Not every company on NTX Inno's annual Startups to Watch list will end this year with a blockbuster announcement, but a number of our past honorees have done just that.
From our 2020 list, relationship lending platform Zirtue went on to raise millions, bringing its total to around $6 million. And VR training platform SURVIVR made its exit via an acquisition by Georgia-based InVeris Training Solutions. From the 2021 list, real estate tech firm Dottid went on to raise $4.5 million and double the size of its headquarters with new digs at Preston Center. While Bedford biotech Nanoscope Therapeutics received a $1.5 million Small Business Research Innovation grant from the National Eye Institute, which is fueling Phase 2b trials for its optogenetic gene therapy.
Since we recently highlighted this year's Startups to Watch list, we decided to check back in on what some of the startups from the 2020 list were up to in 2021. Let's dive in...
Checking in on NTX Inno’s 2021 Startups to Watch...
CourMed
McKinney-based health care services delivery startup CourMed has been on a tear in recent months, aided by tailwinds from digital health care technology acceleration during the pandemic.
In September, the company landed a $500,000 interest-free, five-year loan from software giant Microsoft, after completing the company’s Microsoft for Startups program. As part of the investment, CourMed’s services will be accessible to employers using Microsoft programs as a benefit offering. The money will also allow the company to bring its enterprise software within the Microsoft Marketplace, which Miles said would allow anyone across the globe to mimic CourMed’s services, splitting 80% of the revenue with the company and 20% to Microsoft via the Marketplace.
CourMed employs a team of more than 300 drivers and, according to CEO Derrick Miles, it saw its revenue increase 300% between 2019 and 2020.
Mercado
In 2020, Dallas supply chain startup Mercado landed a $3.2 million seed round led by LiveOak Ventures, as well as a $2.5 million “interim round” led by Ironspring Ventures. And in 2021, it raised even more.
In December, Mercado announced raising a Series A round for an undisclosed amount, this time led by SJF Ventures. It’s planning to use that new funding to “rapidly digitize and automate the ordering and transport of goods throughout the international supply chain,” as it notes that the pandemic supply chain issues have accelerated demand for technology solutions and automation.
According to the SaaS-focused website GetLatka, Mercado saw $328.2 million in revenue this year.
Rosy
Launched on Valentine’s Day 2019 by former OB/GYN Lyndsey Harper, Dallas-based women’s sexual wellness app Rosy has reached more than 100,000 women across the country.
To reach more, the company closed on a $2 million seed round led by Austin firm True Wealth Ventures and joined by Portfolia’s Femtech II Fund and Mindshift Capital. It’s using that money to grow its five-person team, further product development and conduct new research.
Without disclosing specifics, Harper said Rosy’s revenue has increased 55% each quarter over the last year and its product is being recommended by 6% of OB/GYNs across the country. Last year, the company raised a $1 million seed round from investors including Joyance Partners, Social Starts, Alex Snodgrass (founder of Defined Dish) and James Beshara (founder and CEO of Tilt).
ShearShare
The marketplace for barbers and salon stylists to rent chairs in an existing space is “on the cusp of big things,” a Buffalo Inno headline reads. In December, the formerly McKinney-based startup announced it would move to upstate New York.
The relocation follows ShearShare’s $500,000 pitch competition win at 43North, which came with a requirement to move to Buffalo. Along with new digs, the company is planning “major updates” and a “hiring binge.”
ShearShare is also backed by big names like Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and Backstage Capital. It’s pulled in a total of $3.4 million since launching in 2017, including from former Dallas Cowboys player Jaylon Smith through his Minority Entrepreneurship Institute, and ArlanWasHere Investments, for which Mark Cuban is the sole LP. That has made co-founder Courtney Caldwell the 33rd Black female founder to raise more than $1 million, according to NBC DFW.
Skyven Technologies
Since launching in 2013, Skyven Technologies, a Dallas-based climate tech startup, has been focused on decarbonizing heat emitted from industrial plants, analyzing sites and deploying a range of sustainable solutions.
With the aid of a $1.1 million grant from the California Energy Commission it landed in February, Skyven is looking to AI to build a front-end engineering platform. With that Skyven will be able to scale significantly, Nachman said. Once built out, it will be able to handle much of the front-end work Skyven would typically do on-site and in-person to analyze the site, as well as the technologies available to solve the site’s specific needs.
The company has installed projects in Dallas, at Cornell University and at Copses Farms in New York, following a $1 million grant at the state’s 76West Clean Energy Competition in 2017.
In total, Director of Strategic Marketing and Government Relations Inbal Nachman said the company has received about $4.6 million in grant funding and about $1.5 million in seed and pre-seed funding from backers like MassChallenge, The Southwest Angel Network and the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator.
