Ardley provides advanced solutions to simplify the origination process for mortgage servicers, fintech lenders, credit unions, and banks. Their platform is able to analyze borrower data in real time to sort through qualified borrowers and personalize offers, taking a process that could take days and doing it in hours. This new, efficient process is made possible through its products: Ardley Intelligence, a daily portfolio scanner that checks for borrower eligibility, Ardley Advantage, a carrier that delivers the personalized loan offers, and the recently launched Ardley OneLink, a universal entry point for lenders allowing them to quickly grow.

We invested in Ardley in 2022 because we saw how the company could revolutionize the mortgage industry. Den Herder and his team come from years of experience and have put their experience into propelling the industry. We are proud to back Ardley and excited to see their next move. Read about Why We Invested in Ardley here.

Keep up with Ardley here and check out their recent accomplishments below.

Partnership with Cenlar FSB
COO speaks at mPower Conference
COO receives Most Powerful Women in Fintech Award 2024
Ardley launches underwriting machine

Portcos In The News

Watkins-Conti Awarded OCAST Industry Innovation Funding

Watkins-Conti Products, Inc. was awarded $500,000 in non-dilutive matching funds from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) through its Industry Innovation Program.

The funding will support continued growth of Yōni.Fit®, the company’s FDA-cleared bladder support device for women with stress urinary incontinence, and help advance key milestones including insurance reimbursement, operational efficiency, and expanded customer support. Founded by Allison L. Watkins, Watkins-Conti continues to build accessible pelvic health solutions that improve quality of life for women nationwide.

Read the full press release here.

Keep up with Watkins-Conti’s updates and wins on their LinkedIn. Check out some other notable wins:
Online Storefront
Oklahoma Pharmacy Expansion
Yōni.Fit Oklahoma Launch
FDA 510(k) Clearance

Purchase Yōni.Fit here:
Yōni.Fit Storefront
Edgepark
Medical Mega
ATC Medical

CorriXR CEO, Eric Kmiec, named to Delaware Business Times 222 List

Eric Kmiec, CEO of CorriXR Therapeutics, was named to the Delaware Business Times 222 List, recognizing influential leaders shaping the state’s business community. This marks the third consecutive year Eric has received the honor. This recognition highlights his leadership and reflects CorriXR’s continued growth and influence in biotechnology.

Read more here.

Lumata CEO, Landon Grace, Featured in MedCity News

Landon Grace, CEO of Lumata Health, was featured in MedCity News discussing the massive increase in vision-threatening eye disease that the current healthcare system is not prepared to manage. In the article, Grace details how the aging U.S. population will drive dramatic increases in conditions such as age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy, and why new models of care must extend beyond traditional clinic visits to prevent unnecessary vision loss. Grace’s perspective highlights the need for better care models and the commitment of companies like Lumata that work towards the advancement of proactive care.

Read more here.

Safety Radar Featured in The American Oil & Gas Reporter

Safety Radar was featured in The American Oil & Gas Reporter as part of its December Editor’s Choice, recognizing how AI is reshaping safety management across the oil and gas industry. The article highlights Safety Radar’s ability to analyze every frontline safety report received, allowing teams to identify risk patterns earlier and prevent serious incidents before they occur. Before using Safety Radar, their client companies couldn’t make it past 10% of safety reports, now they have a tool that can ensure everyone is protected. This feature highlights the monumental impact of data-driven insight in protecting individuals working in high-risk environments.

Read more here.

Portco Jobs

Our portfolio companies are growing. Explore open roles across sectors from engineering and sales to data science and operations.

Builder Highlight: LaunchKC

LaunchKC is a nonprofit program based in Kansas City, Missouri that supports early-stage startups by providing funding, mentorship, and a founder community.

Every year, the organization invests over $1 million into companies that relocate to Downtown Kansas City, hoping to turn the city into a home for the world’s most innovative startups. They are able to do this through their yearly competitive program that offers the most promising founders the opportunity to receive $60,000 in funding, office space, programming, and access to the LaunchKC network.

Their requirement that companies relocate to Kansas City is what makes the organization unique. It demonstrates their commitment to supporting founders with great ideas and to boosting the economy and innovation in their city.

Stay up to date with LaunchKC here.

Ecosystem Events