Competition was tight in the first round of Columbus Inno Madness, but ultimately it was the robots who made the strongest showing.
Path Robotics, a startup developing autonomous welders, had the widest margin of victory in the first round of our new bracket-style challenge. Other victors from the first round included AndHealth, Matt Scantland's new startup; Olive AI, a Columbus unicorn; and Empora Title, founded by a former Root Insurance employee.
You can see the full list of first round winners and cast your votes in Round 2 below.
As a reminder, Columbus Inno Madness is our friendly, bracket-style challenge that lets 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 16 innovative, fast-growing local businesses.
The goal of Inno Madness is to give a snapshot of some of the most-promising tech companies in Columbus. It is by no means a complete list of the region's best startups, which is a testament to the size of Central Ohio's tech scene. It's also not just a list of the 16 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 the bracket as just a fun look into tech local companies you need to know in 2022.
Second-round voting begins now and continues through noon on March 15. Readers can cast one vote per round. We'll open up voting round by round, ultimately crowning a winner at at the end of March.
Let's get into Round 2:
Meet the Players (with Round 1 winners in bold):
Region A
1. AndHealth: The new healthcare startup from CoverMyMeds founder Matt Scantland. Read more in our recent cover story.
2. Beam Dental: A digital dental insurer rating risk by data on oral hygiene habits measured by a smart toothbrush. Read about its expected growth here.
3. Lower: A digital home lender, now best known for its name appearing atop the home of the Columbus Crew. Here's a recent story on the company's growth plans.
4. Forge Biologics: A biotech gene therapy and genetic material manufacturing startup based in Grove City. It plans to grow to hundreds of jobs in the suburb.
5. Path Robotics: A startup developing autonomous welders. The company had one of the region's largest funding rounds last year.
6. Aware: A startup whose software detects risk and assesses overall employee engagement through real-time analysis of workplace collaboration platforms. The company landed funding from Goldman Sachs last year.
7. Physna: A Columbus transplant billed as the Google of 3D. Google's venture arm invested in the startup last year.
8. Rhove: One of our 2022 Startups to Watch, which calls itself "Robinhood for real estate" by helping everyday investors buy a stake in commercial developments. Read more here.
Region B
1. Olive AI: A Columbus unicorn targeting wasteful healthcare spending through administrative automation that was valued at $4 billion in a 2021 VC round. Read more about its growth here.
2. Branch: Another digital insurer, for home and auto, and a Columbus transplant. Check out some of our recent coverage here.
3. PriorAuthNow: A Columbus software startup seeking to improve coverage and decision-making for medical procedures. Here's the latest on the company's growth plans.
4. Circulo: An AI-powered Medicaid managed care startup founded by Olive founder Sean Lane. The company recently got the OK to operate in Ohio.
5. Empora Title: A real estate title startup digitizing transactions for investment properties. The company was founded by a former employee of now publicly traded Root Insurance.
6. Finite State: A Columbus cybersecurity startup, founded by a Battelle veteran, focused on the internet of things. Read more about the company here.
7. Clarus R+D: A software company that aims to help companies claim tax credits on R&D expenses. The company talked to us about its growth late last year.
8. Fleri: Another one of our Startups to Watch and a social enterprise that helps immigrants direct remittances for loved ones back home, starting with healthcare. Take a deeper dive here.
