Minne Inno is announcing the winners of its sixth annual Fire Awards.
American Inno
Minne Inno is announcing the winners of its sixth annual Fire Awards.
The following 40 companies have been chosen as the top players in solidifying Minnesota as a hub for innovation. The Fire list selections were sourced from nominations from community members and our newsroom, as well as coverage from the past year.
The honorees were grouped into 10 categories, ranging from financial organizations and software developers to consumer-focused startups and environmentally conscious entities. Later this month the judges will announce the Blazer winners: One company from each category that seems poised to deliver the largest impact to the ecosystem.
Here are Minne Inno's 2023 Fire Award honorees:
Investor/Financial organization
- Silicon Prairie Capital Partners – This St. Paul-based company, through a registration awarded by regulatory entities, operates a secondary market for restricted securities.
- Lunr – Based in Minneapolis, this modern-trade finance platform for consumer brands has doubled its revenue year-over-year and has a commitment for $100 million in debt.
- Total Expert – This St. Louis Park software company offers customer-relation management and engagement for financial organizations, powering over 2.1 million mortgage loans in 2022.
- Engage Venture Partners – A Minneapolis-based venture capital firm that uses a special purpose vehicle model to invest in the med-tech and health-tech sectors; the firm has invested $5.5 million through six SPV’s since this time last year.
Sports and entertainment
- Solesafe – This St. Paul-based company offers a sneaker insurance platform, which went live earlier this year .
- BettorEdge – A Minneapolis-based social sports-betting startup that recently hit over $100 million in orders, or proposed bets, gaining investment from former Minnesota Wild player Jason Zucker.
- Real Sportscards – Based in Champlin, this national collectible sports cards retailer looks to bridge in-store and online experiences, including recently launching a new app to boost revenue.
Consumer
- Wicked Kitchen – This plant-based food brand has regularly partnered with celebrity investors, including most recently, NBA point guard Chris Paul.
- Fitso – Headquartered in Bloomington, this plus-size centric brand was recently accepted into the Lunar Accelerator.
- HiBar – This St. Paul-based company offers solid hair care products and sells in Whole Foods nationwide.
- Patron Points – A Woodbury loyalty program provider for the convenience store industry, seeing 50% revenue growth since 2021.
Health
- Kavira Health – This direct-to-employer healthcare provider has grown its revenue by over 2,300% in nine months and raised $500,000 in pre-seed financing
- Gravie – A Minneapolis-based health benefits company that recently received a $179 million equity investment.
- Nura Pain Clinics – This company offers precision pain management therapies and procedures to those with chronic pain, recently acquired by Capitol Pain Institute.
- InControl – This St. Paul-based company offers preventative wellness services for adults with disabilities, projecting over $1 million in revenue by the end of the year.
- BoundaryCare – This location-tracking app for iPhone and Apple Watch helps people with cognitive difficulties, including dementia; securing $800,000 in 2022 through an angel investment.
Med-tech/Medical device
- Relievant Medsystems – This commercial-stage medical device company based in Edina recently raised $50 million in Series G funding.
- Pneumeric Inc. – This Rochester-based company offers a device that provides visual detection for a procedure that helps with trapped air between the lungs and chest wall; that device recently received 510(k) clearance from the FDA.
- Vocxi – A breath diagnostics startup that has received at least $1.6 million in investment.
- Vita Group – This medical device incubator has begun building out a new 140,000-square-foot space in Woodbury as part of an effort to further expand its operations.
- Urotronic Inc. – This medical device startup is developing a drug-coated balloon catheter, which recently received positive outcomes from clinical trials.
Clean-tech/Environment
- Carba Inc. – This company, which works to remove carbon dioxide and store it, was recently awarded a U.S. Department of Energy grant in partnership with National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
- Grid Catalyst – This clean-energy accelerator was recently given a Channel Partner Award from the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator and launched a Minnesota Cleantech Consortium, featuring 3M Co. and the University of Minnesota.
- Phoam Labs (formerly BKB Floral Foam) – This company, which develops sustainable alternatives to foams now made from fossil fuels, won last year’s Minnesota Cup.
- SunOpta – A producer of plant-based products, including plant-based milk, that it says have helped save 37.6 billion gallons of water in 2022 compared to dairy milk.
Marketing and consulting
- Pivot Strategies – This Minneapolis-based, women-led internal communications agency is anticipating hitting $11 million revenue by the end of this year
- Awesome People Leaders – This Richfield-based mobile manager training experience has received and been nominated for several awards, including as a semifinalist for the Minnesota Cup
- Camp Digital – Based in Edina, this company provides digital marketing solutions to home-service companies, has been on the Inc. 5000 list and closed out 2022 with nearly $11 million in revenue
- Foundation Technologies – This company offers technical services for the creative industry, seeing 14% client growth in 2022
Software
- Uptrends (formerly Babbl) – This fintech startup with a platform that tracks stock market news and trends launched on the public earlier this year
- M-RETS – This company offers a web-based system that’s used by power generators, utilities, marketers and reporting entities across North America
- Fulcrum – This Minneapolis-based software-as-a-service firm focused on modernizing manufacturing, raised $18.8 million in Series A financing late last year
Community builder
- Reg Wing Ignite – Based in Red Wing, this innovation hub that supports entrepreneurs and startups throughout 11 counties in southeast Minnesota, received last year $2 million in federal funding for a project.
- Finnovation Lab – This accelerator, tied to Minneapolis Finnegans Brew Co., focuses on supporting social-impact products.
- StoryForge – This women, LGBT-owned startup offers an online writing and publishing community and was recently accepting into two local accelerator programs: the Lunar Accelerator and the BETA spring 2023 cohort.
- Creatively Focused – This Mendota Heights-based company provides direct and tailored support to special education professionals.
ILT Studios – After opening in the Davidson Opera House in downtown St. Cloud, this support organization has seen over 450 founders participate in its ILT Academy training programs
Hospitality
- Opsi – This Minneapolis-based workflow app, co-founded by former Spoon & Stable chef James Passafaro, earlier this year announced it had received an investment from a human relations services firm, which has restaurant clients across 42 states.
- Minnesota Ice – A maker of sculpture-grade, packaged and cocktail ice, this company expanded into the events industry for the 2022-23 winter season.
- Mosaic – Opening earlier this year, this upscale event and wedding venue provides an open-vendor model and operates with a focus on inclusivity.
