The second-annual AZ Inno Fire Awards recognizes the state's fastest-growing, most innovative and impactful startups and their founders. Winners were unveiled during a June 15 awards event at Papago Golf Club in Phoenix. Read about this year's winners and finalists below and in the June 16 print and online editions of the Phoenix Business Journal.
The Blazer Award: Diana Vowels
Diana Vowels is dedicated to helping startups succeed while advancing Arizona’s technology ecosystem.
Vowels, who has been a prominent figure in the Valley startup community for more than a decade, joined StartupAZ in 2021 to oversee talent strategy and leadership development. In 2022, she was named CEO of the nonprofit organization, which helps companies improve their leadership, performance and connections.
Prior to joining StartupAZ, Vowels was vice president of community and general manager of Galvanize Phoenix, where she oversaw the launch of data science and software engineering bootcamps at the co-working space.
Vowels joined the tech sector following a career in media advertising and health care. She held executive leadership roles in advertising at Gannett newspapers, including the Arizona Republic. Vowels, along with her husband, David, also owned and operated Hamilton Prosthetics & Orthotics, which they sold in 2014. A year later, Vowels became Groupon's local site director and oversaw the company's opening of its Scottsdale office.
“I became passionate about entrepreneurship and innovation and it just made sense,” she said of her career transition to technology. “So I got more engaged in the tech community in Phoenix. When I launched Groupon (in Scottsdale), which was 10 years old at the time, I thought I was joining a startup, but they were past the startup phase. And I realized that the interesting part of the business was the launch and scale phase.”
Vowels said it’s inspiring to be surrounded by entrepreneurs who take bold risks, build innovative companies, create jobs and pay it forward.
“I'm inspired by the early-stage founders and by the more seasoned founders who want to help,” she said.
Inspiring future tech leaders
After seeing the effectiveness of StartupAZ Collective's CEO roundtable, Vowels launched the Key Leaders program to grow the next generation of leaders in companies involved with the organization, she said, noting that more than 100 participants from 35 companies have signed up to date.
“I'm particularly proud of the Key Leaders program and the impact that it's having because it's creating a space for those up-and-coming leaders within companies to find their peer group and people who understand them,” Vowels said. “Sometimes, our founders call the Collective startup therapy. We're creating that same type of environment and connectivity between the next tier of leadership and the companies.”
StartupAZ’s 112 participating companies have raised more than $350 million in total venture capital and created 1,800 jobs.
Arizona’s tech ecosystem has a strong foundation with a supportive community and growing educational and capital resources, but there’s potential for even more growth, Vowels said.
“I think the market has matured and we've become more of a true tech hub," Vowels said. "Now, having said that, we have a ways to go. There's a lot of other vibrant tech ecosystems that we're competing with, so we need to encourage more founders."
Vowels said efforts to boost technical education and venture capital sources are key to growing the state's technology industry.
“We've traditionally been a real estate-heavy investing market. We need to demonstrate that we have the quality of companies to attract more talent to invest in Arizona,” she said. “So, if you have capital and talent, we already have a great supportive ecosystem.”
Vowels aims to continue StartupAZ’s mission of inspiring more technology leaders to build companies in the state.
She is also on the board of directors for Venture Madness by Invest Southwest, an annual investors’ conference and pitch competition, and was the 2021 chair of the event.
“I think I have the best job in Arizona. I'm surrounded by talented founders who are driving innovation and I feel fortunate to be surrounded by them every day,” Vowels said. “I learn and grow every day at this stage of my career.”
Click through the photo gallery below to see who attended this year's AZ Inno Fire Awards:
2023 Inno Fire Awards
Software category winner: Qwick
Qwick has been one of the Valley’s fastest-growing startups since its inception in 2018. Founded by Jamie Baxter, Blaine Light and Chris Loeffler, Qwick created a platform that matches hospitality workers with shifts at restaurants, hotels, catering companies, stadiums and more.
Last year, Qwick expanded the number of hospitality business partnerships by 145% and launched in 10 new markets nationwide. Inc. magazine ranked the on-demand food and beverage labor marketplace No. 32 on its annual list of fastest-growing private companies in the nation, indicating it achieved a growth rate of 10,032% over the past three years.
The company raised $40 million in a series B round last October led by Tritium Partners, with participation by current investors Album VC, Kickstart, Desert Angels and Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund.
Qwick was named a "Startup to Watch" in 2023 by AZ Inno. It also made it to the second round in the AZ Inno Madness bracket-style startup competition where readers vote for companies based on who they would choose to invest in.
In addition to closing a round of funding and expanding partnerships, Qwick hired Gint Grabauskas as its first chief technology officer to oversee engineering and product functions and named Dutch Bros President Christine Barone to its board of directors.
Software category finalists
AlgoFace – Carefree
Founded: 2021
CEO: Andrew Bart
What they do: AlgoFace is a computer vision and AI face detection startup.
Bluetail Inc. – Phoenix
Founded: 2019
CEO: Roberto Guerrieri
What they do: Bluetail is a Phoenix-based company that helps aircraft owners digitize flight records.
Isos Technology – Tempe
Founded: 2005
CEO: Thad West
What they do: Isos Technology helps companies create custom software tools.
Promineo Tech – Peoria
Founded: 2018
CEO: Nick Suwyn
What they do: Promineo Tech is an education-as-a-service company that partners with colleges to provide affordable coding bootcamps.
Health care/Biotech category winner: Delta Development Team
Delta Development Team developed a battery-powered, medical grade refrigeration system that can transport vaccines, blood products and medications, allowing medics to treat patients at the scene of a medical emergency.
The Tucson-based company, founded in 2021 by Monti Leija, Bill Barg, and Robert Futch, has sold nearly 300 of its portable refrigeration systems to the U.S. military and medical personnel in seven countries, including the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services in Texas, said Robert Futch, chief technology officer for Delta Development Team.
"They've actually been deployed in Afghanistan and in the conflict in Sudan, and in a bunch of other places in Africa,” Futch said, referring to the company’s refrigeration systems. “So they've been all over the world now.”
The company aims to grow sales by marketing its product to U.S. military customers and emergency medical personnel nationwide.
Delta Development, which has 14 employees, is looking to hire five more workers by the end of July to keep up with product demand.
The company in April was among 17 startups that participated in Venture Madness, the state’s longest-running pitch competition.
So far, Delta Development has received more than $3.8 million in federal Small Business Innovation Research grants.
“That's what allowed us to develop these products,” Futch said. “Since then, we launched our own production line here in Tucson, Arizona.”
Delta Development is now looking to raise its first round of funding from investors, he said.
“Everybody wants to have blood (products) on their ambulances and they don't have a solution right now,” Futch said. “Now, we have a product — the first one on the market that can do it — but we want to stay ahead of that and meet the demand. So we‘ve got to scale up quickly.”
Health care/Biotech category finalists
Aesthetics Biomedical Inc. – Phoenix
Founded: 2016
CEO: MaryAnn Guerra
What they do: Aesthetics Biomedical has developed a Vivace RF micro-needling device.
EvolvedMD – Scottsdale
Founded: 2017
CEO: Erik Osland
What they do: EvolvedMD is a behavioral health integration company that provides care for more than 400 primary care providers for more than 70 sites.
GT Medical Technologies Inc. – Tempe
Founded: 2017
CEO: Matthew Likens
What they do: GT Medical Technologies is a medical device company that makes technology to treat patients with operable brain tumors.
Reference Medicine – Phoenix
Founded: 2021
CEO: Inga Rose
What they do: Reference Medicine is an oncology biospecimen provider.
Inno Pick category winner: Noggin Boss
Since appearing on ABC’s “Shark Tank” in 2022, Noggin Boss experienced three years of growth in a matter of months.
The Phoenix-based company’s oversized hats became a hot commodity among sports teams, celebrities, businesses and nonprofits since it was founded in 2019 by Gabe Cooper and Sean Starner.
The frenzy began in November with a post-game photo that circulated online of Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson Jr. wearing one of the company’s hats, which later were spotted on Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt and University of Georgia football players following their SEC championship win in December.
The company now has more than 30 NCAA licensing agreements with colleges, including Arizona State University and Grand Canyon University.
In April, Noggin Boss became a licensee of NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports and sells an HMS collection of hats for $125 each.
In addition, the company gained approval with the NHL and NBA to sell hats directly to teams and in stadium shops, Cooper said.
“We have three additional license opportunities that are still in process. They are going to have different launch dates,” Cooper said. “We are navigating each of those opportunities and making sure we can execute with excellence.”
Noggin Boss is based out of Grand Canyon University’s business accelerator, Canyon Venture Center. It recently added three new employees, all of whom are GCU graduates.
Inno Pick category finalists
Bundle x Joy – Phoenix
Founded: 2022
CEO: Jessica Berger
What they do: The company works with nutritionists to create formulas for its pet food that includes real meat, plant-based superfoods and probiotics.
qBotica – Phoenix
Founded: 2017
CEO: Mahesh Vinayagam
What they do: qBotica is an automated document processing company.
Rad Golf – Scottsdale
Founded: 2021
CEO: Peter Johnson
What they do: Rad Golf develops products that gather data, measure performance and communicate with each other to improve peoples’ golf games.
Slick Barrier – Gilbert
Founded: 2018
CEO: Tony Gonzales
What they do: Slick Barrier makes a patented clear coating intended to keep crawling pests — like scorpions — out of homes and businesses, and has appeared on "Shark Tank."
Female Founder category winner: Michelle Tinsley, YellowBird
As president and chief operating officer of Phoenix-based YellowBird, Michelle Tinsley has overseen significant growth by the company since its inception.
YellowBird, founded in 2019 by Tinsley and Michael Zalle, developed a health and safety skilled labor compliance and consulting app that matches subject-matter experts with construction, manufacturing and insurance companies.
More than 5,000 professionals are registered on YellowBird’s platform, which is available nationwide.
Prior to founding YellowBird, Tinsley was CEO of Tinsley Retail Insights, a consulting firm that she launched in 2018. Tinsley has been an angel investor with Arizona Technology Investors since 2013 and serves on the board of directors for QuikTrip.
Tinsley also spent more than two decades at Intel Corp., serving in a variety of roles in technology, payments, finance, strategy, and sales leadership before leaving the tech giant in 2017.
YellowBird recently closed a $6.25 million oversubscribed seed funding round led by Rebalance Capital and Manifold Group with participation from QBE, Nationwide’s venture capital team, Plug and Play and Cameron Ventures, among other investors. The company was initially seeking $5 million in funding.
YellowBird told AZ Inno in May that it will use the new capital to further invest in its technology as well as accelerate its customer acquisition and marketplace strategy.
YellowBird, which was among startups that participated in this year’s AZ Inno Madness bracket-style competition, plans to hire 10 employees by the end of the year to further scale its technology. The company will also focus on expanding its customer base and enhancing its platform.
Female founder category finalists
Hannah Eherenfeld - ReSuture Inc. (Surprise)
Founded: 2019
What they do: ReSuture creates physical vascular simulations for surgical training.
Lauren Fitzpatrick Shanks - KeepWOL (Phoenix)
Founded: 2018
What they do: KeepWOl leverages AI-enabled gamification to engage, develop and retain employees.
Susan Sly - RadiusAI (Phoenix)
Founded: 2017
What they do: RadiusAI is computer vision analytics company that provides real-time data to boost operational efficiency in health care, retail, and critical infrastructure.
Kim Stroh - Persefoni (Tempe)
Founded: 2020
What they do: Persefoni is a software firm that helps companies track their carbon footprint through measurements and analyses of emissions using operational, financial and supply chain data.
