Source: ELAR GROUP LLC | GlobeNewswire Inc.
“App Founders Island” brought together consumer app founders, VC funds, payments partners, angels, ByteDance operators, and growth leaders for a rooftop event focused on monetization, capital, and distribution
NEW YORK, June 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ukrainian-born ecosystem builder and ELAR Group Founder Eleonora Berylo hosted App Founders Island: Roundtables, Drinks & Tarot during New York Tech Week, bringing together consumer app founders, VC funds, angel investors, payments partners, ByteDance AI Ecosystem Leaders, and growth operators for a private rooftop gathering focused on the business of building and monetizing consumer apps.
The event stood out from the usual Tech Week circuit by replacing the standard panel-and-mixer format with a more founder-focused environment: roundtables, a mini Shark Tank-style feedback session, growth conversations, investor touchpoints, and informal connection spaces.
The guest list featured founders and operators associated with consumer app companies including WeWard, the walking rewards app with more than 20 million users; Da Vinci Eye, the AR drawing app recognized by Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards; and Fyno, an adventure travel planner built around curated destinations, smart itineraries, and independent travel. The room also brought together investors, angels, payments partners, and AI ecosystem leaders, including operators from ByteDance.
“New York Tech Week can get very loud, and many events start to feel the same,” said Berylo. “I wanted to create a room that felt useful for consumer app founders. The point was to bring together founders, investors, payments partners, and growth operators who could talk about what actually matters after users show up: monetization, retention, capital, distribution, and the commercial system behind the product.”
The gathering also reflected the international nature of New York’s startup ecosystem, with strong representation from Eastern European founders, investors, and operators.
“For me, it was one of the most diverse and genuinely warm rooms I experienced during Tech Week,” Berylo said. “There were Eastern European founders and VCs, U.S. consumer app operators, angels, payments partners, and people building across mobile, AI, wellness, travel, social, education, and creator tools. It felt like a room where people could actually help each other.”
Eleonora organized the event as part of her broader work across software commercialization, cloud marketplace strategy, and AI-enabled revenue infrastructure.
“Consumer technology is cultural, but it is also commercial,” Berylo said. “A strong product matters, but founders also need to understand how they monetize, how they retain users, how they access capital, and how they build around payments and distribution from the beginning.”
About Eleonora Berylo
Eleonora Berylo is a Ukrainian-born ecosystem builder and Founder of ELAR Group. She specializes in software commercialization, cloud marketplace strategy, and AI-enabled revenue infrastructure.
CONTACT: Eleonora Berylo eleonoraberylo@gmail.com
