Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | AUGUST 10, 2026 15 of consuming a craft product in the place that it was made and talking to the people who took part in creating it. We wanted to create a little of that for the sober community too." Food also plays an important role, the owners said. The pizza kitchen creates a family-friendly atmosphere and encourages customers to linger, while the coffee shop draws daytime foot traffic. Tox's newest venture is a down- stairs speakeasy, featuring part- nerships with local distilleries and wineries, that remains open until midnight, helping the company capture customers after the taproom closes at 9 p.m. The brewery has also expanded its reach beyond the taproom. Larger batches of Tox's beers are brewed at a facility in North Haven for distribution throughout Connecticut and nearly two dozen other states, allowing the company to capture the at-home market. Diamond, of the Connecticut Brewers Guild, said that broader distribution model took shape during the pandemic and kept many local breweries alive. But it has also created new chal- lenges. As packaging and distribution improved, craft beer from breweries across New England became widely available in package stores, reducing the incentive for consumers to make a special trip to a brewery, where profit margins are higher. At the same time, the broader distribution network intensified competition and squeezed already-thin wholesale margins. Consumers squeezed by the rising cost of living have also cut back on discretionary purchases such as craft beer, adding to those pressures, Diamond said. Diversifying into other revenue streams, such as food and coffee, can help offset those challenges, but doing so often requires significant investment, partnerships and addi- tional permitting, she said. "That might be cost-prohibitive," Diamond said. "It's very hard to cover all the bases for your consumers." She said she applauds Tox's decision to expand in 2024 against the run of the market and also the company's commitment to promoting and partnering with other local brands and businesses. "What they're doing is important work, and I hope that others follow suit," she said. By David Krechevsky davidk@hartfordbusiness.com A Brooklyn, New York-based e-commerce technology startup said it plans to expand its Connecticut workforce after securing an investment of up to $2 million from Connecticut Innovations (CI), with much of the funding tied to future hiring in the state. Queen One, which develops artifi- cial intelligence software for online retailers, has received an initial $1 million investment from the state's quasi-public venture capital arm. CI has committed a second $1 million if the company meets undisclosed job-growth and other expansion milestones in Connecticut. The company currently employs one senior commercial executive based in Trumbull and has six Connecticut-based openings in sales, client growth, marketing and finance, according to co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Maricor Resente. "Hiring in Connecticut, definitely," Resente said when asked how the initial CI investment will be used. As hiring progresses, Queen One expects to establish a Connecticut workspace for employees, she said. Longer term, the company hopes to establish recruiting relationships with Yale University and UConn to attract graduates and potentially develop internship and training programs. Neither Queen One nor Connecticut Innovations disclosed the specific hiring targets tied to the second $1 million investment. Danny Qiao, CI's director of investments, said only that the additional funding depends on the company meeting "job-growth commitments" in Connecticut. "CI's mandate is to grow Connecti- cut's innovation economy, and this investment is structured to do exactly that," Qiao said in written responses to questions from Hartford Business Journal. "Our capital is deployed specifically to build on that foot- print, spurring additional hiring and operations in-state." Recommendation engine Founded in 2022 by Resente, CEO Ryan Urban and Head of Marketing Megan Kresinske, Queen One develops software that uses artificial intelligence to help consumer brands personalize marketing across websites, email and text messaging. The founders entered the venture after helping build New York-based Wunderkind, an e-commerce marketing technology company that Resente said now generates more than $200 million in annual revenue. At Wunderkind, "we invented a lot of the commonplace email and personalized scale communications best practices that you see every- where in commerce today," Resente said. "If you look up Ryan Urban, he's credited for a lot of the patents behind certain technology." That experience, however, convinced the founders that many existing marketing platforms, developed before the rise of AI, had become increasingly difficult to modernize, Resente said. After nearly two years developing its platform, Queen One raised $5.5 million in early 2025. During that time, company leaders assembled commerce executives, technologists and marketers, including some from Wunderkind, to rethink how online retailers should communicate with customers in an era increasingly shaped by AI. The platform analyzes shopper behavior to tailor the timing, frequency and content of marketing messages. Resente compared the technology to recommendation engines used by companies such as Netflix and YouTube. She said it has doubled email-gen- erated revenue for some early customers but declined to identify those companies because of confidentiality agreements. Kresinske, the head of marketing, said the platform can serve any retailer. "Primarily, our clients are apparel, retail, beauty and home," she said. "But we've definitely designed the platform to be one that supports every brand in the world." The company also aims to make sophisticated personalization tools more accessible to smaller retailers. "If you're making more than $500,000 a year in commerce, you can use Queen One," Resente said. "You need to have some sort of base, but you don't need to be a $10 million brand." Going public The Connecticut expansion comes as Queen One pursues much larger growth plans in New York. Last year, the company announced plans for a 30,000-square-foot head- quarters in Brooklyn, backed by up to $6 million in performance-based state tax credits. Under that agree- ment, Queen One committed to creating 600 jobs by 2030 while investing $10 million in the headquar- ters and up to $67 million in research and development over five years. Today, Queen One employs just under 100 people and has secured roughly $37.5 million in committed capital, financing and incentives, including the Connecticut Innovations investment. Resente declined to disclose revenue or sales figures. She said the founders see AI as an opportunity to create jobs rather than eliminate them. While the company's software automates decisions about how and when brands communi- cate with customers, Resente said marketers will remain responsible for creating the content those systems deliver. "Our platform is built by marketers for marketers," she said. The company expects to work closely with marketing agencies as it grows and ultimately plans to expand internationally. "We'll be public in 2028," Resente said, adding that the company has already selected the ticker symbol HEXY for the New York Stock Exchange. HEXY is short for hexagon, reflecting the hexagonal tiles featured throughout the company's platform. AT A GLANCE Queen One Inc. Industry: E-commerce Technology Top Executive: Ryan Urban, Founder and CEO HQ: Brooklyn, New York Employees: Just under 100 Total Funding Raised: $37.5 million in financing, incentives and committed capital Website: www.queen.one Maricor Resente Megan Kresinske New York AI startup plans Connecticut expansion after CI investment Cans of Tox Brewing Co. beers are displayed inside the company's downtown New London brewery and taproom. HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever

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