Startups to Watch

The post-pandemic cooldown for venture-backed startups has created a new normal for companies that've had to pivot, tighten their belts and find new ways to thrive as funding sources become more scarce.

Despite those headwinds, startups across the country are finding ways to grow and innovate, disrupting industries from logistics to health care with novel ideas and new ways of improving business.

To spotlight some of these promising new companies, American Inno is publishing its second-ever national Startups to Watch, a look at upstarts from across the country poised for growth in the coming years. With input from startup reporters across American Inno and American City Business Journals' more than 40 local newsrooms, we've assembled a list of 35 startups you should have on your radar in 2024.

While many are yet to be household names, these startups are making waves by finding new ways to use artificial intelligence in business, building solutions for difficult health-care challenges, cleaning up the environment and more. Some have raised tens of millions in funding and are led by experienced serial entrepreneurs, while others are just getting started.

Dive into the list below.

AlgoFace

HQ: Carefree, Arizona

Funding: Undisclosed

AlgoFace creates what it describes as an ethical face artificial-intelligence engine that can be used to develop 2D and 3D face AI applications for mobile devices, computers, the Metaverse and augmented and virtual reality. The company's face AI technology is capable of detecting unique attributes of human faces, but does not store data or determine the identity of a person. AlgoFace's technology could be used by companies to personalize experiences based on facial expressions, like a smart TV adjusting volume or suggesting content based on a viewer's reaction.

Atlas Robotics

HQ: Pittsburgh

Funding: $750,000

Atlas is developing robotics-based material-handling solutions for manufacturing and warehousing facilities. The startup's robots include pallet trucks, which can autonomously move items throughout a warehouse. Its customers include Sütaş Group, a Turkish company that produces products like yogurt and cheese. The company is led by Çetin Meriçli, the former CEO of autonomous trucking startup Locomation.

Beam Dynamics

HQ: Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Funding: $2 million

Beam Dynamics is helping film and TV sets keep track of thousands of pieces of equipment on a set through its asset management platform. Its software helps crews stay on top of firmware and software updates, security patches and be able to access user manuals when things break. Its customers have included NBC, PBS and the New York Mets.

B.well Connected Health

HQ: Baltimore

Funding: $58 million

B.well's platform helps patients compile all their medical records in one place. B.well's goal is to make it easier for patients to understand their vaccination schedule or identify possible drug interactions from different prescriptions. It recently landed a deal with Samsung to have its technology installed on every device by the electronics giant.

Carbon Reform

HQ: Philadelphia

Funding: $3 million

Carbon Reform makes devices that retrofit onto existing HVAC systems to capture carbon, then store it in mineral form. The technology lowers a building’s carbon footprint, decreases energy costs and purifies and improves air quality. It sells a Carbon Capsule device, which can service spaces up to 15,000 square feet.

CleanFiber

HQ: Buffalo, New York

Funding: $63 million

CleanFiber manufactures building insulation from recycled corrugated cardboard. The startup says it's able to produce higher-quality insulation with lower amounts of dust and contamination. Last year, CleanFiber began work on a $16 million expansion project at its 67,000-square-foot facility.

CoolMitt

HQ: Orlando, Florida

Funding: $2.6 million

Named one of Time Magazine's top inventions of 2023, CoolMitt is a fitness and training-recovery device that cools down an athlete's body in seconds to prevent overheating and fatigue. The $1,500 device — already being used by teams across the MLB, NBA, NCAA, NFL and even Olympic gold-medal swimmer Katie Ledecky — works by reducing a person's muscle temperature with a mitten that's rapidly cooled by circulating water. The startup soon plans to bring its device to the hands of at-home fitness enthusiasts with a smaller and less expensive option.

CrossKudi

HQ: Milwaukee

Funding: $125,000

CrossKudi is building a global money-transfer platform. The blockchain-powered platform is designed with immigrants in mind, with the goal of helping them more easily send money across boarders. Led by Bobola Odebiyi, who's originally from Nigeria and moved to the U.S. in 2009, the startup is focusing on money transfers from the U.S. to Nigeria. The startup is backed by Northwestern Mutual.

Echo Labs

HQ: Chicago

Funding: $7.4 million

Echo Labs is an artificial-intelligence startup working to build a human-level transcription service that can understand what you're saying even in adverse conditions, such as high-noise backgrounds with multiple voices. Designed for universities, which are required to provide transcription services under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the startup helps schools offer lecture transcription. It raised a $7.4 million seed round in January.

Eden

HQ: Somerville, Massachusetts

Funding: $21 million

Eden is developing new technology to replace traditional hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. The startup says its electrical reservoir stimulation technology breaks up rocks using electrical pulses, which can save water, reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and help eliminate contamination and waste. The startup raised a $12 million seed round to build a new laboratory in Somerville.

Electric Era

HQ: Seattle

Funding: $18 million

Electric Era is an electric-vehicle charging company. The startup makes EV charging stations designed to mimic what consumers are used to at a gas station. Led by founder and CEO Quincy Lee, a former SpaceX engineer, the startup aims to make its EV stations more reliable than current electric-vehicle charging infrastructure. 

ESG Brands

HQ: Portland, Oregon

Funding: $800,000

ESG Brands is a textile startup developing a material from banana stems that can be used in footwear and apparel. Led by CEO Chase Kahmann, who spent two years at Nike before leaving the shoe giant in 2020, the fiber material can also act as a natural feedstock and eliminates the greenhouse gases created under current methods of waste disposal.

Fastbreak.ai

HQ: Charlotte, North Carolina

Funding: $5.2 million

Fastbreak.ai is an artificial-intelligence sports-scheduling platform that helps sports leagues create optimal schedules for teams. Its AI helps leagues factor for things like venue availability, travel for games, schedule fairness and television viewership. It landed an investment from NBA Equity, the corporate-venture arm of the NBA, which uses Fastbreak.ai in its scheduling.

Flowintell

HQ: Orlando, Florida

Funding: $95,000

Flowintell is developing a non-invasive blood test to screen for endometriosis. FlowIntell combines biotechnology with telehealth services, benefiting women who endure persistent menstrual pain and inflammatory symptoms associated with endometriosis, a health condition that often goes undiagnosed for years. 

Ghostdog

HQ: Columbus, Ohio

Funding: $3.8 million

Ghostdog, a military intelligence startup from Olive AI founder Sean Lane, is building a specialized browser for classified information that U.S. intelligence agencies could securely use and collaborate on. The startup was recently accepted to a digital marketplace for the U.S. Department of Defense. Ghostdog was a quick pivot for Lane, who launched the startup weeks after his unicorn startup Olive AI shut down.

Haddy

HQ: St. Petersburg, Florida

Funding: $6.5 million

Haddy uses robots to 3D print furniture, such as chairs and end tables, from recycled polymers. The startup is led by CEO John B. Rogers Jr., whose previous company, Local Motors, was one of the first to 3D print an electric car.

HealNow

HQ: Birmingham, Alabama

Funding: $7.2 million

HealNow offers technology to provide an online checkout experience for pharmacy patients. With its payments technology, patients can schedule delivery or curbside pickup, purchase over-the-counter items and pay for their prescriptions online. Hundreds of pharmacies across the country use HealNow, and the startup is backed by firms like the SoftBank Opportunity Fund and the Alabama Futures Fund.

Honeydew

HQ: St. Louis

Funding: Undisclosed

Honeydew has created a virtual dermatology practice designed to increase access to medical care to help patients treat chronic skin conditions, including acne, eczema and psoriasis. Its online model gives patients the ability to access care and treatment within 24 hours.

Kirsh Helmets

HQ: Schenectady, New York

Funding: $1.5 million

Kirsh Helmets designs a motorcycle helmet with silicone safety technology. It better mimics the shape of the human head and disperses energy made on impact by having the liner filled with fluid. Because it better fits a person's head, it prevents movement once the helmet is in place. Its helmets were used on the set of the movie "Ferrari," and are stocked in over 100 Harley Davidson and Indian Motorcycle stores nationwide.

Passes

HQ: Miami

Funding: $9 million

Passes helps content creators connect with fans and earn money from those interactions. Passes was launched by serial entrepreneur Lucy Guo, a former Thiel Fellow who co-founded artificial-intelligence company Scale AI in 2016. This year, the Miami startup closed a $9 million funding round and acquired a rival platform.

Portalis.AI

HQ: Austin, Texas

Funding: Undisclosed

Portalis.AI brings artificial intelligence to life through its digital people. The Austin startup was developed by J. Todd Coleman and Josef Hall, both serial entrepreneurs with experience in multiplayer online roleplaying games, including Wizard101, which was published by KingsIsle Entertainment. The startup, which came out of stealth mode in November, lets creators design, customize and engage with AI-powered digital avatars that have fully integrated voice, video and memory.

Rain AI

HQ: San Francisco

Funding: $64 million

Backed by Sam Altman, Rain is making artificial-intelligence chips designed for local devices like smart homes, drones and VR headsets, allowing the device itself to handle the computing power for AI models and reduce energy use.

Really Communications

HQ: Austin, Texas

Funding: $18 million

Really Communications is creating a blockchain-powered mobile-phone network. The startup — led by Adam Lyons, founder of insurance-comparison site The Zebra — will let people put mini cell towers in their homes or businesses to earn cash. The startup raised an $18 million seed round last year.

Rhythms

HQ: Seattle

Funding: $26 million

Rhythms creates business software designed to help teams handle their work cadences, such as planning and execution of tasks. It's led by serial entrepreneur Vetri Vellore, who sold his previous startup Ally.io to Microsoft in 2021. The startup, which raised $26 million in December, said it hopes to get its product to select customers in early 2024. 

Skelo Wear

HQ: Columbus, Ohio

Funding: Bootstrapped

Developed by former NFL player Kenny Anunike, who played for the 2016 Super Bowl-winning Denver Broncos, Skelo Wear is working to help athletes reduce injuries. The startup makes protective gear and artificial-intelligence-powered training devices to enhance safety. Its flagship product is designed to prevent hand injuries. The startup, which says it has teams from high schools through the NFL lined up to use its products, received a $100,000 grant from Rev1 Ventures.

SkyH2O

HQ: Irvine, California

Funding: $6.5 million

SkyH2O is building full-scale atmospheric water-generation plants in Houston. Atmospheric water generation relies on drawing out water trapped in the air, and the startup says its plants will generate over 30,000 gallons of drinkable water a day, which would then be bottled and sold on location for customers to pick up. Businesses and customers will be able to purchase water beginning in 2025, when the plants are completed, the company said.

Sojo Industries

HQ: Philadelphia

Funding: $13 million

Sojo is a robotics startup that helps beverage companies offer variety packs, which have skyrocketed in popularity for seltzer and beer companies but are a pain point in the production process. The startup uses robots to help automate almost every aspect of the packaging process, like loading cans and bottles into variety packs, labeling the products, and tracking them through the distribution process. The company is led by Barak Bar-Cohen, a previous executive at beverage brand Bai that was acquired for nearly $2 billion by what is now Keurig Dr. Pepper in 2017.

Spiritus Technologies

HQ: Los Alamos, New Mexico

Funding: $11 million

Spiritus, which came out of stealth mode in early September, has what it calls a "Carbon Orchard" approach to direct air capture — a carbon dioxide-removal method that pulls carbon from anywhere instead of at the source of emissions. Backed by Khosla Ventures, Spiritus' approach uses a sorbent-based technology — made from commercially available precursors in the shape of round balls — to passively absorb carbon dioxide using air contractors. Carbon stored in the lung-like sorbent balls can then be regenerated through a desorption process, capturing the carbon dioxide and allowing the sorbent balls to be reused.

Stack AV

HQ: Pittsburgh

Funding: Undisclosed

The co-founders of Argo AI, a driverless car startup that raised hundreds of millions from firms like Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG before shuttering in 2022, are behind a new autonomous-vehicle startup. Stack's autonomous-trucking firm looks to address challenges relating to safety and supply-chain obstacles. It received an undisclosed investment from SoftBank, though sources familiar with Stack's formation have said the funding is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Tembo

HQ: Cincinnati

Funding: $6.5 million

Tembo is a commercial open-source company based on the popular developer database Postgres. Its main play is around helping Postgres users take advantage of thousands of available extensions, or add-ons, that modify how the database performs certain processes. The startup is led by Ry Walker, whose previous startup Astronomer reached unicorn heights.

TrovaTrip

HQ: Portland, Oregon

Funding: $20 million

TrovaTrip is a travel marketplace that allows online creators to book and host trips with their audiences. The startup vets tour operators and connects them with creators looking to host trips. TrovaTrip handles payment processing, customer support, traveler management, communication with in-venue tour operators and host insurance. It also allows hosts to set trip prices for community members, allowing them to control how much they make on a trip.

Unstructured.io

HQ: Sacramento, California

Funding: $25 million

Unstructured.io is developing technology that makes it easier for users to access large language models like ChatGPT-4 by creating clean and curated data to use. Its technology is aimed at allowing customers to easily access data no matter the file type, document location or layout, so that the user can better use artificial intelligence.

Urban Sky

HQ: Denver

Funding: $10 million

Denver startup Urban Sky is mapping the planet from a balloon. Rather than capturing images of the Earth from a drone or satellite, Urban Sky operates in the middle ground, called the stratosphere. The startup gathers data about Earth by capturing images from a reusable micro balloon that operates above commercial airspace at an altitude between 55,000 feet and 75,000 feet. Its aim is to create better, more frequently updated maps of the planet.

Vu Technologies

HQ: Tampa, Florida

Funding: $21 million

Vu is a virtual-production technology company with a network of studios throughout the United States. The startup uses technologies like motion capture, virtual reality and a proprietary generative artificial intelligence called Vu.ai to create virtual environments for clients, which have included Amazon, CBS Sports and Disney. Last year, it landed an investment from consulting firm Accenture.

Wellfound Foods

HQ: Washington, D.C.

Funding: $2 million

Wellfound Foods creates tech-enabled vending machines. Its smart machines dispense prepared foods into health-care facilities, government buildings, universities, transportation hubs and other businesses.