Startups are the spark behind a thriving Cincinnati economy, and Cincy Inno is ready to honor dozens of the region’s hottest, fastest-growing and most innovative companies – and the founders behind them – as part of our 2023 Fire Awards.
The Fire Awards are our premier program of the year to honor those who’ve made the biggest impact or contribution to the ecosystem.
Finalists – 35 in total spanning seven categories – were hand-selected by the Cincy Inno editorial team for their banner years that included big fundraises, acquisitions and high-profile product rollouts.
The companies were separated into seven categories, including: catalyst, best tech, sustainability, women-led, consumer packaged goods, health care and startup of the year.
The winners will be announced and profiled in the June 23 print edition of the Business Courier. You can check out the 2022 winners here.
Startup of the year
Honoring the top companies and entrepreneurs in the region for banner achievements that push Cincinnati to the next level
Standard Bariatrics reached the pinnacle of startup success with its October 2022 exit to medtech giant Teleflex. The deal, worth $300 million including earnouts, naturally gives Standard’s team access to more resources and deeper pockets. But it’s also expected to drive further innovation for the company’s flagship product, the Titan SGS, a first-of-its-kind surgical stapler for laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, a common weight loss procedure.
Medical device maker Enable Injections made a big splash in October 2022 when it revealed huge hiring plans. The company will look to more than double its headcount (now 200) over the next five years, landing millions in state and local incentives to reach its goal. The team is also scouting a spot to build a new 150,000-square-foot HQ to accommodate that growth. The company’s enFuse, a hands-free, wearable drug delivery device, is nearing FDA approval and has the potential to replace traditional IV therapy – with several differentiators that could catapult the company into a multibillion-dollar enterprise, CEO Mike Hooven said.
Pieces, an Over-the-Rhine tech startup, is developing a first-of-its-kind productivity platform for developers that allows for the saving and sharing of file fragments – boosting efficiencies and improving organization and collaboration in the process. Most recently, its team rolled out new AI-powered features plus an app built specifically for managing code snippets in Microsoft Teams. The latter landed it a spot and “partner startup” status at the Microsoft Build conference held May 23-25 in Seattle.
When Alex Taylor took over as CEO of visual media startup Oval Room Group in 2019, the company was making moves in residential real estate, offering 3D home tours to help properties move faster. Its pivot to the commercial side of the business kicked off a three-year-long, triple-digit growth spurt, capped Jan. 1 with its acquisition by Buildout, a private equity-backed commercial real estate software company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the move gives Oval Room a more formal presence in Chicago, where Buildout is based, while continuing to maintain its home base in the West End.
Ms.Medicine, a fast-growing health care startup led by founder Dr. Lisa Larkin, has quickly outgrown its Cincinnati roots. The company, now a network of 12 concierge primary care practices, with locations spanning Ohio, Colorado, Florida, Michigan and New Jersey, serves “mid-life women,” those who tend to fall through the cracks in more traditional health care delivery models. Patients here pay a membership fee – versus being billed through insurance – which affords them longer visits and 24/7 access.
Catalyst
Honoring organizations playing a sometimes under-the-radar role in propping up fledgling companies or spurring new events or innovations
Main Street Ventures has long been a staple of Cincinnati’s startup community. Since 2018, the organization has distributed more than $3 million to more than 100 local startups through its signature Launch and Leap grants. Main Street just awarded its largest cohort at 19 companies earlier this month. And in March, the nonprofit recruited Sean Parker to be its new chief, hoping to parlay his more than two decades with BigCos to even greater success.
Lightship Foundation aims to give underrepresented founders a level of access like never before. To do so, the nonprofit has rapidly expanded its signature boot camp programming, taking it statewide this year thanks to a partnership with JobsOhio and growing it throughout the nation. The organization is also building Black Tech Week, the week-long event that brought more than 1,500 entrepreneurs to Cincinnati last year. And if those efforts weren’t enough, Lightship Foundation continues to offer its 12-week accelerator and pitch program for women and minority founders.
Alloy Development, formerly HCDC, kicked its efforts into high gear in 2022, following its merger and rebrand with West Chester’s Access Business Finance. The organization serves as Greater Cincinnati’s third-largest SBA lender and its Norwood incubator, Alloy Growth Lab, is a hotbed of regional startup activity. Clients of the incubator include: Subterra, Smoove Creations, Last Mile Food Rescue and Farmed Materials, among others.
When it comes to successful startups within the Tri-State, many have Queen City Angels listed among their backers. The angel capital organization had a huge 2022, with two exits happening on the same day, including Standard Bariatrics’ $300 million exit. The organization’s portfolio of more than two dozen companies includes well-known players, such as IncludeHealth, Alphyn Biologics and Sense Neuro Diagnostics.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital has long been an incubator for research and development efforts, with dozens of startups being spun off from the medical center and even more partnering with Children’s to advance their efforts. It’s for this reason Children’s was selected earlier this year for Fortune’s inaugural ranking of the nation’s most innovative companies, with Avondale-based medical center coming in at No. 76, the second-highest of any Cincinnati company behind Procter & Gamble.
Best tech
Honoring the companies that have demonstrated the highest levels of innovation over the last 12 months
Frayt, founded in 2018, has been largely heads down after seeing explosive growth during the pandemic. The company, however, remerged earlier this year with $7 million in fresh capital and plans to launch what officials bill as game-changing technology for the delivery space. Frayt’s current tech offering connects shippers with drivers – typically small-freight and independent van owners with excess cargo space – in a matter of minutes.
Sense Neuro Diagnostics, founded in 2014 by four University of Cincinnati physicians, is developing multiple noninvasive devices to monitor traumatic brain injuries and detect brain hemorrhage or different stroke types. In recent months, the medtech’s development efforts have gained even more momentum, thanks to an equity investment from St. Elizabeth Healthcare and licensing agreement with the Mayo Clinic.
Flamel.ai may be a newcomer to Cincinnati’s startup scene, but its leader is an industry veteran whose past working for one of the region’s key financiers has helped it grow quickly. Landing $2 million in funding just months after its launch, the Covington-based startup uses artificial intelligence to make social media marketing easier for businesses of all sizes.
Aerospace startup Velontra is turning heads nationally. The company is developing a hypersonic space plane, with the goal of creating more powerful and efficient engines at a much lower cost. Its team earned a spot in the prestigious Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator last year and has millions in current government/commercial contracts and letters of intent.
Coterie is a well-known player in Cincinnati’s startup space. The company’s technology uses data to deliver simpler insurance solutions – including owners' policies, general liability insurance and professional liability insurance – to small businesses, contractors and gig workers. The company has been scaling in recent months, adding five new faces to its C-suite in a four-month span earlier, including its first chief financial officer.
Sustainability
Honoring products or services that create positive social or environmental impact
EdgeEnergy’s push to build more reliable EV charging stations has caught major momentum since its launch in 2020 – while also earning the eye of the White House, which in February touted the startup’s plans to spend $150 million to expand its manufacturing capabilities and grow its team by 60. The company, based in Green Township, designs and manufactures conversion hardware that allows for the installation of “DC fast chargers” on single-phase power infrastructure, allowing for installations in “edge-of-grid” locations, or remote areas like state parks, small towns and rural resorts. The tech allows for faster and lower-cost installation – and addresses one of the greatest barriers to EV adoption: range anxiety.
Hyde Park-based BioWish Technologies is building a portfolio of products to help farmers improve crop production in a more sustainable, safe and cost-effective way. In September 2022, the startup announced a $5 million raise led by Saudi Arabian-based public company SABIC Ventures, bringing its total capital funding to $44 million. A few months later, in December, it tapped Graham Beesley as its new CEO as it looks to “improve stockholder value,” the company said.
Clean Earth Rovers, which is developing a Roomba-like device to clean plastic and pollution out of waterways, is making a repeat appearance on our Fire Award list, after taking the title of top sustainability startup in 2022. The company has since continued its hot streak, including a big exclamation point in May when it landed on Fast Company’s list of “World Changing Ideas." The company has landed $300,000 worth of contracts alone in the first quarter and is inching ever closer to its $1.2 million funding goal on crowdfunding site Wefunder.
A city-wide “Rethink Litter Hack-a-thon” in April 2022 served as the launching pad for Cleanup Collective, a new waste management startup conceived by Lucas Williamson, founder and chief creative officer at Product Refinery, an industrial design studio for inventors and entrepreneurs. His solution? A turnkey, mobile cart outfitted with all the supplies a volunteer crew would need to coordinate clean-ups, remove litter and properly recycle. Cleanup Collective is looking to build up its fleet of “cleanup carts” to support events all over the city. Williamson landed Main Street Ventures funding in June 2022 and, later, a pilot contract with the Cincinnati Parks Foundation to test its concept with a target launch this spring.
Ohio-based Ripple was founded in 2020 by a team of college students – including Xavier University and University of Cincinnati – and it maintains its dual purpose. Ripple's stainless-steel, reusable bottles, sold at $40 a piece, not only reduce plastic in landfills, oceans and streams, but for every 2,000 units sold, the company’s sister nonprofit is able to build a well for a community in need on the other side of the world.
Women-led
Honoring women-led companies for outstanding innovation and/or transformational ideas
PayTile is Anu Vora’s second startup venture. The fintech blends elements of AirDrop and Pokemon Go, affording users a private digital wallet to pay or tip people nearby (other apps typically require parties in a transaction to share information like phone number, email, full legal name). For businesses, the app offer rewards to increase foot traffic, using proprietary geolocation and proximity technology.
Roughly 40% of women working in tech end up leaving the field in seven years or less. Armed with that statistic, D. Sangeeta left her VP role at Amazon in 2020 to launch Gotara. The platform aims to upskill, mentor and coach female workers in STEM fields – ultimately looking to ease the high burnout rate. Gotara recently participated in Flywheel Social Enterprise Hub’s ElevateEquity cohort, aimed at founders looking to address systemic inequities via entrepreneurship, and is approaching a major sales milestone with a budding customer base.
Sarah Murray, a former Coterie employee and AmeriCorps volunteer, launched Concerted in 2021 as a way to democratize attendance at concerts and live events. The tech-centered startup and nonprofit blends those two past career stints. On the platform, people can sign up for volunteer work, then cash in those hours for free tickets to shows, fine arts exhibits and sporting events. Concerted quickly landed more than 100 nonprofit partners in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, and Murray plans to expand the concept to new markets this year.
Martin, a media buying platform for agencies and brands, celebrated one of the region’s rare exits in September 2022, when it was scooped up by California-based advertising tech giant PubMatic (Nasdaq: PUBM) in a $45 million deal. It’s a key win for the region. Martin co-founders Tanja Mimica and James Hassett first relocated to Cincinnati as participants in Ocean accelerator, then opted to stay and build their business here.
Newport’s Incubator Kitchen Collective is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2023. During its tenure, the nonprofit – headed by local entrepreneur Rachel DesRochers – has played host to more than 170 food-focused startups looking to gain traction or get off the ground. The kitchen provides all the equipment and storage space the businesses would need as well as mentorship, marketing, networking, coaching and more. Its grant program, backed by Kroger Co., has supported 22 companies and counting with free rent, including a record eight in 2023.
Health care
Honoring companies and ideas that aim to deliver better care, improve health and lower costs
All eyes are on Genetesis as it edges closer and closer to commercialization. The company’s flagship product, CardioFlux, can rapidly scan for various heart conditions – without the use of radiation, contrast or exercise, solving a key pain point for patients and physicians alike. In November 2022, co-founders Peeyush Shrivastava, Vineet Erasala and Manny Setegn landed a “30 under 30” nods from Forbes, and in April, the company was given its second “breakthrough device” designation, which ensures the company a “fastpass” with the FDA when it pursues full market approval.
Abby Hess, a nurse practitioner and researcher at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, is the inventor of EZ Induction, a breathing-controlled video game that helps kids relax when it’s time to put on an anesthesia mask and fall asleep for surgery. Hess spent the last seven years developing the product, recently landing a licensing deal with Columbus-based LittleSeed Calming Technologies that could land it at other hospitals. The firm is currently testing with early adopters, with plans for a broader market introduction later this year.
Covington-headquartered Bexion Pharmaceuticals, a Cincinnati Children’s spinout, ranks as one of the region’s top fundraisers with more than $79 million secured. The company continues to make headway in its work to develop life-changing cancer treatments, and studies remain underway for its lead drug candidate BXQ-350.
Steven Pentelnik spent 35 years as a Procter & Gamble researcher. He’s now the president of clinical-stage dermatology startup, Alphyn Biologics – where he's sees huge market opportunity. Alphyn, based in both Annapolis, Md., and Cincinnati, is developing a new class of drugs for skin diseases, and its lead candidate, AB-101a, offers a non-steroidal treatment option for AD, considered the most common form of eczema. Current products on the market are plagued with safety issues and side effects, the company said. Alphyn is pursuing a Series B as it continues to work through its clinical trials.
Only a handful of Cincinnati companies can claim Techstars status. In March, digital health startup Band Connect, founded by University of Cincinnati alumna Abby McInturf, became just the fourth locally in recent years to land a spot in world-ranked accelerator. The designation comes with $120,000 in equity financing, an amount that pushes Band Connect’s pre-seed funding round, led by Cleveland-based JumpStart, past its $500,000 goal. The company, a digital health platform for remote physical therapy, will likely raise a $2.5 million to $3 million seed round later this year to fund a targeted clinical and commercial launch.
CPG
Honoring the most promising emerging lifestyle, food and beverage brands
Really Good Boxed Wine has been surging since its inception. The premium direct-to-consumer wine brand had two sell-out pilots when it launched in 2021, expanding nationwide in 2022. And last year, the brand signed a distribution deal with Oakley-based Cutting Edge Selections to help push it even further by placing its products on retail shelves.
In the consumer goods space, sustainable packaging is a major focus, and Cincinnati-based Plaine Products sits ahead of the curve. Plaine Products uses aluminum bottles for its products, versus typical plastic ones, and the company has developed a platform to intake empty bottles returned from customers to refill and reuse. The company has received high marks for its efforts, named a “Technology Pioneer” by the World Economic Forum in 2022.
Mad Rabbit may not call Greater Cincinnati home, but its roots run deep within the region. The popular tattoo aftercare brand was launched within co-founder Oliver Zak’s Miami University apartment, and from there, it’s grown into an industry leader. The company’s recent $10 million fundraise included several well-known backers, from billionaire Mark Cuban, who’s repeatedly invested in brand, to Cincinnati’s own H Venture Partners.
The number of people playing pickleball grew by 159% over three years to 8.9 million in 2022, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, making it America’s fastest-growing sport. And Cincinnati-based Nettie Pickleball Co. is riding that cachet right alongside it. The brand – known for its retro-inspired pickleball paddles – has attracted plenty of national news coverage since its 2022 launch and has parlayed that into deals, including its recent expansion to Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Blox Spiked Ice wants to go national. The West Chester-based maker of alcohol-infused ice cubes launched pilot deals with both Kroger and Walmart in 2022 and raised $1.4 million to boost its inventory and up its marketing efforts. Currently, the brand is available in dozens of locations throughout the Tri-State, has a wide-ranging footprint throughout Ohio and is available in select spots in both Indiana and Florida.
