The 2025 Edge City Patagonia Fellows

Every Edge City we host is an experiment in how people, ideas, tech, and social systems evolve when brought together to live at the edge of what’s possible. The fourth cohort of the Edge City Fellowship at Edge City Patagonia embodies that same frontier spirit.

The work of the five fellows spans the microscopic and the planetary: from muscle-on-chip technologies to cultural computation, from inclusive robotics to reimagining how we connect and belong online.

Here’s a closer look at who they are and the work they’re bringing to the village.

The Edge City Fellowship is designed to support young, high-agency builders in projects and questions shaping the future of science, technology, and culture.

Rucha Benare

‍

Rucha is a mechanobiology scientist and biomechanics art curator+director at Muse Ex Machina - a collective merging arts for scientific exploration and discovery. Currently, she is also a PhD scholar developing Muscle-on-chip microfluidic technology and Public+Patient Involvement, in partnership with Research Ireland, Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, and Muscular Dystrophy Ireland. She is interested in the intersectionality of all things, social engagement, creative arts, policy development, and scientific innovation.

At Edge City Patagonia, Rucha is creating participatory experiments that blend biomechanics and art.

Connect with Rucha via Linkedin.

‍

Rhea Kapur

‍

Rhea Kapur is a Stanford grad building at the intersection of folklore, language, culture, and computer science. At Edge Patagonia, she is creating a hyperlocal discovery system and social network to help people connect over shared cultural and ethnic identity.

Connect with Rhea on Linkedin and X.

‍

Brian Kelleher

‍

Brian is the founder of Microdoc. He is interested in pushing the frontier of applied AI capabilities, hacking on hardware, and building systems that impact a lot of people. At Edge Patagonia, Brian is exploring how large language models can assist in doing novel, non-trivial mathematics.

Connect with Brian on Linkedin and X.

‍

Akshaya Dinesh

‍

Akshaya Dinesh is a 2x VC-backed exited founder and Thiel Fellow. She lives in SF and has been obsessed with building technology from high school, when she spent her weekends attending 45 hackathons and building a CS education nonprofit. She studied CS at Stanford before dropping out to start her first company, a professional community platform for Gen Z. She then worked on Spellbound, an interactive marketing platform for e-commerce brands to uplift email engagement.

At Edge Patagonial, Akshaya is exploring consumer ideas in women’s health.

Connect with Akshaya on Linkedin and X.

‍

Maxwell Opondo

‍

Maxwell Opondo is the Founder and CEO of Zerobionic, a robotics startup in Nairobi Kenya, which creates accessible robotics that make STEM education accessible for hard of hearing and people with motor problems.

At Edge Patagonia, Maxwell is building and testing a live transcription module for Spanish Sign Language.

Connect with Maxwell on Linkedin and X.

Building at Edge City Patagonia

Want to follow their progress? We’ll be sharing updates from this fellowship cohort throughout the month.

Make sure to follow along on @JoinEdgeCity.

The Edge City Patagonia Team 🏔️

Join us in Patagonia →