There’s smoke, and then there’s fire.
The Richmond innovation ecosystem is full of startups and growing companies fanning the flames of ingenuity and burnishing the region’s reputation. This year’s Fire Awards from Richmond Inno don’t highlight every sparkling startup or incubator in and around Virginia’s capital city — but they do aim to spotlight 13 making the biggest waves right now.
Without further ado, here is this year’s class of Richmond Fire Awards honorees.
Alliance for Building Better Medicine — Pharmaceutical executive Joy Marie Polefrone took the helm of this coalition of Richmond and Petersburg pharmaceutical organizations and companies late last year and laid out a vision to make the region a hub for pharma manufacturing. The nonprofit organization has helped secure millions in funding, including a $52.9 million federal Build Back Better grant. Efforts also include a $140 million Civica Rx insulin production plant in Petersburg and a $27.8 million laboratory testing facility also for Civica in Chesterfield County.
AnswersNow — This telehealth startup landed an $11 million Series A round in February to expand and improve its platform, which pairs families with clinicians to offer applied behavior analysis — a practice that is often used to teach new behaviors or diminish behaviors associated with autism. The platform uses a special screen display to eliminate distractions. CEO Jeff Beck, who co-founded the company in 2017, told us in June the company has seen eight-fold growth since 2022. He hopes the momentum continues as AnswersNow attempts to push into new states with contracts with major insurers like Medicaid, UnitedHealthcare, Cigna and more.
Babylon Micro-Farms — What started as a University of Virginia project has transformed into a growing business. Babylon Micro-Farms completed an $8 million Series A funding round this spring led by Venture South and garnered another $500,000 through a grant from the National Science Foundation. The Scott’s Addition company manufactures indoor farming systems, targeting hospitals, retirement homes and educational institutions. It is using the funding to streamline manufacturing and expand its team in sales and engineering. Founders Graham Smith and Alexander Olesen were named to the Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in the social impact category last year.
Brandefy — Founder Meg Greenhalgh Pryde has seen her beauty products splashed over the pages of InStyle, Forbes, Well+Good and numerous fashion and beauty blogs. The company started as an app that helped people find less expensive versions of name-brand beauty products — and now offers its own line of cosmetics. After raising more than $4 million in venture capital and receiving a Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. grant, Pryde will continue her work to democratize the beauty products industry.
Hatch — River City is fast becoming a food town, and incubator Hatch is at the center of this shift. The brainchild of food entrepreneur Austin Green, Richmond investor Brad Cummings and real estate developer Lynx Ventures, Hatch has become a vital part of the food ecosystem. It operates Hatch Local, a food hall, and a commercial kitchen and warehouse operation in Manchester. Chewy’s Bagels and Cobra Burger are just two of Hatch’s many success stories. Nearly two dozen of its incubated companies have opened brick-and-mortar locations.
HopDrive — Founders Nick Mottas and Rob Newton have built a concierge driving platform where a driver can move a vehicle on demand from one place to another. Think at-home test drives, service appointment pickups, purchase deliveries and more. The startup pulled in an $8 million a Series A capital raise led by Atlanta’s Cox Enterprises early this year to move into new cities — with an eye on adding 20 new markets over the next two years.
Luminoah — This Charlottesville startup wasn’t done when it took top honors at June’s pitch competition from Richmond’s Lighthouse Labs accelerator. It quickly followed its victory with a $6 million Series A round led by Fry’s Path Capital that will be used to finish development of its mobile feeding tube device. CEO Neal Piper said the instrument lets patients keep a more mobile lifestyle while on a feeding tube. Its data-tracking features also allow remote patient monitoring. Piper started the company in 2020 after his young son was diagnosed with cancer and required a constraining feeding tube. “It’s just a no-brainer to let a kid be active while you pump nutrition into their stomach,” he told us. The company is shooting for Food and Drug Administration approval next year.
Lighthouse Labs — Richmond’s renowned accelerator has long helped companies find their path and grow, but it’s also made plenty of news itself this year. It launched a $5 million fundraising campaign as part of its 10-year anniversary to improve its services and increase access for underserved founders. It also saw a changing of the guard as serial entrepreneur Art Espey stepped in as managing director for Paul Nolde, who left to take a similar post with 757 Collab and 757 Angels in Norfolk. The two have said they are looking at ways to connect the innovation ecosystems in Richmond and Norfolk. To date, more than 100 companies have come through the accelerator, which has also doled out more than $2 million to its participants.
Mobius Materials — Founder Margaret Upshur lived in the startup world in San Francisco. When she decided to start her own company, she moved to Richmond. The company, which operates a two-way marketplace for second-hand electronic equipment, raised $735,000 in a pre-seed round led by Undeterred Capital and included participation from several Virginia-based angel investors. The company is doing more than $1 million in annual sales months after the marketplace was launched.
Naborforce — After scoring a $9 million Series A round a year ago, this Richmond senior services startup has continued to push into new markets — now eight in total — with its novel approach to serve the country’s aging population. Naborforce offers a tech-based platform that links aging adults to a network of “nabors” for social companionship, engagement and on-demand support with errands, transportation, help around the house and other tasks. Each companion is vetted to ensure safety and quality. CEO Paige Wilson says the company has grown 300% each of the last two years, such substantial buildup that it prompted a move to larger office space in Scott’s Addition.
Qnovia — This smoking-cessation startup has raked in more than $20 million in the last year after naming former Altria Group exec Brian Quigley its CEO and moving its base of operations to Richmond. Quigley, who previously led Altria’s smokeless tobacco division for six years, is leading the company’s development of RespiRx, a hand-held aerosol medical device that delivers nicotine quickly, helping people quit smoking. The goal is to have U.S. clinical trials completed by 2025 and bring the product to market in 2026. This year it also added Mitch Zeller, former director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, as an adviser.
Time Study — Founder and CEO Kishau Rogers is preparing to roll out two new products this year at her health care analytics startup, which aims to help health systems improve their business operations by helping recover things like lost billing opportunities. The new tools, which will be available on the Time Study platform now implemented in more than 80 hospitals, will analyze worker efficiency and also compare a hospital’s performance to others. Rogers said the company grew 130% across 2022 and she expects similar growth this year. She’s raised a total of $7 million in funding for the company since its founding in 2018. Next year, she plans to seek more.
Vint — Founders Nick King and Patrick Sanders feel they’ve found a market ripe for disruption, and investors appear to be feeling the same way. Their Richmond startup utilizes looser investment rules around crowdfunding to give individuals access to wine and spirits investments — a segment the founders say boasts promising returns. Vint raised a $5 million seed round early this year to fuel its expansion. It recently launched Vint Marketplace, a retail sales site that offers very fine and rare products — more than 4,000 in total — and also gives the company’s investment side intel on the market for those products.
