Founders, organization leaders, innovators and other representatives of Charlotte's startup community packed uptown restaurant Church and Union yesterday for the third annual Inno Fire Awards event.
About 75 individuals came together to celebrate the trailblazers who are lighting a path for entrepreneurial success in the Charlotte region. The event revealed six "Blazers" — the winners in each of the six finalist categories announced in November. Each winner received a red blazer to symbolize the achievement.
The list of 25 finalists was compiled from public nominations, expert input and editorial coverage. The Charlotte Inno team used submissions from the community to choose which nominees would be introduced as finalists last month.
This year's class of nominees included diverse people from an array of companies with varying missions and beliefs — which is representative of Charlotte's robust and lively innovation scene.
The event was supported by founding partner Dualboot Partners and presenting sponsors EO Charlotte and JLL. T.J. McCullough, president and publisher of CBJ, played host for the evening and kicked off the award presentations. The winners in each category were revealed to the crowd in a brief video displayed on a projector screen, with networking, cocktails and food following.
We're fired up to announce the six Blazers of the 2022 Inno Fire Awards program:
Catalyst
RevTech Labs: Founded by Sara and Dan Roselli in 2012, RevTech Labs is a fintech accelerator focused on bridging growth and success for financial technology and insurance technology startups. It's expanding into the health-tech market with its Health Innovation Summit that took place in September. It's also preparing for its Class 18 cohort in March. RevTech Labs provides founders with curriculum, mentorship and a custom advisory board, as well as investment capital.
Dan Roselli accepted the award on behalf of his team. "We have a fantastic team that Sara (Roselli) and I had the privilege to lead," he said. "We've locked in 10 years of work and are excited for getting recognized for all of that, and it's great. We're thankful."
Community Builder
Prospera North Carolina: Established more than 30 years ago, Prospera is a nonprofit economic development organization that provides bilingual assistance to Hispanic entrepreneurs seeking to establish or expand a business. It opened its Charlotte office in 2017, and Jose Alvarez is North Carolina's vice president of the company. Prospera empowers Hispanic entrepreneurs through training, support and resources so their businesses can scale and succeed. The company was part of the N.C. Rural Center's Small Business Policy Task Force, an effort that started in 2020 to build an equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem across the state.
Fintech
Passport: Founded in 2010, Charlotte-based Passport is a transportation software and payments company that builds technology for more efficient streets and sidewalks. More than 800 cities across North America utilize Passport's platform to manage mobile payments for parking, parking enforcement, digital parking permits and mobility. The platform is designed to provide cities with the data and insights to dynamically manage curb space. Over the past year, Passport has grown its web of partnerships so that it can create more seamless parking experiences for drivers and streamline the back-end management for cities.
Software & Innovation (up to five years old)
Open Broadband: Co-founded by Alan Fitzpatrick and Kent Winrich in 2017, Open Broadband aims to provide affordable, high-speed internet service to underserved communities in the Southeast. To determine which communities are in need of its services, Open Broadband looks at where customers often cannot afford services through larger providers. The company recently expanded to western North Carolina after its acquisition of Cashiers-based Pyranah Communications in November.
Fitzpatrick credits the achievement to his company's mission. "Even though we're a for-profit company, our mission is to provide broadband service to those in need. Just to have that mission focus behind us really makes all the difference," he said.
Software & Innovation (more than five years old)
Atom Power: Co-founded by Ryan Kennedy in 2014, Atom Power is a networked energy startup that aims to support and amplify the electrification of everything, starting with electric-vehicle charging. After raising $111.2 million in funding in August from SK Inc. and SK energy, Atom Power is better equipped to expand the region's tech sector and manufacturing. The company began shipping and installing its EV chargers in early 2022 and has since sold around 1,000 units for dozens of corporate sites across the country.
Green Tech
Top Tier Solar Solutions: Headquartered in Charlotte and founded in 2021, Top Tier Solar Solutions is a family-owned, vertically integrated solar company serving the Carolinas. In the first fiscal year of the business, the company did $50 million in revenue and it is on track to hit $130 million in revenue next year. The company is fully integrated, meaning that every aspect of the business is conducted in house. In August 2021, the company had 3 employees; as of October 2022, it had about 250 employees.
