It’s time to showcase the startups and scene supporters who are setting the North Texas innovation ecosystem ablaze this year. Today, we’re unveiling the winners of NTX Inno’s 2021 Fire Awards.
Ranging from early-stage to unicorn, these companies have been on a tear while also making an impact in the North Texas community and beyond. They are companies raising rounds, expanding their footprints, growing their headcounts and tackling some of the day’s biggest challenges. And while the companies vary in industry and focus, they all have one thing in common: they’re all on fire.
Winners were sourced from community nominations and local reporting and were chosen by the NTX Inno editorial team. They were broken up into five categories: Lifestyle & Workplace, Software, Health, Agriculture & Environmental, and Community Supporters.
To learn more about this year’s honorees, join us for our Inno on Fire virtual event on Oct. 13. During the event, you can check out pitches from winning startups, listen to a panel of experts talk about how they got here and where they’re headed, and celebrate as we announce the “Blazer winner” in each category.
So, without further delay, let’s meet the Fire companies of 2021.
Lifestyle & Workplace
- INC Education (Frisco) – A STEM-focused prescriptive tutoring company pairing students with tutors that fit their academic, social and emotional needs.
- Gig Wage (Dallas) – A fintech startup providing payroll and banking solutions for the gig economy.
- OneDine (Plano) – A software company focused on streamlining and personalizing service in the restaurant industry.
- Preciate (Dallas) - A social business platform offering tools to recreate the in-person atmosphere and collaboration of business meetings and mixers.
- Leadr (Plano) – A people management software startup helping companies develop leaders at every level of their organization.
Software
- EPSoft Technologies (Farmers Branch) – An end-to-end business process and intelligent automation platform.
- Hedera Hashgraph (Richardson) – A distributed public ledger platform.
- Aiden (Plano) – An autonomous endpoint security managed service provider helping organizations in highly regulated industries meet compliance standards
- o9 Solutions (Dallas) – A cloud-based software unicorn for integrated business planning and decision making help.
- Parasanti (Dallas/Austin) – A provider of artificial intelligence and machine learning analytics tools to customers such as the Army, the Air Force and Special Operations Command.
Community Supporters
- Texas Security Bank (Dallas) – An entrepreneurial-focused independent bank.
- Impact Ventures (Dallas) – A nonprofit accelerator focused on female and BIPOC founders and the Dallas Inclusive Capital Fund creators.
- Sparkyard (Fort Worth) – An entrepreneurial networking organization.
- McKinney EDC (McKinney) – McKinney’s Economic Development Corporation has attracted nearly 20 startups to relocate or expand to the city through its Innovation Fund grants.
- The DEC Network (Dallas) – An entrepreneurial support nonprofit and operator of the North Texas Angel Network.
Health/Medical/Biotech
- ExcelHealth dba iReliev (Fort Worth) – A fast-growing maker of electrotherapy devices for the consumer market.
- Allied Bioscience (Plano) – A biotech company focused on novel antimicrobial coatings to reduce infection and illness across public spaces.
- Take Command Health (Dallas) – A technology company providing tools to give companies and their employees new options for handling health insurance.
- Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. (Dallas) – A producer of low-cost versions of high-cost generic pharmaceuticals.
- CourMed (McKinney) - A health care services delivery startup focused on end-to-end concierge services.
Agtech/Environmental:
- BPS Agriculture (Argyle) – A agriculture innovation holding company made up of Verano365, Farm Shield and PureAcre.
- Harvest Returns (Fort Worth) – A crowdfunding investment platform focused on agriculture technology and innovative practices that’s raised more than $17 million for early-stage businesses.
- Eden Green Technology (Cleburne) – A vertical greenhouse farming technology company.
- Skyven Technologies (Dallas) – A climate tech startup focusing on decarbonizing heat emitted from industrial plants, analyzing sites and deploying a range of sustainable solutions.
- Precision Livestock Technologies (Dallas/Bay Area) - a machine vision and AI company aimed at boosting agricultural productivity and animal wellbeing
Pro tip: You can check out last year’s Blazer winners here.
