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The 20 Startups to Watch in 2020
2019 has been a busy year for North Texas startups, and the cities that make up the region seem to continuously be ranked among the top tech and job hubs in the country. And when covering dozens of cities that make up the Metroplex, it seems like each area has its own scene. However, as you look closer North Texas emerges as a unified hub of innovation.
We cover the startup scene in the region every day, which you can stay on top of on our site and in our daily newsletter, The Beat. Throughout the constant hustle and bustle that comes with covering North Texas, we run across all kinds of stories – from funding rounds, exits, IPOs and mergers, to hiring’s and layoffs. And of course, we hear a ton of interesting ideas and people along the way. These experiences help us put together the portrait of the ecosystem.
Now, NTX Inno is looking ahead to 2020. In addition to insights gathered along the way, we reached out to entrepreneurs, investors, mentors and accelerators to identify the companies that should be on your radar as we head into the new year.
We focused on companies that may have recently picked up some new, early-stage funding, have recently emerged from stealth, and ones whose ideas are poised to propel them into the spotlight in the year ahead.
Now, let’s get to it and explore the Startups to Watch in 2020. You can explore each company by clicking on the logos below.
Last Note: On Jan. 30 NTX Inno will be hosting a party at Capital Factory to highlight some of the winners. You can come meet the winners and get the inside scoop. We’ll have more about that coming out in the Beat, but you can snag a ticket early here.
Aestheia Imaging
Formerly called SynMed Labs, Aesthia Imaging is a hologram marketing system for point-of-care patient acquisition. The holographic 3D displays story map patient’s journeys, while offering product education and providing pre-operative and post-operative procedure outcomes. Since being launched in 2017 by founder and CEO Austin Podowski, Aesthia has closed on two capital rounds for undisclosed amounts. The company unveiled its commercialized XTHEIA interactive display in May of this year.
Arcade
Sometimes meeting sales goals and other KPIs can seem tedious, but Dallas-based Arcade is looking to make it more engaging and entertaining by turning it into a game. Already in use by companies like Samsung and Toyota, Arcade’s platform allows companies to design games around their goals. Employees are able to track progress and win prizes. The startup was founded in 2014 by David Cherrie and James McLaren. It’s been growing a customer base in Australia and Asia, and last year landed a $1.5 million seed round led by ATX Seed Ventures and local investor RevTech Ventures.
Bed Beacon
Bed Beacon, a medtech startup creating a platform that aggregates data about nursing homes and in-home care treatment facilities to help patients find the right location and care, joined the Addison TreeHouse in November. The company was founded by Dr. Kathryn Jarvis, who was working as an internal medicine doctor and was liking for a better way to connect patients to care providers. Bed Beacon’s has patents pending on its algorithms. While the company plans to launch in January 2020, Jarvis predicts that at a single North Texas hospital, Bed Beacon could save more than $22 million by decreasing readmittance rates and increasing efficiency. The company is also working on an apprenticeship program to recruit the specific type of talent it expects it will need as it grows, as well as creating an overall more skilled and specialized workforce in the community.
CapoCommerce
Full-service ecommerce and supply chain integration marketing firm CapoCommerce was co-founded by Mike Covert and Andrew Levi this year. Focused on mid-market brands, CapoCommerce does everything from webstore design; market, supply and back-office integration; consumer engagement; and omnichannel commerce solutions. While still young, CapoCommerce’s work with vehicle manufacturer Lund International was able to boost short-term revenue by about $10 million.
Edgetensor
What started as a way to integrate edge computing AI and facial recognition software into autonomous vehicles that still have a driver behind the wheel in order monitor drivers and prevent distracted driving, has now grown to encompass the content management and video security industry. Edgetensor was launched last year by Rajesh Narasimha and Soumitry Ray. The company is backed by local investment firm Aristos Ventures. Combining AI and neural inference engine tech, Edgetensor’s software can be used to detect a number of facial movements and make predictive outcomes.
GoodieBoxx
Before its launch in 2015, Dallas-based GoodieBoxx began quietly putting up its self-serve retail stores up in a few choice locations around DFW. Since then, the startup’s combo of vending machine and mini-convenience store concepts have been popping up more around town. While still bootstrapped, Maxie Taylor was accepted into Capital Factory’s accelerator program, and at a Q&A session there earlier this year said he was ready for a seed round. In addition to its own physical stores, GoodieBoxx also offers software solutions to other retail businesses to help with logistics and inventory management, among other things.
Hashing Systems
Started in 2018 and launched in 2019 with the opening of the Hedera Hashgraph distributed ledger platform, Hashing Systems is a Dallas-based decentralized app development company for the platform. Its portfolio includes a Hedera wallet and Hash identity protocol, with a dashboard allowing clients to track users expected to launch soon. While value of Hedera’s cryptocurrency have dipped recently, when it went public with a beta version in September, its HBAR currency had raised about $124 million.
Kanarys
As demographics in the U.S. change, so too does the workforce. Kanarys was launched in April 2018 by co-founders Mandy Price and Star Carter with the goal of helping companies track and increase diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The startup's platform uses anonymized and aggregated data to determine the level of employee satisfaction with the workplace and the company’s initiatives, while allowing employers to track trends and statistics, based on collected data and surveys. In the past year, Kanarys has partnered with the UT-Austin’s Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, and it closed a $1.5 million pre-seed round, which makes Star and Price two in only about 50 black entrepreneurs to raise more than $1 million in venture funding in the country.
Kanna
Dallas-based Kanna is bringing the gig economy to the marijuana industry, through its platform that connects legal cannabis businesses with vetted, hourly workers. The company hopes to make it easier and safer to find workers. Founded this year by Farhaj Mayan and Vu Francois, Kanna already has partners in the Oklahoma cannabis industry. The startup was also accepted into the DivInc Fall 2019 cohort, the Capital Factory VIP accelerator program, as well as the 2019 MassChallenge Texas cohort. Most recently, Kanna was selected as one of three winners of the Dallas SoGal Pitch Competition.
Kickbox
Spam used to be the worst part about emails. Now users have to worry about that and more, with things like phishing attach becoming more common. Dallas-based Kickbox, verifies email addresses through its real-time API software, allowing customers to drop contact lists directly into the startup’s interface. Kickbox has largely operated with only a seed round, with Dallas-based Green Park and Golf Ventures as one of the investors. This year, the company launched its Kickbox Partner Portal, which gives brands, agencies and ESPs to proactively provision and manage their accounts with a streamlined onboarding process. The company says it already has more than 10,000 business clients. This month, the Montana Ledger noted a study by Global Email Verification Tools Market Report named Kickbox as one of the top global players.
LocuMatch
Founded last year by UT-Dallas business grad student Mohammad Badar, Frisco-based LocuMatch is a platform that connects locums, essentially freelance doctors, to facilities that need them most. Badar said the platform make the locum hiring process more efficient and cost-effective. LocuMatch was accepted into the Health Wildcatters 2019 cohort and operates in Texas and parts of the Midwest.
MyndVR
Launched in Addison in 2016, MyndVR creates 360-degree, immersive video content for people in senior and other assisted living communities. The goal is to reduce anxiety and depression, while increasing socialization and cognition With a number of university and private sector research partners, including UT-Dallas, MyndVR is already operating in the U.S. and Canada. Backed by Capital Factory, the startup has raised about $1.3 million in total funding, according to Crunchbase.com. In November of this year, MyndVR told the Dallas Business Journal is ready to start looking for new funding.
Pebble
CBD seems to be one of the bigger trends in wellness in 2019. However, Gunter-based Pebble sees itself as more than a CBD brand, but rather a biopharmaceutical company. Pebble offers full-spectrum CBD derived from organic plants, which are currently sourced from Colorado. However, that is likely to change with the recent tweaks to Texas’ hemp cultivation laws. Pebble has liquid, soft-gel capsule and topical CBD products. Started in 2017 with an angel investment, founder Patrick Moran brings nearly six years of experience in the cannabis market, and founded Acquiflow, which bills itself as the first “open, legal and transparent Texas-based cannabis company,” so Pebble is poised to scale as the local industry does. The company is also conducting R&D to be able to roll out new products and keep on top of trends and FDA regulations.
R9 Technology
Richardson-based R9 Technology is a provider of IoT solutions and services, and while there a multiple competitors out there, R9 distinguishes itself by offering complete end-to-end solutions, including software, hardware and custom cloud-dashboards. While its focus is on agriculture, food and industrial industries, R9 also makes custom IoT solutions for clients. Earlier this year, the company received FCC certification for two of its refrigeration monitoring system devices. The company is also part of UT-Dallas’ Venture Development Center.
ResumePuppy
Tired of applying to jobs and internships and never even getting a reply, ResumePuppy was launched by co-founders and UT-Dallas computer science grad students Anish Hedge and Shobhana Ganesh. The startups software allows users to upload the description of the job they are applying for, as well as their personal resume. Then, using natural language processing and machine learning, ResumePuppy’s software makes changes to the resume, increasing the likelihood of landing a job. The company recently took top prize at UT-Dallas’ Big Idea Competition, along with a $25,000 cash prize. During a test run of the software at the university’s campus, the startup gained more than 100 users in 10 days. ResumePuppy is planning on releasing a beta version of the software by the end of the year.
Securing Life Today
Financial management can be difficult. Securing Life Today’s app, created by Brandon Burton, a former financial advisor for firms like Northwestern Mutual, connects users accounts in one place so they can track finances and keep tabs on how well they are achieving their financial goals. The company was launched in 2013 with a $30,000 investment from Burton, which has carried the company until this year, when it landed an angel investment for an undisclosed amount. With this, Securing Life Today plans to expand its user base and begin working with getting larger companies to implement the software with its employees.
SqwaQ
Drones are increasingly taking to the skies and SqwaQ is enabling them to fly further and stay in the air longer. Founded last year with $900,000 in seed money, SqwaQ is a SD-WAN network company leveraging cell networks and IoT module technology that allows drones to stay in flight indefinitely at unlimited ranges. With more than a number of patents and more pending, SqwaQ showed off its capabilities in April by flying a drone more than 1,000 miles across the country. The company is able to do this through multiple agreements with bandwidth providers on 620 cell networks across more than 130 countries. SqwaQ’s technology could have large impacts on emergency response, surveillance and oil and gas industries.
SurviVR
Techstars-backed, SurviVR is an immersive VR first responder training technology that enables police, military and security personnel training with realistic scenarios and graphics. The Dallas-based company also has offices in Austin, as it was accepted into the 2019 MassChallenge Texas cohort. In 2018, SurviVR took third place at UT Austin’s DisrupTexas competition and took top prize at UT-Dallas’ Big Idea Competition.
Tarski Technologies
It seems to be well known that if a company isn’t staying on top of emerging trends, some other company out there will be. Tarski Technologies, an emerging technology consultancy focusing on blockchain and AI, was launched in 2018 to help businesses visualize the changing technology stay on top of a changing tech landscape. CEO Michale Lewellen’s and co-founder Humza Shazad's experience in blockchain begins in 2012, when they were still in high school. In 2018, he worked with Thomson Reuters researching smart contract, all before graduating from UT-Dallas this year. Tarski already has a number of clients within the blockchain industry. Lewellen was also featured on NTX Inno’s 25 Under 25.
Zirtue
Looking to offer small, personal loans between family and friends without the drama that can come with lending, Zirtue launched last year with its relationship-based money lending app and platform. Founded by Dennis Cail and Michael Seay, the startup’s app allows users set loan amounts and terms between users, then track payments throughout the process. In October, Zirtue landed a $1M seed round. By the end of the year the fintech company expects to have about 100,000 users, with a 50% month-over-month growth rate. It is also gearing up for a Series A in 2020.
