Henna, a startup with deep ties to Portland State University (PSU), has successfully secured $30,000 in funding from the University Venture Development Fund (UVDF). This grant will support Henna's mission to make AI adoption fairer and safer.
Henna was founded earlier this year by Arsh Haque (they/them), Chair of the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Committee for the Research & Graduate Studies (RGS) department at PSU. “PSU has been integral in building the foundation for our startup” said Haque. “Our AI methods are based on DEI innovations I developed at and that they we have licensed from PSU, our prototype was built in collaboration with capstone students in Computer Science, and we ran our first pilot programs with units in RGS.”
With UVDF funds, Henna has brought on Joel Porter (he/him) as a CTO and is on track to launch a no-code auditing platform later this fall. The platform is designed to provide teams assurances that the way they use AI tools minimizes risks to compliance, reputation, and fairness.
In collaboration with leading AI experts, Henna is actively working on multiple projects to close the gap between theoretical AI safety advancements and their practical application. One such project that UVDF also supports is a public leaderboard that evaluates the bias of publicly available language models (LLMs) based on landmark economic research and open source AI safety standards.
As Henna grows, it remains committed to creating tools that empower organizations to use AI responsibly and effectively, and looks forward to continuing to collaborate with PSU to make that happen.
For more information about Henna and its work in AI fairness and safety, please visit www.askhenna.com.
About Henna
Henna is a spinout from Portland State University dedicated to providing a safe pathway for organizations to adopt AI technologies. By offering a no-code platform for AI audits, Henna helps ensure that AI tools are fair, inclusive, and safe, supporting organizations in their journey towards responsible AI integration.
About the University Venture Development Fund
The University Venture Development Fund (UVDF) is an initiative by the Oregon state legislature that allows public universities to support the commercialization of promising technologies. Through UVDF, universities like Portland State University can invest in spinout companies, providing them with the resources needed to bring innovative solutions to market.