If you aren’t yet stoked for our inaugural Inno on Fire event, this list is surely about to kindle the flame.

Today, we’re officially awarding the people and companies that are crushing it in Richmond’s innovation ecosystem with the first annual Inno on Fire awards. Over the next few weeks, we’ll spotlight a few of these companies in stories and in our newsletter, The Beat.

We invite you and your team, friends, family – and anyone who’s interested or invested in Central Virginia startups – to join us at a big party stocked with good eats, cocktails, craft beer and wine over at The Hof in Scott’s Addition on July 18. At the event, we’ll announce the seven people and companies, one from each category, that a panel of esteemed judges have selected as the Inno Blazer winners (AKA category winners). You can get your tickets here.

So what exactly makes a company or person “on fire?” Using nominations from you, the readers, we’re showcasing startups that have had a banner year — people and companies with substantial new funding, product launches, big-time hires and important steps toward solving problems.

Inno on Fire winners were sourced by both internal and external nominations and selected by the Richmond Inno editorial team.

Here they are:

Community

Ali Greenberg, The Broad – The Broad was the first space of its kind in the state of Virginia and continues to be a voice for the women of Richmond through programs, workspace, and activism. Founder Ali Greenberg has been recognized in Style Weekly’s 40 Under 40 and as a NAWBO Rising Star Finalist. She also gives back to the entrepreneurial ecosystem as a mentor at Startup Virginia and Lighthouse Labs, as well as a committee member with Women in Venture. In 2019, The Broad celebrated one year of business and 250 members, with over 2,500 community residents share the space since opening.

Will Ritter, Poolhouse – In less than five years, advertising agency Poolhouse has more than doubled in size and revenue. An award-winning strategist, co-founder and CEO Will Ritter has developed winning political and corporate media campaigns, including for Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio, Pfizer and the National Association of Manufacturers. He stays busy overseeing all polling, market research and media buys for the agency, and also spearheads its sponsorship of a Meal on Wheels route, delivering the meals himself. He and his wife are also active volunteers for Stay RVA.

North South 804 Apps – Founded in 2012, NS804 is a mobile app developer for startups, entrepreneurs and businesses that has recently been churning out 10 to 15 apps per year. In addition to producing apps for local companies, it partners with clients and acts as a tech-liaison to help develop and grow the app. Some of its recent successful app launches include Whystle, Og Sports, Zoomerand, VA Beer and one for Carytown’s Watermelon Festival. Last year, it was named as one of the top 10 app developers in D.C. and in the top three in Richmond by Clutch.

Phil Conein – Phil Conein has been furthering his reputation as a connector in the RVA ecosystem, arriving at 10 years of mentoring and investing in local startups. The serial entrepreneur and fundraiser helped with Lighthouse Labs’ seed funding when it was just an idea, and helped connect a group of local investors, including Capital One, to fund the new 1717 building in Shockoe Bottom. He has served on various boards in the area as well, including Richtech, Virginia Council of CEOs and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art business council, and he continues to advise to numerous startups and businesses.

Education

MajorClarity – MajorClarity has grown its team, product and valuation substantially in the last two years, becoming a sustainable employer in the region and widening its reach far beyond Virginia. Now deployed in more than 10 states, the career-planning platform has fast become a cornerstone of the fast-rising edtech startup ecosystem coalescing in Richmond.

Brett Bowker, PeerSpective – VCU alumnus Brett Bowker is the founder of a socially conscious startup that aims to educate people about bullying and harassment. The award-winning student has been gaining steam as he heads into the Lighthouse Labs summer cohort for his technology, a virtual reality-based anti-bullying training experience called PeerSpective.

Lighthouse Labs – Nationally ranked as a startup accelerator three years running, Lighthouse Labs is expanding at a fast clip. This past year, it landed a $1 million grant to start working with higher educational institutions through the Lighthouse U program. It just held a bootcamp that ended with a pitch competition shelling out $20,000, and last month it chose nine startups born from Virginia colleges for its upcoming summer cohort.

Fintech & Blockchain

Charles Merritt, Buddy – Co-founder Charles Merritt has led local insurance startup Buddy to create an innovative approach to the industry, and the industry has taken notice. It has been accepted to and completed some prestigious acceleration programs in insurance tech, including Techstars and Plug and Play. Additionally, he and his co-founders were named one of the 30 insurance innovators to watch in 2019 by Digital Insurance – alongside names like Elon Musk and John Neal.

TraceRx – Aid-focused blockchain company TraceRx is kicking off the year with the silver medal for innovation in development relief globally, adding to its local awards from SCORE and Dominion Energy and a feature at the World Humanitarian Forum in London. To build its momentum, the startup represented Richmond innovation at Collision 2019 in Toronto.

Simple Thread – Simple Thread is lighting it up in the local area, as it helps three Richmond-based startups (and one in Boise) build platforms that are disrupting the edtech, security and banking markets and are collectively raising more than $8 million in funding. Simple Thread works strategically to steward the product design and engineering process, building custom solutions to match the needs of growing River City tech ventures. For its recent efforts, in May, the company won the RVA Tech Council’s 2019 Technology Builder of the Year award.

Food & Drink

Belle Isle Craft Spirits – Five years ago, Belle Isle set out to start a whiskey distillery, but ended up with a premium moonshine that has flown off shelves in the Commonwealth and beyond. Belle Isle saw record growth in 2018, becoming the fifth-largest craft distillery in Virginia by volume, and it’s now available in 14 states. The expansion will continue after it signed a late 2018 lease to double its Manchester production space and office to accommodate more employees and moonshine.

Tabol Brewing – Tabol’s small-batch brewery and tasting room in Richmond is off to a red-hot start after its grand opening in February. The startup drink maker uses local yeasts and micro-biota for its beer to give it a rustic and/or sour taste that is unique to RVA. Despite being the city’s 21st brewery, Tabol is taking geographic advantage of its position as the first brewery in Richmond’s Northside.

ChopChop – Founder Chris Chandler is another local entrepreneur staying specific to the Richmond area with his ChopChop food-delivery platform. The former OrderUp general manager launched the fast-growing startup in early 2018 to help local restaurants avoid high prices from large-scale delivery apps. Since then, more than 75 restaurants (and counting) have hopped onto ChopChop.

Software

Totem – Nonprofit and advocacy tech startup Totem has grown steadily for three years in preparation for 2019, this year expanding its client base from Virginia up to Massachusetts and west to California. It added four employees to accommodate an increasing workload, currently boasting a 16 percent monthly client growth rate. And the startup has also amassed a solid group of partners, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, Live Arts and Virginia Humanities.

Covintus – Software development shop Covintus has executed on its business model in a big way after creating its “human cloud” network of remote developers, by doubling revenue for the last five years. In addition to adding numerous tech startups as clients, it’s also contributing intellectual capital, financing and technology to young local companies like Warehowz.

CloudBees – CloudBees has invented a new category of software called software delivery management that aims to ensure organizations have connected processes and real-time data. The goal is to be for software development what Salesforce is for sales, and the company is gaining ground in that direction – it now has over 550 employees and customers including Vistaprint, HSBC, Carfax, Office Depot and Accenture.

Workpath – Launched in 2018, Workpath’s technology has quickly reached a swath of healthcare organizations in industries including health systems, home health agencies, phlebotomy providers, insurance examiners and labs. It has raised over $1.5 million since its launch, moved to a new headquarters in Scott’s Addition, grown its team of technologists, and been used by some of healthcare’s largest organizations, making it undoubtedly on fire.

Supporters

Maria Pahuja, Vayas – Maria Pahuja’s unique set of skills is helping bring Richmond’s startup scene to the next level through operations consulting, focused on early-stage startups that need to scale. Now with her own firm after leading operations at two New York City startups backed by Spark Capital, she’s spreading wisdom around the ecosystem through consulting work at Vayas, being a mentor at Startup Virginia and Lighthouse Labs, and being a board member at Women in Venture.

Startup Virginia – Startup incubator Startup Virginia came out of the gate swinging last year, and has created a crucial space and community for Richmond entrepreneurs. It recently landed a $100,000 grant from the Luck Companies Foundation, half of which will go toward launching a leadership development program, and executive director Richard Wintsch was featured as a speaker at SXSW.

Kaleo Legal – Richmond’s Kaleo Legal has implemented a variety of alternative fee arrangements with an aim to disrupt the legal services industry, especially for startups in the area without a huge budget. It performs most of its work on a monthly subscription, where fee determinations are not based on the time spent, essentially becoming an extension of clients’ in-house legal departments. This year it was recognized by U.S. News & World Report Best Law Firms in 2019 for Corporate Law in Richmond.

Jay Carpenter, Fahrenheit Advisors – Within Fahrenheit Advisors, Managing Director Jay Carpenter created a new division focused on sales talent acquisition, pioneering a business model unique to the industry. Additionally, he has served as president of The Richmond Parliament and WHIMBY, and currently sits on the board of Venture Forum and ChamberRVA. In 2018, he also founded a sales conference, SalesStorm, in Richmond to benefit Comfort Zone Camp.

Other Innovators

Joshna Seelam, CEO of Kilo Medical Solutions – Joshna Seelam leads a group of biomedical engineers at Kilo who are improving health outcomes for infants in the NICU. In the past year, her leadership has resulted in a semi-finalist finish at Chicago’s 1871 Future Founders of America competition, a national innovation grant from VentureWell, a top-six finish in the Richmond SCOREcard competition, acceptance to Ignition’s Sharktank Virginia competition, and VCU’s Demo Day. As a student, she managed to raise $22,500 in non-dilutive funding for Kilo and has won several IP scholarships for the company’s benefit.

Roundtrip – Roundtrip is taking its niche ride-share services to the big stage with a recent $5 million funding round that will kickstart major expansion. Its healthcare partners are currently seeing a 4 percent no-show rate, according to the company, which is five times better than the national average. In addition, it notched 10-fold growth in rides in 2018, along with 13-times growth in monthly recurring revenue. To accomodate the growth, Roundtrip is planning to double its employee count this year and stretch beyond 300 healthcare facilities.

Neil Hailey and Matthew Sozio, French Slide – Co-founders Neil Hailey and Matthew Sozio are currently working to commercialize French Slide products after receiving a notice of allowance for its patent on the innovative sliding and hinging patio door, alongside an allowance for trademarking the brand “French Slide.” In addition to the startup, Hailey has recently started a nonprofit organization, Zan Foundation, in memory of his sister Zan Hailey.

Ali Safavi, Grenova – Launched in 2015, Grenova has created a unique approach to dealing with plastic consumables in the lab environment. Its patented technology has washed and sterilized more than 78 million pieces of equipment for reuse, helping labs save a total of $6.3 million in costs and reduce 225,000 pounds of plastic waste. In the last year, the startup moved to a 10,000-square-foot headquarters and manufacturing plant, raised $550,000 in an equity investment round and nearly doubled the size of its team.