Update (March 25): We finally have our Inno Madness finalists.
Before we begin, a big thanks to all of the participating companies for their engagement and enthusiasm throughout the competition.
Based on your votes in the semifinals, we're down to two startups vying for the title of 2022 Inno Madness champion. They are:
- Taxfyle: An on-demand platform that matches individuals and businesses with licensed CPAs. The Miami company currently partners with about 4,000 full- and part-time tax professionals across the U.S., with plans to increase that number to 8,000 after securing $20 million from investors.
- ReachLink: A telehealth company based in Boca Raton.The behavioral health platform works with licensed therapists to provide affordable mental health care to patients across the U.S.
Voting begins now and continues through Thursday March 31, at 11:59 pm. We'll be back next week to announce our winner.
Update (March 18): The competition is heating up as Inno Madness heads into its third round.
Two of the matchups in Round 2 ended in near ties, with real estate tech platform UpsideHom just beating toy company StoryPod with 51% of the vote. The same share of voters chose Squeeze, a personal finance startup, over online pharmacy GeniusRx.
Accounting platform Taxfyle was the biggest winner, garnering 56% of the vote in a match up with Biller Genie.
Now, four companies remain. See our updated bracket below for our third round of Inno Madness. Voting begins today and runs through midnight on March 24.
We'll be back next week to announce the two finalists that will go head-to-head to be this year's Inno Madness champion.
Update (March 11): The first round of Inno Madness came to end March 10 – and there were plenty of upsets.
Last week we kicked off our inaugural bracket-style challenge with 16 South Florida tech companies. The question: Which company would you invest in?
More than 1,100 voters had varied opinions about which startups should move on to Round 2. There was strong support for ReachLink, a Boca Raton-based telehealth firm that received 59% of the vote in a match up with Nue Life, a psychedelic therapy startup. Similarly, 59% of voters chose online pharmacy GeniusX over SinglesSwag, a subscription box company for single women, when they went head-to-head.
Financial tech ventures also received significant support. Taxfyle, an online platform that matches individuals and businesses with accountants, topped proptech DeepBlocks. Cloud-based invoicing firm Biller Genie and Squeeze, a company that consolidates customers' recurring monthly bills, also bested their opponents in first round.
See the updated bracket below, and scroll down to view brief descriptions of all the startups in this year's competition. Voting for the second round starts today and runs through midnight on March 17.
The first round proved the competition is anyone's game, so get voting!
Inno Madness Begins
Our Miami Inno Madness competition is here. And we've got 16 local startups vying for the coveted title of 2022 Inno Madness champion.
Inno Madness is our friendly, bracket-style challenge where readers vote to advance companies based on one question: Who would you invest in?
Whether you believe in one mission or product slightly over the other or would prefer to back a more established company versus an early-stage startup, how you answer that question is entirely up to you. The bracket is designed to shine a spotlight on innovative, fast-growing local businesses in South Florida.
The bracket is assembled based on reader nominations, as well as editorial input from the Miami Inno team. Seeding was determined by venture funding and other factors. Meet the participants below and read the contest rules here.
The goal of Inno Madness is to give a snapshot of some of the most-promising tech companies in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. It is by no means a complete list of South Florida's best startups, which is a testament to the size of the region's tech scene. And it's not just a list of the 16 most-funded startups in the region.
Instead, the bracket is meant to represent the full breadth and diversity of the ecosystem. In the end, think of the bracket as a fun look into tech local companies you need to know in 2022.
We'll open up voting round by round, ultimately crowning an INNO MADNESS winner on March 31.
Meet the Players:
AEXLAB: A startup that focuses exclusively on virtual reality tech. The Miami company is developing Vail VR, a first-person multiplayer shooter game that combines virtual reality with social gaming.
Biller Genie: Provides cloud-based online account software that automates invoices for small and mid-sized businesses.
Caribshopper: A Miami-based online marketplace for Caribbean-made products.
Deepblocks: A property technology venture that uses artificial intelligence to help real estate developers identify parcels for their projects.
GeniusRx: A full-service online pharmacy headquartered in Boca Raton.
House of Wise: A luxury CBD and wellness brand that makes full-spectrum CBD products designed to improve sleep, sex and stress for women.
Kiddie Kredit: An education technology chore-tracking app dedicated to teaching kids about credit scores and financial literacy.
Kushae: An online store that offers a suite of all-natural feminine health products, like body washes and deodorants. One of the co-founders of the West Palm Beach-based startup is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist who was searching for nontoxic household and health products after a battle with cancer.
Nue Life: A mental wellness startup that provides psychedelic therapies to people experiencing treatment-resistant depression.
ReachLink: An teletherapy company based in Boca Raton.The behavioral health platform works with licensed therapists to provide affordable mental health care to patients across the U.S.
SinglesSwag: A subscription box company for single women. The Boca Raton company creates monthly packages of bath and beauty products, accessories and artisan-crafted snacks delivered directly to customers.
Soap Health: An artificial intelligence-powered platform that collects patient information to help physicians improve early disease detection and diagnosis at the point of care.
Storypod: A Miami company that makes a screen-free audio system for kids that guides them through songs, stories and interactive trivia.
Squeeze: A personal finance startup that consolidates customers' recurring monthly bills and connects them with promotional deals to save money.
Taxfyle: An on-demand platform that matches individuals and businesses with licensed CPAs. The Miami company currently partners with about 4,000 full- and part-time tax professionals across the U.S., with plans to increase that number to 8,000 after securing $20 million from investors.
UpsideHom: A Fort Lauderdale startup that offers turnkey housing to people age 55 and over through its app and online platform. An alternative to traditional senior living facilities, the company matches customers with arrangements that can vary from a room in a shared apartment to an entire home.
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