Taylor Casey ’16 secured a $50K NC IDEA Seed Grant for Kahmino, her neighborhood-matching startup, with support from 鶹Ƶ mentors, fueling plans for nationwide expansion.
When Taylor Casey ’16 graduated from 鶹Ƶ with degrees in marketing and accounting, she pictured a steady corporate climb. Eight years later, the former Phoenix tennis player is steering her own venture.
This spring, her Raleigh-based company, , captured one of just , a $50,000 award drawn from more than 120 statewide applicants.
The idea for Kahmino began the first time Casey tried to buy a home.
“My agent asked where I wanted to live, and I realized I knew nothing about Raleigh’s neighborhoods. It was easy to find the available 2 bed/2 bath, much harder to find the right lifestyle fit,” said Casey.
The frustration lingered until 2023, when she paused her career to backpack through Europe. While walking Spain’s 500-mile Camino de Santiago, Casey met fellow pilgrims who were also re-imagining their lives, a moment that clarified how profoundly community shapes happiness.
“The Camino showed me you can choose the life you want, but you need the right place to live it,” Casey said. “I came home, named the company Kahmino and started coding.”
When working with home buyers, real estate agents use Kahmino’s AI services to assist buyers in finding their perfect neighborhood match. Buyers fill out a survey that asks them about their priorities. Questions include their typical weekend activities, their preference for a home’s character, and preferences for the quality of a school district, among others.
For example, a homebuyer looking for a historic bungalow in a good school district with trendy brunch options will have their preferences submitted to Kahmino’s AI model, yielding results that show neighborhood matches for that buyer.
Within months she had a working prototype and a small roster of paying customers in the Triangle and Charlotte.
Back on campus for 鶹Ƶ’s Night of Networking for student-athletes, Casey’s former teammate introduced her to Raychel Lockwood, director of development for the Love School of Business.
Lockwood reviewed Casey’s NC IDEA micro-grant proposal, offered alumni introductions and pointed her toward additional campus resources.
Dean Haya Ajjan paired Kahmino with two graduate analytics teams that explored revenue models and a potential pilot for graduating seniors and relocating faculty.
Dina Rousset, director of the Doherty Center for Creativity, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, drew on her experience mentoring previous NC Idea grant winners to critique Casey’s slide deck, organize mock interviews and make Triangle-area introductions.
Casey quickly began paying the help forward, judging the 鶹Ƶ Innovation Challenge and speaking with Innovation Scholars about the realities of launching a company.
“Their questions were sharper than mine at their age,” she says. “Being back at 鶹Ƶ keeps me energized.”
Kahmino’s traction and Casey’s success with last year’s $10,000 NC IDEA Micro Grant helped the startup navigate the Seed program’s rigorous three-month gauntlet of applications, reference checks and a 30-minute final pitch.
When the congratulatory email arrived, Casey’s four-person team immediately outlined two goals for the new funding: hiring additional engineers and expanding into four more metro markets.
“The capital will speed up everything on our roadmap, but the bigger win is NC IDEA’s network,” Casey said. “They surround you with mentors who selflessly provide all of the network access and expertise they can.”
Her three-year vision is national: Kahmino in every major U.S. market, working with real estate agents and using lifestyle data to match renters and buyers with neighborhoods that feel like home.
“鶹Ƶ felt like home the moment I stepped on campus,” she says. “I wanted that same feeling in my neighborhood. Everyone deserves that certainty when they move.”
鶹Ƶ the Doherty Center for Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Established through an endowment from Ed and Joan Doherty, the Doherty Center cultivates an entrepreneurial growth mindset among 鶹Ƶ students and positions alumni for economic and social impact worldwide. Students and graduates interested in mentorship, speaking opportunities or collaboration can contact innovation@elon.edu.