Minne Inno's fifth annual Fire Awards comes at an interesting time. The years-long wave of momentum startups have enjoyed nationally could soon be fading, but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t a lot to celebrate in the Twin Cities.
The following 50 companies have emerged out of the pandemic hotter than ever and are poised to keep that light alive for years to come. The selections below were sourced from nominations submitted by readers, and then sorted into categories ranging from medical devices to fintech.
The Startup of the Year finalists are the companies that have risen above all the others, while the companies in the Early-Stage category represent future Startup of the Year contenders who are Series A stage or earlier.
In July, a Blazer winner will be selected from each category by a panel of judges. Blazer winners are the hottest companies in each category, deserving some extra recognition. More details about that event can be found here.
Community builder:
Phyllis Wheatley Community Center: Executive Director Suzanne Burks has transformed the nearly 100-year-old organization from a struggling agency to a growing community service agency. This year, PWCC launched the Digital TechWorks Academy, which houses four programs targeted at teaching young people tech skills that open doors to employment opportunities.
Code Savvy: With the support of the Cargill Foundation, the Minneapolis-based nonprofit was able to hire Valerie Lockhart as its first executive director. It has since adapted its programming to be more collaborative and supportive in its mission to make computer science more accessible for teachers and students.
Reve Academy: This year, the Minneapolis-based organization celebrated its 10th anniversary and its 10,000th student served with its innovative digital career pathway programs. And its newly launched Rever in Residence Pathway allows students to engage in micro-internships and pursue entrepreneurship as a career.
Spark-Y: Youth Action Labs: The Minneapolis-based nonprofit provides STEM education for students. Its revenue grew 25% last year to $1.13 million.
Media and marketing:
Skykit: The company provides digital signage that enhances the in-office experiences for employees. The Minneapolis-based company has grown over 50% quarter-over-quarter for the past three quarters.
Imprint Engine: The Minneapolis-based company, which provides promotional material and merchandise to clients, announced plans to triple the size of its headquarters earlier this year. Between 2018 and 2020, the company's revenue grew nearly 94% to $7 million.
Voro: The Minneapolis-based digital marketing firm grew revenue from $2.1 million in 2020 to $4.3 million in 2022. It was also recognized as a Google Premier Partner, a distinction Google presents to fewer than 3% of agencies worldwide.
Health and wellness:
Care Counseling: The St. Louis Park-based mental health provider has invested heavily during the pandemic to expand its care to more people in need. Its patients range in age from 2 to 87 years old.
Icario: The Minneapolis-based company is the combination of digital health care companies Novu and Revel Health, which make consumer engagement programs for health plans and employers. It now works with health plans in all 50 states, including eight of the 10 largest plans in the country.
Mitesco Inc.: St. Louis Park-based Mitesco is the parent company of The Good Clinic, a chain of primary care clinics offering a slate of health and wellness services delivered by nurse practitioners. The company is expected to have $400 million in sales by 2031, according to an analyst report.
Duos: The Minneapolis-based company pairs a trained personal assistant for aging with an older adult (creating a duo, hence the name). These companions provide everything from help ordering groceries to arranging safe transportation and companionship. The social health care startup raised a $15 million Series A round of venture capital funding earlier this year.
Itiliti Health: Eden Prairie-based Itiliti offers a software platform that reduces costs and response times for processing prior authorization for health plans and health care providers. It raised $2 million in seed funding at the end of 2021.
Marani Health: The Minneapolis-based health tech startup is developing a digital and postpartum care platform that will combine a mobile app with a clinical portal. It raised a $7.6 million round of seed funding in late 2021.
River Health: For $35 per month, River users receive access to unlimited virtual visits, in-person care at 1,200 partner clinics, $5 prescriptions through a mail-order pharmacy, and low-cost lab tests. The Minneapolis-based company closed a $3.1 million seed round in 2021.
Med-tech:
Francis Medical: The Maple Grove-based medical-device company is building a system to treat prostate cancer with water vapor. It raised a $55 million round of venture funding in late 2021.
Medical 21: The Plymouth-based company is engineering a mesh that encourages the body to build new blood vessels used in coronary artery bypass grafting (or CABG) surgery. In May, it opened a $40 million financing round through a Reg A+ offering.
SynerFuse: The Eden Prairie-based company is aiming to help end the opioid crisis. Its vision combines two therapy modalities of spinal fusion and neuromodulation into a single solution. There are more than 500,000 spinal fusion procedures performed annually in the U.S, and as many as 40% of cases result in chronic, residual pain which costs the health care system $20 billion annually.
Vyriad Inc.: The Rochester-based company is engineering cancer-killing viruses. It raised $29.5 million in Series B funding last month.
Egg Medical: The Arden Hills-based company makes a device that reduces scatter radiation in x-rays by over 90% by replacing the patient mattress with a carbon fiber platform. Earlier this year, it raised $13 million to commercialize the product.
Vascudyne: The biotech company uses biological tissue to develop a new replacement for heart valves and veins. It raised $10 million in a Series A round of funding last year.
Diamedica Therapeutics: The Minneapolis-based company is developing a synthetic version of proteins found in urine to treat strokes. It raised $30 million through a private placement in late 2021.
Fintech:
Branch: The Minneapolis-based fintech firm raised $75 million to grow and expand its platform earlier this year. It’s using the capital to grow in the trucking, logistics and last-mile delivery sectors.
Spave: Spave is an app that connects to users' bank accounts and deducts a set portion of their total spending to be saved as well as sent to charities of their choice. The Red Wing-based company was acquired by Reseda Group, a service organization owned by Michigan State University Federal Credit Union last year.
Sezzle: The buy now, pay later platform was acquired by Zip Co Limited, an Australian competitor, for $352 million in February. The deal resulted in over 8.8 million customers spread across 60,000 U.S. retailers.
JustiFi: The Minneapolis-based company helps its clients manage payments ranging in the hundreds of millions of dollars all the way from transaction through bank transfer. Its suite of payment, banking and fintech tools work with an AI decision engine to find the lowest transaction fees in order to maximize revenue. Earlier this year it raised $4 million in seed funding.
Early-stage startup:
Omnia Fishing: The Golden Valley-based e-commerce site, which also deals in fishing data, has been growing exponentially. Its sales grew 400% in 2021 and the company has securied $6 million in venture funding in the last twelve months. Later this year, Omnia will also move into a 30,000-square-foot warehouse in the southwest metro.
TurnSignl: The Minneapolis-based company offers an app that gives on-demand legal help to drivers who have been stopped by police. The service is now available in several states and was recently named a semifinalist for the Minnesota Cup in the Impact Ventures category.
ASR Consulting Group: The Bloomington-based accounting firm is growing quickly by catering to a client roster of influencers and TikTokers. Despite not spending any money on marketing, the firm has quadrupled its monthly revenues compared to 2021.
Lucy: Minneapolis-based Lucy caters to a roster of Fortune 1000 clients through an AI platform that assists in accessing data. It closed a $6 million Series A round of funding earlier this year.
Parallax: The Edina-based digital professional services company offers clients an automation platform to optimize revenue and growth through data forecasting. The company has added almost 30 jobs since May 2021 and has more than doubled its annual recurring revenue (ARR) in the last year.
Growing company:
Datasite: The Minneapolis-based software-as-a-service provider for mergers and acquisitions has been ballooning in revenue and headcount since changing its name from Merrill Corp. in March 2020. In its fiscal year ending Jan. 30, Datasite’s revenue increased 33%. Meanwhile, its headcount nearly doubled to 1,000 employees in the same time period.
PBI Research Services: The Minneapolis-based firm is bringing a technical approach to death audit and location verification services serving pension plan sponsors. Its revenue grew 50% while its year-over-year client growth increased 200% in the last year .
Digi-Key Electronics: With $4.7 billion in sales, the Thief River Falls-based electronics distributor is one of the largest private companies in the U.S. This summer, the company will open a new 2 million square foot expansion. The $400 million investment is expected to contribute to $500 million in economic output.
Yardstik: The Edina-based security and screening startup is hiring aggressively to stay on pace with its growth. Its year-over-year growth has increased 468% and its added 25 employees in the past year.
Wellbeats: The Minneapolis-based on-demand fitness content provider increased monthly recurring revenue 154% between 2018 and 2021. Its future growth is estimated 40% to 50% year-over-year.
Niron Magnetics: Minneapolis-based Niron Magnetics is working to source high-performance magnets that are made from recycled materials and free of rare earth metals. It raised a $23 million round of venture funding last year and is building a pilot production facility in Northeast Minneapolis.
Sports startups:
TeamGenius: This Minneapolis-based company provides youth sports evaluation software for coaches. It raised $1.1 million last year.
Prevent Biometrics: The Edina-based sports-tech startup has created a concussion-monitoring mouthguard. It raised $5 million earlier this year.
GoRout: The Minneapolis-based startup is using technology to streamline football practices with technology. It works with over 400 teams ranging from high school to Division I collegiate. In Dec. 2021 it raised $500,000 in venture funding.
Gwoop: Founded by Gavin Lee, the Edina-based startup runs a training platform for esports players. It raised $1.85 million in late 2021.
NextGem: The social app built for trading card enthusiasts came out of stealth earlier this year by announcing a $1.8 million pre-seed round. It’s the first company to be spun out of the venture studio at Great North Ventures.
Player’s Health: The startup that manages risks for youth sports athletes and organizations raised $28 million earlier this year. It will use the funding to invest in its technology and people. CEO Tyrre Burks was also named as a Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal 2022 Most Admired CEO.
Startup of the Year:
When I Work: The Minneapolis-based firm shed its startup label last year when it announced a $200 million private equity investment from Bain Capital Tech Opportunities. It’s consistently profitable and has raised over $24 million in venture funding since its founding in 2010.
Gravie: The Minneapolis-based health care company is a nationwide player in the health benefits and health tech sectors. Its banner year included two large funding rounds: a $75 million Series E round earlier this year, and a $28 million round in the spring of 2021. It now plans to double its employee count over the next year, after it already increased headcount by 63% last year.
Rise Modular: The Minneapolis-based modular manufacturer and design-build firm is tackling record-high construction costs head-on. Its modules are manufactured offsite and assembled onsite at apartment developments within days. Its modular construction accounts for a 13% to 21% costs savings. At the start of January 2021, the company had 70 employees, now that number exceeds 150.
Dispatch: The Minneapolis-based logistics tech startup raised a $50 million Series C round of funding earlier this year. Since its last funding round in 2020, the company has doubled its product and engineering teams. Over the next 18 months, Dispatch plans to grow from 50 to 100 markets.
Compute North: In February 2022, the Eden Prairie-based operator of data centers used to mine cryptocurrency, announced it closed on $385 million in funding. Between 2018 and 2020, its revenue grew 687%, ranking it the No. 1 fastest-growing private company in the Twin Cities.
Inspectorio: At the beginning of the year, the Minneapolis-based company raised $50 million in a Series B round of funding. Inspectorio, which provides quality- and compliance-management software, was also selected in Apple Inc.’s first Impact Accelerator cohort last year.
Soona: Last year, the Minneapolis- and Denver-based company was named Startup of the Year in Minne Inno’s Blazer awards. The same-day photo startup, which makes content for ecommerce companies, is looking to repeat that achievement after raising a $35 million round of funding earlier this year.
Suma Brands: The Minneapolis-based company came out of stealth last year with a $150 million investment. Suma Brands works by acquiring and growing fulfillment-by-Amazon businesses, an industry that numbers in the millions of sellers and sees more than $300 billion in revenue.
