Justin Hafner

Justin Hafner is a repeat founder with deep experience at the intersection of science, technology, and venture creation. Before Ateklo, he built Kinotek Inc., an FDA-listed medical technology company whose platform scaled to 100,000+ patients and 1,000+ clinicians in the first 18 months of FDA listing. Under his leadership, Kinotek pioneered a new industry-standard vital sign for human movement, achieved triple-digit month-over-month growth in its first revenue year, raised over $6M in venture capital, and led its transition to private-equity ownership in 2023.

Trained as a kinesiologist, engineer, and technologist, he has repeatedly translated frontier science into products. In his early career he discovered his passion for building by open sourcing research side projects like a software program to convert 2D MRI images into anatomically correct 3D models and helping pioneer computer-vision systems for unsighted navigation.

Beyond company building, Justin has helped shape startup ecosystems by representing early-stage founders before the state's $1B+ COVID recovery budget process, has helped design/build incubators and accelerators (Roux institute & leAD HealthTech), and continues to mentor startups through Techstars and other national accelerators. His direct experience with the problem Ateklo aims to solve, combined with a passion for frontier science, operating discipline, ecosystem building, and venture execution, positions Justin to lead Ateklo in its mission to identify overlooked entrepreneurial talent and transform research into scalable ventures.