A No. 8 seed continued its strong run through the bracket while three top seeds advanced to be one of the last four companies standing in this year's Inno Madness competition — see the updated bracket and cast your vote now below!
The friendly, bracket-style contest got underway two weeks ago, with 16 New Mexico startups facing off after being selected from reader nominations and New Mexico Inno editorial team input. Readers voted based on one primary question — who would you invest in?
Tartle, the eighth-seeded Santa Fe data sharing startup that in round one knocked off last year's Inno Madness champion, notched another big upset in the second round of the 2024 Inno Madness contest, defeating Albuquerque asset tracking startup VastVision by nearly 400 votes.
That second round upset means Tartle will square off against Albuquerque-based disinfectant robotics startup Build with Robots in the Region A final. Build with Robots beat another Albuquerque startup, Both&, a transmasculine apparel company and brand, in round two.
Region B saw both high seeds advance, with Santa Fe-based space communications startup Solstar Space Co., New Mexico Inno's 2022 Inno Madness champion, taking down Albuquerque high-performance computing startup Hoonify Technologies. WaveOn Health, an Albuquerque-based digital athlete health startup, beat VisionQuest Biomedical, a medical device startup also based in Albuquerque, in round two, as well.
While Tartle soundly defeated VastVision in its quarter-final match-up, all other round two contests were much closer, with each margin slimmer than 100 votes.
Just under 1,000 people voted in round two. To see the full results, click here, and to see the updated bracket, look just below.
The goal of Inno Madness is to give a snapshot of the most promising tech companies in New Mexico. It's by no means a complete list of New Mexico's best startups, which is a testament to the growing tech scene in the state; it's meant to represent the full breadth and diversity of the ecosystem, including some of our 2024 Startups to Watch.
Below you'll find brief descriptions of the four remaining startups in this year's bracket. Use the button in the bracket above, or the link here, to vote.
Click here to read the contest rules.
Solstar Space Co. — Our 2022 champion develops communications technology for satellites and other spacecraft to extend Wi-Fi capabilities in space.
Build with Robots — Offers automated robots that spray disinfectant to clean areas like ambulances or schools.
WaveOn Health — Last year's runner-up is creating an app-based digital athlete health management system.
Tartle — Growing a software platform that lets customers securely provide information about themselves that companies can pay to access.
