From 64 companies in the first bracket, we have now winnowed that down to eight quarter-finalists. Before we head into the semifinals, let’s look at how this round shook out.
AtScale led this round with the most points, with Embark Veterinary, DocFox and Allego following behind. In total, 4,137 votes were cast in the third round of Inno Madness. It remains to be seen if this round is a predictor of the semi-finalists.
Software company Wabbi and Breakout Fun! were neck and neck all week, but Breakout Fun! pulled ahead and will advance to the next round. Embark Veterinary easily outpaced Armored Things for a spot in the quarter finals. Employee well-being company Empida squeaked past cloud security company Aqua Security by less than 30 votes. Smile and its dating app lost to Realtime Robotics. Paragonix Technologies Inc. beat out ezCater.
Check out the bracket below to see all the companies that made it to the next round and get voting!
What is Inno Madness?
Inno Madness is our friendly, bracket-style challenge where readers vote to advance companies based on one question: Who would you invest in? Whether you believe in one mission or product slightly over the other or would prefer to back a more established company versus an early-stage startup, how you answer that question is entirely up to you. The bracket is designed to shine a spotlight on 64 innovative, fast-growing local businesses.
The bracket, which BostInno’s editorial team assembled based on nominations submitted by readers in recent weeks, encompasses a broad range of private, venture capital-backed or bootstrapped firms. In some cases, startups in their earliest stages will compete against some established favorites.
Take a look at the participating companies in our bracket and read the contest rules here.
The bracket is meant to represent the full breadth and diversity of the ecosystem. In the end, think of the bracket as just a fun look into tech local companies you need to know in 2022. Last year, MineralTree took home the trophy. Other past winners include Berkshire Grey (2020), Toast (2019) and Botkeeper (2018).
Take a look at our voting guide below. Then, scroll down to cast your vote.
When can I vote?
Boston’s Inno Madness includes several stages, as the competition gets narrowed down over the course of several weeks. Here’s the voting schedule to keep track of each move as voters decide who’s advancing to the next level. Voting will close at 9 a.m. on the final day of each round to give us time to tally the votes before the next round starts.
Round 1: March 3 to 8
Round 2: March 9 to 14
Round 3: March 15 to 18
Round 4: March 18 to 23
Round 5: March 24 to 28
Round 6: March 29 to April 1
2022 Inno Madness Champion announced: April 3
Now, it’s time to get to the voting. Once each round of voting closes, we’ll advance the winners.
Meet this year’s players, which are broken up into four regions. We'll update this list of companies with each round's participants.
Region A
Empida: This company created a well-being platform for building team togetherness, company culture and employee well-being.
Breakout Fun!: A software company that makes educational games and activities for the classroom.
Region B
Embark Veterinary: A company offering dog DNA tests that can provide information about a pet’s breed, ancestry, health and more.
Allego: Allego is using its mobile technology to ensure teams can quickly create and share interactive content to train, onboard, coach, etc.
Region C
AtScale: A computer software company providing business intelligence and data science across all industries.
Realtime Robotics: This company has created new automation features for robots and autonomous vehicles, including risk-aware driving and automated robot vision that continuously calibrates itself.
Region D
Paragonix Technologies Inc.: This company makes medical devices that safeguard organs during the journey between donor and recipient.
DocFox: DocFox works with financial institutions on advancing document processing with document inspection, data capture and comparison of any document with a suite of automation tools.
