SPRING 2023 HOTLIST
For introductions to these startups, or to request the password to access startup pitch decks and videos, please contact:
Christina Drake
[email protected] 734-997-8661
Additional data is available in the master Hotlist spreadsheet:
Renaissance semi-annually assembles the “Hotlist” – a listing of promising early-stage companies from around the midwest that anticipate raising venture capital in the next 12-18 months.
This group of around 50 high potential companies is curated from hundreds of recommendations made by Renaissance local partners (universities, incubators, accelerators, seed funds, angel networks, etc.).
Current Hotlist startups are shown below, sortable by sector and with embedded links where their pitch decks may be viewed if available.
| Company Name | Primary Sector | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Ways | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | 17 Ways turns enterprise B2B expenses into brand assets, making it easy for enterprise buyers to justify and track their purchase decisions based on the greatest social and environment impact. |
| AdAdapted, INC | Marketing / Advertising / Sales | AdAdapted is the leader in CPG purchase-intent display advertising. With Add-It, With, Add-It™, our unique, one-click frictionless ad units, consumers can save contents of an ad to purchase later. |
| AleloPharma, Inc. | Healthcare - Biotech/Pharma | AleloPharma, Inc. has developed AleloMAX, a breakthrough and best-in-class genetic diagnostic tool with ultra-specificity and ultra-sensitivity with superior results vs current commercial methods. |
| Alpha-Otto Technologies | Energy / Energy Efficiency | Alpha-Otto Technologies has developed a new generation of clean and efficient internal combustion engine technology to enable the transition to a Net-Zero Emissions Economy. |
| AngioInsight, Inc. | Healthcare - Services or Health IT | AngioInsight is a seed-stage digital health start-up developing an AI software that processes heart images and provides key diagnostic measures to improve the treatment of coronary artery disease. |
| Arborsense, Inc. | Healthcare - Medical Device | Arborsense develops non-invasive devices for continuous and real-time monitoring of substance (alcohol and drug/opioid) use. |
| Aries | FinTech | Aries is a modern commission free stocks, options, futures, & crypto trading platform built around democratizing market data. |
| Atterx Biotherapeutics, Inc. | Healthcare - Biotech/Pharma | Atterx BioTherapeutics is a specialty pharmaceutical company, focused on developing proprietary products for the prevention and treatment of multi-drug resistant infections. |
| Automation Workz | Education Tech | Automation Workz is a reskilling firm and builder of the 1st tech grit assessment to discover, predict, motivate and coach front-liners through tech certification training. |
| Bedestrian LLC | Healthcare - Services or Health IT | Robotics, focusing on automated delivery and optimizing logistics inside Healthcare facilities |
| blueflite inc | Automotive / Mobility | blueflite is designing and manufacturing advanced cargo drone OEM to enable drone operators providing logistics services for faster and more economical deliveries. |
| BrandXR | Marketing / Advertising / Sales | BrandXR is a no-code platform with AI tools to create, publish, and measure 3D Augmented Reality experiences. |
| Claira | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Claira is a competency analytics engine that helps companies understand and maximize their people. |
| CrossBraining | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | CrossBraining helps organizations train and verify skills from anywhere at any time with a patented video-based platform, allowing them to reduce training budgets by up to 50% and improve training outcomes. |
| Diet ID | Healthcare - Services or Health IT | Poor diet is a liability, responsible for 75% of healthcare spending. Diet ID makes it possible for any org to identify, triage, and mitigate dietary risk at scale by making diet a vital sign. |
| DroneView Technologies | Advanced Manufacturing / Materials | DroneView Technologies is a leading aerial mapping and geospatial services company. DroneView provides precision mapping solutions - aerial imagery & LiDAR from both manned aircraft & drones |
| EagleView Imaging, Inc. | Healthcare - Medical Device | EagleView develops augmented reality technology to make surgery easier and safer. The company already generated early revenue. Its paying customers include Henry Ford Hospital and Spectrum Health. |
| Elroi Enterprise Inc | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Elroi provides enterprises technology that help meet compliance requirements for 130 privacy regulations while helping consumer control their own data. |
| Every Two Minutes, Inc. | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Every Two Minutes is reinventing personal safety solutions to make cities of the future safer. Next-gen deep tech solution to help eliminate violence by detecting threats and automating interventions. |
| EVOQ Therapeutics, Inc. | Healthcare - Biotech/Pharma | EVOQ is moving its proprietary therapy for autoimmune diseases (e.g. Type 1 Diabetes, Celiac Disease, etc.) to clinical POC via internal development and licensing agreements with large Pharma. |
| EXOForce | Consumer Products | EXOForce is designing digital textiles with integrated bio and chemical sensors and AI-enabled medically oriented data for wellness (health and fitness) applications. |
| FirstIgnite | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | FirstIgnite automates customer acquisition for technical organizations |
| FreightRoll | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | FreightRoll is a supply chain software solution that automates driver and dock clerk workflows to improve yard efficiency, save paper and ultimately facilitate the digital supply chain twin. |
| Giggso Inc | FinTech | Giggso reduces financial risks and liabilities for enterprises using AI / ML |
| Iaso Therapeutics, Inc. | Healthcare - Biotech/Pharma | Iaso is a biotech vaccine development start-up based on science developed at Michigan State University. Iaso has an exclusive license to the issued US patent and initial sales. |
| INHERET | Healthcare - Services or Health IT | INHERET provides healthcare providers the tool to collect a robust patient and family health history in order to create personalized cancer screening and prevention plans. |
| Inpathy | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Inpathy is a social app creating empathetic communities through transparency, normalizing moods, and recreating the human experience to better serve people's well-being and digital identity formation. |
| iReprogram Inc. | Healthcare - Biotech/Pharma | iReprogram is the world's first and only direct cell reprogramming company. Using its UM patented process, iReprogram's robotic system can produce autologous liver, nerve, and bone marrow cells on demand. |
| Joining Adults & Youth With Disabilities Through Access (JAYDA) | Healthcare - Services or Health IT | JAYDA matches individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities to the best healthcare and social service providers for their individual needs and supports them throughout life. |
| JustAir Solutions Inc. | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | JustAir provides local air pollution monitoring solutions to cities to bring greater transparency into air quality disparities among our communities. With proper visibility from our neighborhood-level |
| KindKatch | Marketing / Advertising / Sales | KindKatch is a personalized video engagement solution that empowers a brand to collect and share video content at scale to capture audience attention and drive more conversions. |
| Life Magnetics, Inc. | Healthcare - Biotech/Pharma | Life Magnetics, Inc. has developed a method for shipping and storing RNA. The company has revenue in diagnostic and environmental testing and animal data in RNA therapeutics delivery. |
| LiveRoad Analytics, Inc. | Automotive / Mobility | A meteorological technology company utilizing connected vehicle data and proprietary sensor data for improved visibility into road network risk and delay. |
| Magsorbeo Biomedical | Healthcare - Medical Device | Magsorbeo Biomedical is a medical device company commercializing temporary implants made from Curasorb, its proprietary bioabsorbable alloy, starting with the Akesorb Maxillofacial System. |
| MagWerks Vision Inc. | Automotive / Mobility | Design/Developer/Provider of advanced lighting products addressing the specific needs of the Mobility/AV/EV industries. Unique, proprietary, highly energy-efficient, eco-friendly solutions. |
| MAREL Power Solutions | Energy / Energy Efficiency | MAREL enables extremely compact high-voltage power converters, with a configurable power-dense SiC power stack and a novel thermal architecture. |
| Money Pickle | FinTech | On-demand financial coaching with experienced financial professionals. Schedule a call or call instantly right through the app. |
| Mood LIfters | Healthcare - Services or Health IT | Mood Lifters is an innovative, paradigm-shifting, science-based mental wellness program that improves mental wellness and decreases anxiety and depression. |
| Motorcity Systems LLC | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Motorcity Systems is delivering software and systems integration technology solutions that enable trucking companies to modernize and improve their operations. |
| PassiveBolt | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | PassiveBolt is pioneering the first decentralized identity platform, KeyShare, that provides hotels with automated guest interactions without the need to store and control PII. |
| Peptinovo Biopharma | Healthcare - Biotech/Pharma | Peptinovo developed and patented a drug-delivery platform, Peptide-Amphiphile Lipid Micelle (PALM), that selectively targets higher doses of proven chemotherapies INTO tumors, keeping the chemo AWAY from healthy tissues. |
| Pluck.eco (WhatsEatLike, Inc) | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Pluck.eco is a sustaibility-focused last mile delivery company that allows users to bundle orders from multiple local businesses into one convinent delivery. |
| Pocketnest | FinTech | Financial Planning for the DIY’ers, B2B2C & SaaS Pocketnest provides comprehensive financial planning in a tech platform, by licensing our software to financial institutions. |
| REVEL Moments | Media / Entertainment / Sports | REVEL Moments is the place where athletes and fans intimately connect, and where the most powerful/authentic human-focused sports content is created all on a Web3 enabled platform. |
| Rivet Work | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Rivet is a B2B SaaS company providing workforce management software for the construction skilled trades. |
| SCnewton Inc. | Automotive / Mobility | SCnewton is a hard tech company whose focus is to transform state-of-the-art electro-mechanical ideas into e-Mobility innovations. |
| Stack Medical | Healthcare - Medical Device | Stack Medical is addressing the transition from hospital to home self-care with its single-use, wearable subcutaneous infusion pump suitable for a range of fluids including pharma and biologics. |
| TelezecareMD LLC | Healthcare - Services or Health IT | TelezecareMD uses a modern machine learning-based solution to reduce administrative tasks and increase more of non-clinical staff patient engagement. |
| Thread Medical | Healthcare - Services or Health IT | Thread Medical can automatically generate structured clinical notes based on recorded or live audio from a physician's patient encounters. This saves physicians 1-2 hours/day. |
| Throdle Inc. | Media / Entertainment / Sports | Throdle is a Social+ Automotive Leader redefining real engagement and connections between automotive enthusiasts and brands through a clutter-free targeted app platform. |
| Ulendo Technologies, Inc. | Advanced Manufacturing / Materials | Ulendo is a University of Michigan spinout offering patented vibration compensation software that enables a 3D printer to print at 2x the speed without any degradation in quality. |
| UnicuStar Therapeutics Inc (USTAR) | Healthcare - Biotech/Pharma | USTAR is a clinical stage biotech startup company focusing on novel cancer medicine series for breast cancer and pancreatic cancer. The project will need $10M funding to complete clinical trials. |
| Waldo Solutions, Inc. | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Waldo Solutions, Inc. provides a technology platform for the forest industry supply chain. |
| Zakuro, Inc. | Energy / Energy Efficiency | Zakuro develops advanced ceramic electrolytes and metallic Li anodes to produce solid state batteries with double the energy density than Li-ion--with a key focus on manufacturability and safety. |
| Akeila Bio | Healthcare - Biotech/Pharma | Akeila Bio is developing an industry leading portfolio of potent and safe next-generation RXR agonists (aka rexinoids) with broad potential to treat a diverse range of serious diseases. |
| Culturebie | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Culturebie's people analytics platform integrates employee feedback with organizational data to give insights that help companies retain and engage their employees. |
| DonateStock, Inc | FinTech | DonateStock is a B2B fintech software company unlocking a $3bn+ market by making charitable stock gifting accessible and easy for millions of nonprofits and investors. |
| Feedless | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Feedless helps companies that use brand or retailer data to power their business. We abstract the complexity of data access, ingestion, cataloging, and operations behind an API to help them go faster. |
| Grapefruit Health | Healthcare - Services or Health IT | We are addressing the massive staffing shortage in healthcare by creating the first national workforce composed completely of clinical students. |
| Hush | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Hush is a digital privacy protection platform designed to reduce your organizations attack surface by safeguarding your businesses most important assets-your personnel. |
| Jottful | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Jottful is a SaaS business that’s reimagining the way small businesses market themselves online. |
| Lerch | FinTech | Lerch is a mobile ordering platform that increases revenue and check size while collecting valuable consumer data by offering guests a better way to order and pay. |
| Liiv | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Liiv is an AI-enabled property management company that offers a complete solution for landlords and tenants. We de-risk the tenant for the landlord, and provide access to tenants. |
| LivNow Relocation | Consumer Products | LivNow Relocation helps older adults navigate the relocation process to transition from their homes into Senior Living Communities with ease, enabling clients to receive the best value and service. |
| Locus Mobility | Automotive / Mobility | Autonomous Ownership: Vehicles that self-manage ownership decisions and tasks using data automation/AI from owner approvals, not actions. |
| Partum Health | Healthcare - Services or Health IT | Partum Health delivers expert care to growing families, bringing together the best of online and in person care across perinatal specialty providers including mental health, lactation, PT and more. |
| Pluck.eco | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Pluck.eco makes last-mile delivery more sustainable and affordable for local businesses by bundling orders from multiple vendors into one easy, weekly delivery. |
| Plug Zen | Automotive / Mobility | Plug Zen manufactures electric vehicle charging solutions that cuts capital and operating costs in half for business owners. |
| Rex Academy, Inc. | Education Tech | Rex Academy is an SaaS based AI platform that provides K-12 computer science curriculum and remote teachers. Everything a school district needs to teach computer science. |
| Socian Technologies | Automotive / Mobility | Socian Technologies is building autonomous drones powered by an advanced AI to offer on scene visualization services to first responders to make encounters safer. |
| Tandem | FinTech | Tandem is an end-to-end financial wellness platform serving the modern couple through each life milestone. |
| Vayoom | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | Vayoom is a cyber secure SaaS platform for manufacturing control, predictive analytics, and decision-making to drive greater profitability and growth. |
| Vetr Health | Healthcare - Services or Health IT | Vetr Health is a mobile veterinary care service offering annual memberships that include in-home visits, vaccines, diagnostics, unlimited telehealth consultations and access to our online pharmacy. |
| VMX International LLC | Automotive / Mobility | VMX provides lithium-ion battery end-of-life/second-life recycling solutions for EVs and portable devices supporting business, industry, electrification, circular economies and underserved workforces. |
| WorkTorch | Information Technology (IOT, Enterprise, Internet) | WorkTorch is a career platform for the service economy. |