There are four companies left standing in Inno Madness 2024. Now, it's time for the semifinals.
We had some tight matchups in the quarterfinals. Emerald Innovations made it through with 51% of votes over SmartBear. Minute Kitchen had the same margin over Electric Hydrogen, as did Lightmatter over Hologram Sciences. The fan favorite from the quarterfinals was Rooted Living, which enters the semifinals with 60% of votes.
Let's take a closer look at the four remaining competitors.
Emerald Innovations, based in Cambridge, creates technology to make remote health monitoring easier. Its product, called Emerald, is a touchless sensor. According to its website, it was founded by MIT faculty and researchers. It is employee owned and its financing is bootstrapped.
Lightmatter enters the semifinals as the top-funded startup. It hit unicorn status in December with a $155 million investment. The Boston-based company develops photonic chips specialized for AI.
Minute Kitchen was a finalist in Inno Madness 2023. The vending machine startup aiming to reduce food waste was founded by Babson College students.
The final semifinalist, Rooted Living, was founded by Northeastern student Rachel Domb. It is an eco-friendly, healthy snack startup that aims to reduce reliance on single-use plastic. According to information submitted by the company, its total funding is $70,000.
Voting is now live for the semifinals, and will remain open until 9 a.m. on April 11.
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 over the other or would prefer to back a more established company versus an early-stage startup, how you answer that question is entirely your decision. The bracket is designed to spotlight a slice of the Boston innovation community with 64 fast-growing local businesses. The bracket was assembled based on nominations from readers, members of the innovation community and the Inno editorial team. It 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.
Below is the full list of companies in this year's competition, and the link to vote. You can read the contest rules here.
The bracket is meant to represent a sample of the startup ecosystem in Boston. While it is a competition, think of it also as a way to get to know some new-to-you startups, and as a chance to interact with the startup community.
When can I vote?
Inno Madness will take place over a series of stages spanning several weeks as the competition gets narrowed down. We’ll keep you posted on who’s advancing, and who’s not, right here on BostInno.com and in The Beat newsletter. Subscribe here if you're not already on the list. Here's the voting schedule for this year's competition. 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 one begins.
- Round 1: March 13 to March 19
- Round 2: March 20 to March 26
- Round 3: March 27 to April 1
- Round 4: April 2 to April 5
- Round 5: April 8 to April 11
- Round 6: April 15 to April 19
The 2024 Inno Madness Winner will be announced the week following.
The players are split into four regions in this year's bracket. Here are all of the competitors in the 2024 Inno Madness.
Region A
- Consensus uses an AI search engine to answer scientific research questions.
- SmartBear in Somerville is a software development platform company.
- Causal Labs is a software development platform.
- ConnectRN uses tech to tackle healthcare staffing.
- Salient is using technology to make sub seasonal to seasonal weather forecasts.
- Emerald Innovations is a remote health monitoring system.
- Paperless Parts is a software company that helps manufacturers automize quotes.
- Gradiant develops tech systems to clean and recycle industrial wastewater, and in May became the first unicorn of 2023.
Region B
- Electric Hydrogen became a unicorn last fall with a $380 million series C round for its clean energy technology.
- Topline Pro was founded by Harvard Business School dropouts to provide a platform for professional website development using the latest in tech.
- 3Daughters is looking to disrupt the IUD market by creating an device that is less painful to insert and remove.
- Tines is an automated workflow software company.
- PredictAP closed its $8 million Series A in January, the first instutituional funding for the accounts payable processing startup.
- Descrybe uses AI to create a legal document search engine.
- DataCebo is a generative AI tool that can create synthetic data.
- Minute Kitchen is a vending machine startup founded by Babson students to eliminate food waste.
Region C
- Lightmatter hit unicorn status in December.
- HourWork provides recruitment and retention tools for quick-serve restaurant franchise owners.
- Housing Navigator Mass. is a search tool to assist in the hunt for affordable housing.
- BOND App is an AI-powered application that helps managers connect remote teams.
- Sublime Systems is manufacturing low-carbon cement, and opened its first plant in January.
- Hologram Sciences is developing a way for hospitals to use AI to analyze patient nutrition and prevent malnutrition.
- Aliro Quantum uses quantum computing to offer foundational technologies for companies building networks.
- Adaptive Reader is using AI to rewrite literary classics for all reading levels.
Region D
- Enterra Solutions is trying to bring autonomous decision-making to the business world.
- Purple Carrot is a plant-based meal delivery service out of Needham.
- Wabbi is a security-focused software development platform.
- Rooted Living is a sustainable food brand founded by Northeastern student Rachel Domb.
- STAT develops an in-ear wearable to monitor chronic conditions.
- Cephable is an accessibility technology startup, and it just won a pitch contest at SXSW.
- Epicore Biosystems develops wearable sweat-detecting sensors for athletes and industrial workers.
- Stepwise has developed technology to work as an intermediary between a home’s electric panel and an EV charger.
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