Tampa Bay is once again drawing in talent from across the nation.
The 16 companies participating in the Tampa Bay Wave's TechDiversity cohort hail from eight states and three countries, proving they are as geographically diverse as they are with their ownership.
Cohorts like these are particularly important to growing ecosystems like Tampa Bay, which allow participants to view the region as a place for growth when they may not have considered it otherwise. Over the years, companies like Spontivly have set down roots in Tampa Bay after participating in the program.
The TechDiversity cohort first began in 2018, after receiving funding from the Nielsen Foundation to support diversity among early-stage tech startups. Each of the startups in the cohort is at least 51% owned, controlled and operated by minority entrepreneurs, women, veterans, those in the LGBTQ+ community and/or people with disabilities.
"The lack of venture capital activity for startups led by diverse founders has been disproportionate. However, it’s no secret that diversity is good for business," Linda Olsen, Tampa Bay Wave's CEO, said in a statement. "And when we invest in startups led by diverse founders, the results speak for themselves: these companies have been shown to outperform their peers by 10%."
The latest crop of companies has some standouts, ranging from everything from platforms making investments easy, to a dating app for the disabled community, to 3D printed seawalls.
We've got the full rundown below.
Artclever
Headquartered: Lake Oswego, OR
What they do: Artclever offers a platform to connect creative professionals with users who needs their skills, which could range from portfolio building to mentorship.
Bakstage
Headquarters: Livingston, NJ
What they do: Bakstage offers a platform that enables two-way audio and video live streaming for customers, allowing users to boost customer experience and retention.
Black Stock Footage, LLC
Headquarters: Tampa
What they do: Black Stock Footage offers a stock video marketplace specializing in Black representation of people, cultures and activities.
Blackhedge
Headquarters: New York City
What they do: Blackhedge offers an artificial intelligence and machine learning-backed investing platform through their mobile app. Users are told about good entry and exit points in the market through Blackhedge's algorithms that scan the markets each day.
Dateability
Headquarters: Denver, CO
What they do: Dateability is a dating app designed for the disabled community, providing a safe and inclusive space for people with physical, psychiatric, and intellectual disabilities and chronic illnesses.
Delphi Technology Corp.
Headquarters: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
What they do: Delphi provides immersive, interactive learning environments for organizations that organizaitons can utilize to boost trainings and make onboarding, standardizing and upskilling more accessible, cost-effective and data-driven.
FLUIX
Headquarters: Tampa
What they do: FLUIX combines artificial intelligence with automated cooling systems to drive down energy costs for infrastructure including data centers, power plants and farms.
Insttantt
Headquarters: Madrid, Spain
What they do: Insttantt uses a SaaS platform to enable instant and secure transactions between people and companies.
Kind Designs
Headquarters: Miami
What they do: The company creates 3D printed living seawalls. They function as coral reefs and also have an embedded sensor system to collect essential water quality data.
Koda Health
Headquarters: Houston, TX
What they do: Koda Health offers a B2B solution for health care systems. The company auto generates legal documents, virtually notarizes the documents and digitally walks patients through proactive health care planning.
Lazo
Headquarters: Miami
What they do: Lazo is a financial and legal SaaS platform for early-stage startups. It provides streamlined bookkeeping, tax, compliance, legal, payroll, and investor relations solutions for venture-backed companies.
The MŌN App
Headquarters: Austin, TX
What they do: The MŌN App is a community app that brings creators, experts, and communities together through live, short-form voice and text-based chats and groups.
Pulse Charter Connect
Headquarters: Chicago, IL
What they do: The company digitizes transplant center's logistics systems, aiming to create faster, safer and more efficient transportation for organs and surgical teams.
Snipitz
Headquarters: Frisco, TX
What they do: Snipitz is an AI-powered video engagement interface, which uses multiple cameras to engage the users and collect content on user behavior analytics.
Talli
Headquarters: Atlanta
What they do: Talli is a daily care and health tracking platform for uses from infants through senior care.
Tempest Droneworx, Inc.
Headquarters: Houston, TX
What they do: Tempest Droneworx is a software company that aggregates real-time data from sources such as drones, satellites, and sensors, to present 3D maps with a user-friendly interface.
