If the first round of Triad Business Journal’s inaugural Inno Madness bracket challenge is any indication, the region’s readers are rather fond of the underdog.
Each of the top four seeds in our field of 16 was eliminated in Round 1, accounting for four of the five matchups where the lower seeds narrowly prevailed in a week-long voting window.
First, a little background, lest we put too serious a spin on a recognition program that is really intended to be a friendly competition.
Triad Business Journal last week unveiled Inno Madness as a way to elevate visibility of the region’s innovation ecosystem and startups within it. We built a bracket of 16 companies based on reader nominations, as well as editorial input from our Triad Inno team. It is by no means a list of the region’s best known or most-funded startups. We seeded companies based on success in fundraising, particularly those startups that have been active since the start of 2021. We also opened our program in its inaugural year to bootstrapped startups, with a couple entering the fray.
Meet the participants below and read the contest rules here.
In the first round, 888 votes were cast. Solutions Afoot, the #16 seed, narrowly edged out #1 seed Upstream Care, while #15 Remote Health also upset #2 Javara Inc. In other top matchups, #14 seed Proodos ousted #3 seed Soelect, and #13 AI Technology & Systems upset No. 4 Novalent LLC.
The other higher seed to prevail was #9 Parrots Inc. over #8 BEAM Dynamics. In other voting, #5 Wellnecity narrowly edged out #12 InStryde Inc., #7 Smoodi Inc. ousted Centerpiece Software Inc. and #6 Kepley BioSystems Inc. narrowly overcame #11 Minerva Lithium.
Click on the bracket below to see the Round 2 matchups and to cast your vote. Round 2 and subsequent pairings allow one vote per person per round. If you're not familiar with the players, see our brief descriptions at the end of this article before starting to vote.
Overall, the bracket is meant to represent the full breadth and diversity of the ecosystem. In the end, think of the bracket as just a fun look into tech local companies you need to know in 2022. (To learn about a few others independent of Inno Madness, check out our Inno to Watch special section here from earlier this year.)
Voting for Round 2 begins today (Feb. 23) at noon, and will close at noon on Tuesday, March 1. Round 3 will begin on March 2 and close on March 8. Voting in the finals will begin March 9, and we will ultimately crown a Triad Inno Madness winner the week of March 20, culminating in a special section in the March 25 print edition.
Curious about the margins in Round 1? Click here for a look at the results.
Meet the players:
- UpStream Care – UpStream Care offers a support platform that facilitates new ways for independent physicians, pharmacists and nurses to work together by embedding clinical teams in the doctor's office. The company utilizes value-based care models to achieve its goal of prioritizing the health and independence of patients, particularly older adults with multiple chronic conditions.
- Javara – Through partnerships with health care organizations, Javara, an integrated research organization (IRO), helps integrate clinical research into clinical care. Javara has developed an efficient model and clinical trials management system to advance the clinical research as a care option (CRAACO) movement.
- Soelect – Founded in 2018, Soelect develops solid-state battery components for a wide range of energy storage uses, including electric vehicles and portable electronics. Through its proprietary lithium-based metal foil and use of solid-state electrolytes, Soelect helps make batteries more efficient and powerful and less expensive.
- Novalent – A biotechnology engineering firm, Novalent’s patented technology helps protect against bacteria. Its spray-on sanitizer is non-toxic and continuously kills germs for up to 90 days on surfaces and up to 24 hours on human skin after application. The sanitizer can also be used as a protectant against SARS-Cov-2.
- Wellnecity – Wellnecity helps self-insured employers manage the rising cost and administrative burden of health care while improving outcomes using its proprietary technology platform, ProActive Benefits Management. Founded in 2015, Wellnecity leverages real-time AI-driven analytics to provide insights and works with brokers and pharmacy benefit managers to coordinate efforts.
- Kepley BioSystems – Founded in 2013, Kepley BioSystems devised a business model that drives enterprises from an academic, biotech foundation. Following extensive research of horseshoe crabs, Kepley BioSystems’ latest development is a rapid and affordable blood screening tool that can be used to diagnose infected patients before the onset of sepsis.
- smoodi – smoodi offers healthy, fresh and customizable on-the-go smoothies by providing retail stores its proprietary self-cleaning blender. The blender fits on top of a counter and allows consumers to self-serve their desired frozen smoothie cups. The company also sells pre-packaged smoothies to be blended at home.
- BEAM Dynamics – BEAM Dynamics offers a cloud-based product intelligence platform, called BeamON, for the media industry that bridges communications between manufacturers and product owners. The platform helps productions manage the lifecycle of their production inventory in a single user interface, helping to lower costs and reduce operational downtime.
- Parrots – Parrots empowers people with neurological, mobility and communication challenges through the creation of smart and inclusive companions using assistive robotics and medical devices. The company’s companions can assist users with seeing, speaking and interacting with their surroundings to help maximize their independence.
- Centerpiece Software – Centerpiece Software is building a new operating system for the foodservice equipment and supplies industry (FE&S) that centralizes project data and teams and automates workflows and analytics. With everything on one platform, Centerpiece Software aims to streamline operations and provide meaningful insights to the FE&S industry.
- Minerva Lithium – A spinoff company of UNC-Greensboro, Minerva Lithium has created a proprietary lithium-trapping filter that is more effective in removing trace amounts of the valuable chemical from wastewater than typical methods. The polymer in the company’s nano-filter is naturally abundant, renewable and relatively inexpensive.
- inStryde – inStryde offers customized, affordable insoles delivered in days to bridge the gap between medical orthotics and off-the-shelf insoles. Customers take a fit quiz, foot scan and gait analysis on their smartphone; inStryde then uses AI to create a 3-D image of the customer’s feet and will 3-D print the custom insole.
- AI Technology & Systems – AI Technology & Systems is working to build the world’s largest AI app store and marketplace using an edge compiler tool-chain to produce cost-effective firmware for bare metal materials. One of its products, cAINvas, allows users to build machine-learning models without the need to code.
- Proodos – Proodos offers a project management software that focuses more on people than tasks, allowing clients to stay on budget and on time. Founded in 2019, Proodos’ patent-pending tools can spot risks in a project and even forecast when a project might take longer than expected.
- Remote Health – Remote Health is a team-based primary, urgent and acute care medical practice that serves patients anywhere they desire to receive their care. Catering particularly to older and vulnerable patients, Remote Health offers accessible care, community partnerships and care navigation.
- Solutions Afoot – Solutions Afoot is a database application development company that provides customized software solutions for businesses to increase efficiency and profitability. Founded in 2017, the company can create a platform from scratch or work on an existing system. Solutions Afoot allows clients total access and transparency during the process.
