The mark of a steep competition is the overall talent and depth of the field. That was certainly the case for this year’s KY Inno Fire Awards.
In our second edition of the awards, we had many worthy nominations. Startups and members of the local entrepreneurial ecosystems in Kentucky and Southern Indiana have been, well, on fire when it comes to growing their companies and the startup community as a whole.
Our honorees this year represent one of five categories: Ecosystem Builders, Investors, CEOs, On the Rise and Disruptors. A description of each category can be found below. We’ve also included profiles of all 24 honorees.
Some of the winning names and companies have become well-known in the local startup community. Others, we predict, will achieve that status soon.
Our honorees came from nominations as well as our past reporting. Myself, along with LBF editors, chose this year's honorees.
We asked each winner to share some information about their company/organization and some insights into the startup world as a whole. We were very impressed with their collective responses and hope that you will be as well.
The Ecosystem-Builders
The people working behind the scenes that are moving ecosystems forward and growing momentum for entrepreneurs.
Larry Horn, CEO of Amplify Louisville
Dave Knox, executive director of Blue North (Covington, Kentucky)
Sabrina McWhorter, director of business and innovation, SOAR (Pikeville, Kentucky)
Monique Quarterman, KY Innovation (Frankfort, Kentucky)
Buddy Steen, CEO, Western Kentucky University Innovation Campus (Bowling Green, Kentucky)
The Investors
The people and firms that are funding companies in Kentucky and Southern Indiana.
Awesome Inc (Lexington, Kentucky)
Brook Smith, president, RSLP Ventures (Louisville)
eGateway Capital (Covington)
Keyhorse Capital (Frankfort)
Phoebe Wood, principal, CompaniesWood (Louisville)
The CEOs
The leaders who are making a name for Kentucky on a larger scale.
Buddy Bockweg, co-founder and CEO, Vsimple (New Albany, Indiana)
Stevens Bonhomme, founder and CEO, Feedcoyote (Paducah, Kentucky)
Stacy Griggs, president and CEO, El Toro (Louisville)
Jeremy Jacobs, founder and CEO, Eyeconic.tv (Bowling Green)
Alli Truttmann, founder and CEO, Wicked Technologies (Louisville)
On the Rise
The startups that have experienced a combination of client, revenue and funding growth.
Better Blend (Florence, Kentucky)
Forecastr (Louisville)
GoodMaps (Louisville)
RxLightning (New Albany)
Xena Intelligence (Louisville)
The Disruptors
The companies that are leading the charge in new and evolving industries and/or technologies.
Flamel.ai (Covington)
HempWood (Murray, Kentucky)
Melanated Healthcare (Louisville)
New Frontier (Morehead, Kentucky)
