Upsets are inevitable this time of year.
Just like our first edition of Inno Madness, we have had a shakeup in the first round of this year’s competition with half the 16 matchups resulting in upsets — none bigger than No. 8 seed BumptUp out of Bowling Green, Kentucky, bumping the defending champion, No. 1 VividCharts, of Lexington, Kentucky, from the competition.
After more than 400 votes, you can see how the dust settled in our updated bracket. Click below to vote in the second round.
A few things to note:
- All of the other No. 1 seeds (Wicked Sheets, Gravity Diagnostics and eBlu Solutions) pulled through. Those first two companies, though, won by an average of 1.5%.
- In one of the regions, Region B, three of the four matchups were upsets.
- Only two No. 2 seeds (XpressRun, BioProducts) and one No. 3 seed, DesiCorp, remain.
- None of the seeds of a certain number all advanced.
- The biggest margin of victory was XpressRun over No. 7 uJoin after getting 63% of that vote; the second, No. 4 TitleWise over No. 5 findCRA, with 62% of the vote.
In case you missed the first round, KY Inno decided the seeds based on the age of the company and the venture dollars backing it.
For reference we have copied over the “Meet the Players” section of the 16 remaining teams.
Second round voting ends at 11:59 p.m. on March 15. As a refresher, click here for the rules of the competition.
Meet the players
Wicked Sheets (Louisville) — Wicked Sheets specializes in bedding and sleep products. In partnership with the University of Louisville, the Wicked Smart Pad will test application use in the Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias populations.
Gravity Diagnostics (Covington, Kentucky) — The company provides innovative diagnostic testing in the areas of toxicology, pharmacogenetics, infectious and upper respiratory diseases, blood, and COVID-19.
eBlu Solutions (Louisville) — A health-tech company that specializes in streamlining prior authorizations for infusion-based specialty medications, currently supporting infusion drug prior authorizations in rheumatology, neurology, gastroenterology and allergy/asthma.
XpressRun (Louisville) — XpressRun is a same-day delivery orchestration platform offering nationwide coverage at the lowest possible rates, giving businesses access to over 4 million couriers through one API [application program interface] integration.
BioProducts (Louisville) — BioProducts provides unique profitability solutions for agricultural residue through its patented technologies. The company’s technologies deliver xylose (a zero calorie sugar), carbon neutral biocoal (a drop in replacement for coal) and high-surface area activated carbons for multiple applications.
DesiCorp (Louisville) — Desicorp specializes in freeze drying blood. Once the process is complete, it can last up to three years in terms of maintaining its structure and six months in terms of its function.
C2 Keep (Louisville) — C2 Keep is a SaaS [software-as-a-service] solution helping pharmacies improve compliance with the Controlled Substances Act, be more audit-prepared, and manage drug inventory up to 70% more efficiently.
Elixir Kombucha (Louisville) — : Born out of a home brewing operation, Elixir makes a line of kombucha, selling it in stores across Kentucky and in some surrounding states.
TitleWise (Clarksville, Indiana) — TitleWise creates digital solutions for the real estate title industry. With digitized workflows and cloud document storage, the TitleWise app saves firms on average $200,000 per year by reducing the time to complete a title search by 60%.
Farmers Plus (Leitchfield, Kentucky) — The company has a digital marketplace designed for the agriculture tech industry, which includes the capability of conducting e-commerce transactions.
RaveOn Sports (Lexington) — RaveOn Sports is a sports technology company focused on creating the second-screen experiences for displaced fans, content creators and others by connecting them to each other during the live games and developing AI and machine-learning enterprise solutions for teams and leagues to make fan-centric decisions.
Affinna (Louisville) — Affinna is a streamlined ticket-buying platform on which users can buy or sell tickets, in which the average transaction should take about 20 seconds.
Feedcoyote (Paducah, Kentucky) — Feedcoyote serves as a collaboration platform for freelancers. It was created to address both the increasing numbers of freelancers in the digital space, and the resulting increased need for connections to other freelancers.
SWIS (Louisville) — Standing for Storm Water Intelligence System, SWIS is a patented algorithm, paired with a device, which informs consumers when they are reducing or adding contaminated blackwater at critical times, thus helping reduce EPA fines for municipalities and reducing blackwater runoff overall.
Sikanai (Park Hills, Kentucky) — Sikanai is an edtech startup focusing on student-first solutions that benefit both the instructor and the student.
BumptUp (Bowling Green, Kentucky) — BumptUp is a pregnancy health evidence-based app that helps women improve physical activity and health outcomes both through the pregnancy and postpartum stages.
