Our KY Inno Madness competition is here. And we've got 32 startups from across Kentucky and Southern Indiana vying for the coveted title of 2022 Inno Madness champion.
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 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 32 innovative, fast-growing local businesses.
The bracket is assembled based on reader nominations, as well as editorial input from the KY Inno team. Seeding was determined by age and the venture funding of the companies. Meet the participants below and read the content rules here.
The goal of Inno Madness is to give a snapshot of some of the most-promising tech companies in our region. It is by no means a complete list of our best startups, which is a testament to the growing size of the commonwealth's tech scene. It's also not a list of the 32 most-funded startups.
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 local companies you need to know in 2022. In case you missed it, KY Inno highlighted 22 companies in our inaugural Startups to Watch program this year.
First-round voting begins now and continues through Sunday, March 6. Readers can cast one vote per round. We'll open up voting round by round, ultimately crowning an INNO MADNESS winner on Monday, March 28.
Let's get into Round 1...
Meet the Players:
Climavision (Louisville) — A tech company that has developed a weather services and intelligence platform powered by a private network of high-resolution radars, GPS-RO data and proprietary software to improve the timing and accuracy of weather forecasting and to fill low-level gaps in existing weather surveillance.
FreshFry (Louisville) — A food-tech company that developed an all-natural, plant-based pod that extends the life of frying oil by collecting and dissolving impurities, ultimately saving restaurant operators time, labor and cost.
SkuVault (Louisville) — A cloud-based software platform and network that manages inventory and warehouses for e-commerce companies.
SentryHealth (Louisville) — A health-tech company that developed a population health management tool for providers that pairs analytics with clinical care management and high-touch outreach to drive positive behavior change and outcomes.
Switcher Studio (Louisville) — A video editing software company that offers users a way to capture video from multiple camera angles and edit it in real time.
Virtual Peaker (Louisville) — A tech company that offers a cloud-based energy management platform through which utility companies can control web-enabled appliances, such as thermostats, water heaters, smart circuit breakers, room air conditioners and heat-pump systems.
Hippo Manager (Lexington) — A tech company that has developed a cloud-based veterinary management software, offering built-in reminders, lab integrations, cash flow analysis tables and practice performance reports.
OmniLife (Lexington) — A mobile health information technology company that provides patient-centric software as a service to the organ failure care continuum.
EZ-Chow (New Albany, Indiana) — A software development startup that provides single and multi-unit restaurants and hospitality organizations with a branded, multi-channel, point-of-sale-integrated API system that increases digital customer engagement.
Space Tango (Lexington) — An aerospace company that provides access to microgravity for research and development and manufacturing on the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory through automated platforms that can support a variety of sciences.
MEMStim (Louisville) — A health-tech company that manufactures implantable, biocompatible electrode leads capable of providing targeted electrical stimulation to highly dense and small nerve fiber groups.
Forecastr (Louisville) — A fintech company that developed a platform that constructs a custom forecasting model for businesses, which can be used for budgeting, cash flow management and raising capital.
VividCharts (Lexington)— A data visualization platform that allows ServiceNow customers to generate and distribute real-time reports that make data-focused decisions easy and efficient.
AboutBit (Louisville) — A crypto mining company that’s been acquiring natural gas assets and other inexpensive, off-grid energy sources to make power cheaper and ultimately cleaner.
Party Horses (Louisville) — A web3 company that’s releasing 10,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that will have tangible, real-world benefits, such as access to rare bottles of bourbon and exclusive events.
Stuccco (Louisville) — An online home design platform that allows Realtors and homeowners to get any room professionally designed and virtually staged quickly, allowing homes to sell faster and at a higher price.
Hummingbird Nano (Nicholasville, Kentucky) — An advanced manufacturing company that makes precision plastic parts with a focus on life science and biotechnology applications.
Moolathon (Louisville) — A social fundraising platform and fitness tracker smartphone application that gives individuals and groups the ability to raise money for a cause.
Clover Learning (Louisville) — An edtech company that creates and distributes online, video-based training, exam prep and continuing education products and services to diagnostic imaging students and professionals.
Bert Thin Films (Louisville) — A company that is developing a low-cost, copper-based paste that will replace an expensive silver component prevalent in solar cell manufacturing.
JoBe Products (Louisville) — A company that invented the “Besk” — a combination backpack and desk.
Innovative Therapeutix (Louisville) — A company that’s developed an integrated biofeedback device, LullaFeed, that use music reinforcement to encourage infants to drink from the bottle.
PreventScripts (Paducah, Kentucky) — A health tech company looking to solve the “blind spot of health care” — the time between primary care visits — with a remote monitoring app where providers can track patient’s progress.
Resolv (Louisville) — An integrated platform that aims to improve mental health outcomes for youth and young adults through peer support.
Cellie Coping Co. (Lexington) — A psychologist-led company that offers coping kits for children with food allergy, injury, cancer, sickle cell disease, eosinophilic esophagitis or siblings of kids with medical conditions.
Pascal Tags (Louisville) — A hard-tech company building a data-driven supply chain through smart, chip-less tags that allow businesses to track inventory.
Yornest (Louisville) — A smartphone application that brings together a social media platform with group messaging capabilities
Symba (Louisville) — A real estate tech company that’s built a mobile-first, customer relationship management platform that enables agents to upload their contacts, track deals, organize their tasks and monitor their sales and commissions.
UnicusPar (Louisville) — A software company that aims to be the Match.com for recruiters by assessing both companies and candidates to measure career compatibility.
Black Business Boxes (Louisville) — An e-commerce company that is working to build a Black-owned marketplace makes it easier for dollars to circulate within the Black community, and curate subscription boxes from different Black-owned businesses to introduce consumers to new brands.
ColiGlow (Richmond, Kentucky) — A low-cost water testing kit that can quantify E. coli from water in low-resource environments, developed by Eastern Scientific founder and Eastern Kentucky professor Dr. Jason Marion.
Wall Eye Solutions (Stanford, Kentucky) — An additive manufacturing company that offers a large variety of fully tubed wall ports, creating a fully sealed opening through a wall or barrier and leaving an aesthetically pleasing pass through for the running of cables, cords and wires.
Read contest rules here.
