DC Inno’s 50 on Fire identifies the hottest companies, organizations and people across a variety of categories, all operating within and around the city’s innovation economy. You can check out all of our previous 50 winners, starting in 2013, here.
In years passed, we announced a list of 150 finalists and, later, shared the 50 on Fire list at a big party. It was great, but following that big reveal, we immediately transitioned to end-of-year stories and topics.
So, in order to spend a little more time with the final 50 and truly spotlight the people and businesses that are heating up D.C.’s ecosystem, we’re doing things a little differently.
Today, we’re announcing the 50 on Fire nominees. This is a list of all the companies and individuals that were nominated over the past few months in 10 categories – Community, Design, Education, Government & Advocacy, Healthcare & Medicine, Investment, Lifestyle, Marketing & Advertising, Technology and Inno Picks. Congratulations to the 200+ nominees as someone thinks you’re special and on fire.
On Monday, we will post the 50 on Fire winners, chosen by DC Inno from this nominee list and our own internal nominations. Then over the next couple of weeks, you’ll see profiles, stories and more about a handful of these fast-moving companies. Once we announce the 50 on Fire winners we will invite each winner to an exclusive photoshoot on September 21 at WeWork White House.
By unveiling the 50 next week and gathering everyone at the event, we allow for the community as a whole to celebrate those that are driving D.C. forward. We invite you and your team, friends, family, finalists and nominees – and anyone that’s interested or invested in D.C. startups – to join us at a big party stocked with tasty bites, cocktails, craft beer in November.
At the event, we’ll toast the 50 and, because we love a big reveal, announce the 10 people and companies, one from each category, that a panel of esteemed judges have selected as the Inno Blazers (AKA category winners). Like with our previous 50 of Fires, the 10 Blazers will be unveiled via a video live at the event. Get tickets here.
Now, here are all the 2017 50 on Fire nominees! See you back on Monday to announce the 50 on Fire winners.
Community Bethany Kazaba, Neighborhood Retail Group Black Girl Vision Blah Blah Blerdcon Brian Park, Startup Grind DC & Fishbowl Labs Svetlana Legetic, BrightestYoungThings Capitol Post Catalogue for Philanthropy Esra Ozturk, Arzo Goodworld Higher Logic Jeff Edelstein, Roadside Development, LLC Leslie Tita, I/O SPACES Nest DC Rebecca Yarbrough, Offline Society SEED SPOT Steven A. Rodriguez, SUEGO The Mentor Method
Design //3877 A Creative DC Aleberry Appointed Cherry Blossom Creative No Kings Collective PN Hoffman SWATCHROOM Wingate Hughes
Education Byte Back College to Congress David J. Miller, Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (School of Business) Echo360 EVERFI, Inc. General Assembly InnovatorsBox Julia Alexander, ExecOnline Katie Blot, Blackboard Inc. Real Time Cases Seth Andrew, Democrarcy Builders Shanaz Chowdhery, General Assembly Tonio DeSorrento, Vemo Education Vadim Polikov, Legends of Learning
Government & Advocacy Archana Vemulapalli, District’s Chief Technology Officer Audrey Henson, College to Congress Bryan Fratkin, SparkInfluence Chris Ahn, Echelon Economic Development Rachel DeCoste & Melissa Medina, Congressional App Challenge Crowdskout G. Nagesh Rao, US Small Business Administration Joshua Habursky, Grassroots Professional Network Michael D. Gallagher, Entertainment Software Association Phone2Action Quorum Sara Adland, Planned Parenthood Vanessa Wagner, Loudoun Economic Development
Healthcare & Medicine Avizia Binary Fountain GetWellNetwork Hua Wang, SmartBridge Health King John Pascual, 2016-2017 Health for America at MedStar Health Fellow Kitcheck Meghan Gaffney Buck, VEDA Data Solutions OnePath Medical Qore Peforemance
Investment Geoff Willard, Cooley DataTribe Gordon J. Bernhardt, Bernhardt Wealth Management humble ventures Jen O'Daniel, CIT GAP Funds Julia Taxin, Grotech Ventures Katherine, Kiewel, 1776Ventures Riverbend Capital Strategic Cyber Ventures
Lifestyle &pizza Aslin Beer Co. cava cove DCanter Mason Dixie Biscuit Co. Pineapple DC Reghe Ojaide, Reserve King Republic Restoratives Shop The City theCut ThinkFoodGroup True Made Foods Union Market Why Hotel
Marketing & Advertising AJ Meyer, GoKart Labs BrandLinkDC Erik Requidan, Intermarkets Gabriel Marketing Group iStrategy Labs Knucklepuck LaRhonda Burley, Washington Redskins Liz Sara, Best Marketing LLC Morning Consult RedPeg Marketing SpeakerBox Communications TrackMaven
Technology 540.co 9Lenses AJ Jaghori, Solebrity Alarm.com Alfresco Software, Inc. Angel Rich, Wealthy Life Appian Aquicore Bill Cronin, Xometry BluestoneLogic Brazen Technologies, Inc. Brian Ballard, Upskill Bryson Bort, Grimm Canvas Chip Moldenhauer, LawIQ ChurnZero, Inc CirrusWorks Contactually Debx Dedrone Desiree Dickerson, Atlas Research Distil Networks DMI Dragos Emily Dresner, Upside Travel EndlessMoves EnVeil Eastbanc Technologies FranConnect Goodshuffle Graphus, Inc Grimm Hatch ID.me Justin Fishkin, Local Motors Kelly O'Malley, ShoporNot Lisa Cuesta, NextGen Venture Partners Matt McNabb, Native Medallia Michael Avon, ICX Media Mike Donovan, Aquicore Mobile Posse mProve Health Native Optoro Pair Inc. Park My Cloud Paul Murskov, HireKeep PeaceTech Accelerator Pockitship Priyanka Komala, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Radius Networks Roboteam, Inc. Rooam Ryan Owens, WeddingWire Senseware Sergei Dubograev, Pinxter Inc. Shahar Abuhazira, Roboteam Inc. Social Driver Social Tables SoFarSounds Spotluck Stephen McCarney, OPAQ Networks Surefire Local Taoti Creative TargetSmart LLC ThreatConnect TransitScreen Upside Travel Upskill VideoBlocks Virgil Security, Inc. WeddingWire Xometry YoloData You Mon, Tsang, ChurnZero
Inno Picks 1776 4stay Alireza Khaligh, University of Maryland, College Park Alyssa Thomas, The Data Incubator Ashley Stafford, Elevated Events Group Cut Seven Elizabeth Lindsey, Byte Back Febin Bellamy, Unsung Heroes Fors Marsh Group, LLC FS Card Inc. Jason Fudin, WhyHotel Jessica Bell, The Washington Post Jodie W. McLean, EDENS Marla Blow, FS Card Inc. Mobee MoDev PeaceTech Lab Perianne Boring, Chamber of Digital Commerce Petly, Inc. Rachel Adler, Fairfax County Economic Development Rachel Kramer, Wildlife Conservation & TRAFFIC, World Wildlife Fund REQWIN Rina Shah, Run with Rina Roadside Development SharedWorkshop Shawn Dolley, Cloudera Squash On Fire Steve Kaplan, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP TuitionCoin Up Top Acres
