Yesterday, the Richmond tech community gathered virtually for the first time in Inno history to celebrate the ecosystem's Inno on Fire, a list of people and companies working to move Richmond tech forward.
In its second year, Inno on Fire is an annual celebration of startups, enterprises and individuals that have had a banner year — whether that’s fast growth, new product launches, big hires or innovative approaches to solving problems. Check out the full list of winners here.
We also unveiled this year’s Inno Blazer winners, which were the top people/companies from each of our Inno on Fire categories as decided by a group of judges from region's innovation ecosystem.
The Blazer winners will all receive Inno’s iconic red blazer. Scroll down to watch a video of all 40 Inno on Fire winners and seven category leaders.
This year’s Inno Blazers are:
Goodfynd (Tech and Software)
Anyone who’s ever craved their favorite food truck but had no idea where to find it will certainly take note of Goodfynd. The startup’s app and website allows users to search for and order from food trucks and “roaming businesses” near them. Goodfynd launched in 2018 and was named this year’s Dominion Energy Innovation Center’s Pitch Competition Winner in the general category.
Lighthouse Labs (Education)
Lighthouse Labs has ridden its momentum as a nationally-ranked startup accelerator over the past three years into 2020. The seed-stage accelerator will soon announce startups chosen for its fall cohort, which will be the only health-focused startup accelerator in the state.
Phlow Corp. (Crisis Innovators)
With what’s possibly Richmond’s biggest funding news of the year so far, pharmaceutical manufacturing company Phlow Corp. received a $354 million federal contract to make the active ingredients for more than a dozen medicines used to treat patients with Covid-19. The company was founded on the basis of manufacturing high-quality, essential generic drugs at a low cost, helping to boost the United States’ drug reserve.
Health Innovation Consortium (Social Impact)
The Health Innovation Consortium, founded in 2019 and led by Virginia Commonwealth University, is a platform that helps support ideas and programming for early-stage health tech startups. In just one year, HIC has helped find solutions to a number of issues discovered within the health care system, including a pilot program created to decontaminate N95 masks for reuse. VCU Health and Activation Capital are founding partners.
Nutriati (Lifestyle and Other)
Named one of Richmond Inno’s Startups to Watch in 2020, Nutriati takes plant-based foods, mostly chickpeas, and turns them into items like flour, oil and its most popular product the Artesa Chickpea Protein powder. Last summer, the company raised $2.9 million in an ongoing funding round, which was capped in SEC filings at $12 million. To date, Nutrati has raised more than $26 million in venture capital.
Startup Virginia (Community Builder)
Startup Virginia is a long-standing incubator with a mission based on helping to sustain high-growth companies in Virginia. By launching programs like the Entrepreneur Certificate Course and SVA Builder Series, as well as its new Professionals in Transition live job board, Startup Virginia has been able to draw in, and retain, some of the highest quality talent the tech and startup ecosystem has to offer.
Ario (Inno on the Road)
After a strong year in 2019, Norfolk-based Ario kept it momentum going by receiving the $1 million grand prize in Verizon’s “Build on 5G Challenge.” The startup prides itself on the productivity boost their augmented reality platform brings to industrial companies, focusing specifically on enhancing efficiency and ensuring safety.
View the 2020 Inno on Fire Winner Video
Missed the Virtual Award Celebration? View it here, plus hear from Chandra Briggman, CEO of Activation Capital and our Blazer panel featuring Goodfynd, Lighthouse Labs and Phlow Corp.
Thank You to our Founding Partners and Fire Event Sponsor
