Here comes the last 16. Voting in Round 2 of Inno Madness has drawn to a close, and more than 2,500 votes have been cast to date by Cincy Inno readers in our friendly, bracket-style challenge.
The latest round saw all three remaining No. 1 seeds fall. Unicorns Astronomer and 80 Acres were eliminated in close battles with Enosix and Electrada, respectively, while medical device maker Enable Injections was handedly beat by Velontra, the builder of a hypersonic space planes.
Lerch, a mobile event app and recent Techstars alum, is the lowest seed remaining in the field. It, too, was a runaway winner in its matchup against IoT-startup Losant, taking 61.2% of the vote.
Cloverleaf (50.3%), Carefeed (50.7%) and Lisnr (51.9%) narrowly made it through, knocking off Pieces, HerMD and Payload. Cloverleaf’s margin was a mere seven votes. And our defending champ, TinnCann, fell to No. 5 seed Homeshake.
There’s still plenty of fun ahead as we move closer to crowning an Inno Madness champion April 6.
Check out the bracket below to see all the companies that made it to the next round (and check out their brief bios below) — and get voting!
Round 3 ends at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, March 21.
Meet the players
- Enosix allows for real-time integration between SAP and front-end systems of engagement, including Salesforce and ServiceNow.
- Backyard Bet is a social platform and mobile app that makes placing bets with friends easier — and more fun. The company launched its beta in November 2022.
- Akru’s blockchain-based platform allows for fractionalized real estate investing, democratizing commercial real estate investments.
- Neural Payments, a fintech, has developed a SaaS solution that allows financial institutions to process person-to-person payments across any network, no third-party apps or registered cards required.
- Amplicore is developing drugs for musculoskeletal disorders, including meniscus tears and osteoarthritis.
- Hearty is a recruiting company building a LinkedIn alternative — where connections are built using personal recommendations.
- Sense Neuro Diagnostics is developing non-invasive brain scanners to improve outcomes for stroke and brain injury patients. Sense is our 2021 Inno Madness champion.
- Genetesis is developing the CardioFlux to rapidly scan for various heart conditions without the use of radiation, contrast or exercise. The company expects FDA “de novo” market authorization this year
- Electrada, backed by BlackRock Real Assets, is a developer, owner and operator of electric vehicle charging stations serving the transportation industry. Its “charging-as-a-service” solution reduces fleet fuel costs per mile.
- Carefeed provides digital communication solutions to senior care facilities.
- Biowish Technologies provides biotech solutions for the agriculture, aquaculture and environmental management industries, allowing customers to increase crop production or naturally treat waste and surface water.
- Lerch is a mobile event app that combines order-ahead technology with venue GPS. It's a recent Techstars Tulsa alum.
- Velontra is building a hypersonic space plane to transport satellites into low-Earth orbit.
- Real estate startup Homeshake replaces the traditional model of agents and commissions with an online peer-to-peer platform. Through the app, buyers and sellers can direct message, schedule tours or make an offer using a special dashboard. Homeshake organizes, automates and simplifies the process from initial contact to final closing.
- Cloverleaf is an automated coaching platform for workers and teams.
- Lisnr’s ultrasonic proximity platform enables for secure and seamless data transmission. Its tech is currently deployed in eight countries, and the company counts Visa, Intel and others as investors.
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-stager, how you answer that question is entirely up to you.
The bracket is assembled based on reader nominations, as well as editorial input from the Cincy Inno team. Seeding was determined by total funding and recent momentum. Meet the participants below and read the contest rules here.
The goal of Inno Madness is to give a snapshot of some of the most-promising tech companies in the region. It is by no means a complete list of Greater Cincinnati's best startups. It's also not just a list of the most-funded startups in the region.
Instead, the bracket is meant to represent the full breadth and diversity of the ecosystem. In the end, think of it as another fun look into local tech companies you need to know in 2023.
