Though Covid-19 cases have been decreasing in recent weeks, after seeing record spikes in June and July, the pandemic continues to have effects on the economy of the region and the livelihoods of those that call it home.
And amidst the crisis, local entrepreneurs, startups and other organizations have been using their innovative talent to help out in the local community and beyond.
To help you keep track of all the local startups working on pandemic-related ventures, the funds and resources available, as well as tech-related pandemic news, NTX Inno has put together a roundup of some of the more positive Covid-19 related stories we came across in August, as well as news about local relief efforts.
Pro tip: You can read daily updates on how coronavirus is affecting the local tech and startup ecosystem in our newsletter The Beat.
Check it out below.
Startups
In a first for the state, Dallas-based biotech startup Allied BioScience announced that its SurfaceWise2 antimicrobial surface coating spray has been approved by the EPA for a public health emergency exemption. The coating continuously kills 99.9% of viruses on a given surface, including Covid-19. While the approval currently only covers the state of Texas, Allied is planning to get an EPA waiver in every state, aided by an investment for an undisclosed amount from local firm Lydia Partners Allied received in April.
Carrollton-based pre-made cocktail company BuzzBallz is helping its employees' students start their virtual studies, the Dallas Morning News reports. As a former educator, CEO Merrilee Kick has set up The Nest in its offices - converted conference room for employee’s children to take their online classes. The company has even hired a certified teacher to work with the students one-on-one. As of right now, there are three students in The Nest, but the company expects more as school districts around the region resume classes.
Uber Health, the health car arm of rideshare company Uber, is getting into the prescription delivery service. In a partnership with San Francisco-based prescription delivery platform NimbleRx, the company is launched a pilot program in Dallas and Seattle. Through Uber Direct, users can order their prescriptions through NimbleRx’s platform and have them delivered to their door via an Uber driver. The company plans to expand the program into more cities in the near future, as many look for contactless ways to get things delivered amid the pandemic.
Students at the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth, which has helped launch a number of health care-related startups, was awarded a $1.9M contract from the Tarrant County Commissioners Court to conduct contract tracing in the community. Ninety students will work part time on the project and will be reimbursed for time, program management, and facilities, among other things. Students started conducting tracing on September 1 and will continue through December 30.
A Richardson-based company is working to democratize mental wellness through blockchain. Hedera Hashgraph, a public distributed ledger platform, is working with alternative medicine advocate Deepak Chopra on the Never Alone initiative – a campaign to create an online community to support peoples’ mental health. The initiative will focus on connecting people, sharing practices to help with anxiety and loneliness and developing a support system for people during social distancing. The group told Forbes blockchain is a great medium as it is not centrally controlled and allows for transparency in interactions. Hedera said Phase One is expected to be completed by Q3, with the final phase rolling out in Q2 of next year.
Frisco-based mobile primary care startup WellHealth partnered with the Texas Department of Emergency Management to help prevent future spikes of Covid-19 in the fall. The company has launched a mobile pop-up testing unit called GoGetTested, where through a website, cities and businesses can schedule a testing unit to their location. To ramp up for the testing, WellHealth is planning to add 10 more units to its 11-unit mobile fleet and has hired 87 new employees to help conduct the testing, D Magazine reports. The company is also considering expansion into Arizona, Florida and Michigan – all states that have seen large spikes in the virus in recent months.
Following the rollout of new pandemic-related features to its platform, Plano-based community health software startup FieldMed announced the launch of a new software module that allows paramedics responding to a call to make electronic reports on a number of digital tools and systems. The company hopes the software will help streamline the EMS reporting process, allowing first responders to focus more on the patient. The rollout follows the launch of a telehealth and Covid-19 screening features launched by FieldMed in the past few months.
After joining New York-based specialty golf ball startup OnCore Golf as a shareholder earlier this month, Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot is using that position to help give back to the North Texas community. Elliot and the company collaborated to create a limited edition golf ball with the logo “Everyone Eats.” All of the proceeds from its sales will be donated to the North Texas Food Bank, as it has been facing increased demand of its services during the pandemic. You can snag your own here.
Halo Health Systems, a Dallas-based startup that is digitizing the clinical trial process. And even though it was launched before Covid-19 became a household name, the company sees itself uniquely placed in the industry to help keep trials going through the crisis and to prevent future disruptions to the path to bringing potentially life-saving products to market. Launched in 2018, Halo’s platform helps remotely connect patients to the physicians and organizations conducting trials on new drugs and devices. Its IoT and mobile technology allows for researchers to remotely monitor their patient’s health and adherence to the study guidelines, and digitizes the data collected so analysis can be conducted in real time.
Dallas-based coworking company WorkSuite rolled out a new option to help keep its entrepreneurs and small business owners in the office while their children either take their classes online or just get a little entertainment. WorkSuites’ new offering, called the Zoom Room, is a place where its clients’ kids can go and get their own private desk to participate in online classes and do schoolwork. Others, who aren’t yet beginning classes can snag an iPad to keep entertained while their parents work. The rooms are also hooked up with free wifi and networked printers to help with online schooling and will include a monitor to help keep those doing schoolwork on track
As universities consider safety measures as they eye reopening in person classes, a local startup has formed a partnership to help with one aspect of that. Dallas-based B2B parking software and hardware startup ParkHub teamed up with Toronto-based Honk, a contactless parking payment solutions, to launch an integrated parking solution. The pair will be launching the technology at the University of Arizona this coming semester with planned rollouts at other universities in the near future. Under the partnership Honk’s contactless tech will be integrated into ParkHub’s business intelligence solutions.
As part of a pandemic pivot, Dallas-based bedding company Nextt announced the launch of a new health care division, called Nextt Shield. The company is importing PPE, including face shields, N-95 face masks and hand sanitizer to businesses and institutions across the state. According to a release, the company said it is already working with the City of Dallas, the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, among others.
News
Joining a list of other local tech companies, VertexOne, a Dallas-based SaaS solutions provider to the utilities industry, is betting that in the post-pandemic future the need for large offices will be a thing of the past, making work from anywhere a permanent option. The company was originally planning to move into a new 10K sq.-ft. headquarters in the area this year, but those plans were put on hold as the pandemic forced many to work from home.
With some tech companies moving to permanent WFH policies or looking for more hybrid working options, the North Texas market saw a 34% decline in office leasing in the tech sector during Q2. It has yet to be seen how the pandemic will affect the future of workspace. However, Dallas-based coworking company Worksuites’ CEO Flip Howard recently told the Dallas Business Journal that his company has been seeing an increased demand in coworking space from other businesses, as they look to diversify their working options. While DFW saw a decline, it was not as drastic as other areas like San Francisco and Manhattan, which saw a 75% and 71% decline, respectively.
With the potential of the pandemic to worsen existing drug abuse problems in residents, the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth teamed up with Minnesota-based pharmatech company Verde Technologies to help prevent leftover prescription meds from getting into the wrong hands. Through the partnership, UNT HSC will distribute 500 of Verde’s Dettera pouches, which use iron ore and coal fine pellets to deactivate the active ingredients in opioid prescriptions. Each pouch is able to destroy up to 90 pills. The move is part of a larger overdose prevention campaign by UNT HSC, which distributed more than 9K doses of the overdose-reversal drug Narcan to community partners in the region earlier this year.
As DocuSign’s digital signature technology has been in the news recently for its market gains, a local tech company is looking to get in on the action. Irving-based business automation company Exela Technologies announced the launch of its proprietary esignature platform DrySign. The company said DrySign, which allows for the secure exchange of individual and multi-party document signatures, is especially important during the pandemic, with companies looking for more contactless ways to conduct business.
Venture Dallas, a local nonprofit working to grow the North Texas innovation scene, is planning on move its second annual conference to an online format. The move follows Dallas Startup Week’s decision to do the in July. Unlike last year’s two-day in person event, 2020’s event will be held on the mobile platform Thumbraise and span the course of 34 days. It kicks off on Sept. 15. Participation in the event is free to qualifying startups and investors, with the goal of making connections – and, hopefully, investments. You can check out all the details here.
While many industries have been struggling through the pandemic, others have been growing. Dallas-based online dating app company Match Group’s platforms have been seeing a spike in revenue during the pandemic, even through lockdown orders and social distancing measures, the Dallas Morning News reports. New features that it has been rolling out across some of its apps, like video calling, background customization and dating-from-home badges appear to be paying off. Tinder has seen a 15% spike in direct revenue and its other platforms have seen 9% from more users moving to direct subscribers across all platforms. And during the first months of the pandemic, Match marked 10M subscribers.
DoorDash launched a new virtual convenience store chain that will operate like a ghost kitchen called DashMart in Dallas and seven other cities in the U.S. Through partnerships with local chains like 7-Eleven and CVS, as well as with other specialty stores, users can order snacks and over-the-counter goods through the company’s app. It plans on rolling DashMart out into other markets like Denver and Baltimore soon.
Resources
The City of Fort Worth and the United Way of Tarrant County are gearing up to disperse the next round of small business grant funding through its Preserve The Fort initiative. The organizations are looking to distribute nearly $9M in this second round, about $2.8M more than the first round, which reached 842 businesses in the region. While no official application opening date has been set, it is expected to open early next month. And this new round has been expanded to include nonprofits, arts venues, businesses up to 500 employees and self-employed individuals. You can check out the full details here.
Dallas ISD invested $20M in an effort to give about 46K students iPads and about 14K students in pre-K to fifth grade as the district looks to move classes virtual until it resumes in person class, which is expected to take place on Sept. 8. The district plans to host drive-up events at elementary campuses in the coming weeks for pickup of the technology. It is also hoping it will potentially be reimbursed for some of the money from the Texas Education Agency.
A coalition of partners, including the City of Fort Worth and a number of Fort Worth chambers provided free masks to local businesses last month. They had four locations set up around the city and are offering businesses up to 200 masks for each. The organizations hope the effort will help slow the spread of the coronavirus as businesses in the region and across the state look at reopening measures amid the pandemic.
The City of Dallas’ Office of Economic Development teamed up San Francisco-based fintech startup SizeUp to help business owners recover from the economic impact of the pandemic. Through SizeUp’s tool, small and mid-sized businesses can make advertising more efficient, find new customers and see where their business ranks among other industry competitors. And it’s being offered for free. You can check it out here.
