Here are the 10 North Carolina startups to keep an eye on, according to NC Tech
What small startups across North Carolina have a chance at significant growth in the coming years?
The North Carolina Technology Association has tagged 10 startups that it believes could be ready to take off. The association, a nonprofit trade association that represents some of the largest tech companies in the state, revealed its list at its annual awards ceremony.
The winners of the distinction include a well known tech entrepreneur in the Triangle, a Raleigh edge computing company and a firm trying to make court cases more of an even fight.
Here’s who NC Tech selected:
Amicus.io
Founded in 2017, Amicus.io is an early-stage fintech company based in Charlotte, a city that now hosts several buzzy fintech companies, including AvidXchange, LendingTree and Robinhood.
Amicus, founded by Cor Hoekstra, Paul Welsh and Walt Ruloff, provides a digital platform to banks to help their customers make charitable donations. Its main focus is on streamlining donor-advised funds.
The company has raised around $17.5 million from investors, and has around 30 employees.
Anduin
Charlotte’s Anduin, founded last year, has created an AI platfrom that automates accounts receivable work for accounting and consulting firms.
The company, led by Justin Adams, raised a $14 million seed round earlier this year, according to Charlotte Inno. The company’s backers include Revolution Ventures, the investment company created by AOL founder Steve Case.
Courtroom5
Courtroom5, a Durham-based company started by professors Sonja Ebron and Debra Slone, aims to help those who can’t afford expensive counsel in civil cases.
Every year in this country, millions of Americans head to court without a lawyer, even though it leaves them at a distinct disadvantage in many cases. In some states, up to 80% to 90% of civil cases involve an unrepresented litigant — and often they are low-income or a member of a vulnerable population, a 2015 study from the George Washington University Law School found.
Courtroom5 operates as a management platform for people who choose to represent themselves in court. The company’s platform offers a step-by-step guide to navigating civil cases, helps litigants know what paperwork or information they will need, and provides automated templates to write pleadings and motions.
EDJX
Edge computing is considered one of the fastest growing fields in computing, as our data-driven economy relies on more and more sensors to collect information.
Those tiny computers will have to be inserted into everything from cars and factory machinery to vacuum cleaners and refrigerators. EDJX, a young Raleigh startup, is hoping to power many of those devices.
“We’re trying to pick up computer servers, essentially, and move them outside of the data center into the outdoors,” the company’s chief technology officer, James Thomason, told The News & Observer last year.
The company has raised around $24 million from investors, according to Crunchbase.
Floodlight Software
Floodlight Software, a Cary-based company led by Nasrin Azari, is the creator of a platform that makes it easier for inspection companies to schedule more jobs and streamline billing clients.
The main industries it works with are engineering, oil and gas, construction and water.
Gemelli BioTech
Raleigh-based Gemelli BioTech makes tests meant to diagnose people who have irritable bowel syndrome or systemic sclerosis and scleroderma and measure the levels of hydrogen sulfide in patients.
The company says it plans to create diagnostic tools aimed at the human microbiome. Gemelli is led by Matt Mitcho, whose previous work stints include Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Salix Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline.
Hybrid Athlete Foundation
Hybrid Athlete Foundation is the Wilmington-based maker of an app for gyms.
The app lets gym members and employees of 24/7 gyms unlock doors and rooms from their phones without a key or passcode.
Levitate
Jesse Lipson has been one of the Triangle’s most successful entrepreneurs of the last decade, having sold his last company, ShareFile, to Citrix.
But it’s his new company, Levitate, that is getting headlines now for being one of the fastest-growing companies in Raleigh.
Levitate competes with email service companies like Mailchimp by providing more intimate communication tools, like reminders to message a customer personally, notes on previous conversations and analytical breakdowns of outreach. The company also provides marketing coaches to offer strategic support.
Levitate has more than 2,000 customers, raised around $14 million from investors and now employs more than 100 people.
Seguno Software
Durham-based Seguno Software is the maker of email marketing tools for businesses that use the Shopify platform.
Shopify has become one of the most important e-commerce platforms for small businesses in the past few years, and Seguno helps companies create engaging messages from their Shopify accounts.
The company was founded by Christopher Geiss in 2017 after leaving the software company Bronto.
TriggerMesh
Apex’s TriggerMesh is a cloud computing company that makes software that helps companies manage applications and data across different cloud computing systems.
The startup has raised around $8 million from investors so far, according to Crunchbase, and it is led by Mark Hinkle.
One of its leading investors is the venture arm of Cisco Systems, one of the largest employers in Research Triangle Park.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate
This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 5:45 AM with the headline "Here are the 10 North Carolina startups to keep an eye on, according to NC Tech."
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct when Amicus.io was founded and how much money it has raised.
