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What Va. entrepreneurs consider special about their businesses
Diana Warren. Photo by Mark Rhodes
Diana Warren. Photo by Mark Rhodes
What Va. entrepreneurs consider special about their businesses
Virginia Business// May 31, 2024//
Virginia’s startup scene is rich with new businesses as diverse as the regions of the commonwealth. Virginia Business asked startups to send us their best pitches for what makes their businesses innovative, and we’ve spotlighted some of our favorites.
Co-founders: Diana and Ken Warren
Founded: 2019
Capital raised: $110,000
Employees: 2 full-time, 4 part-time
Service provided: Proprietary drone mapping/pest detection software and drone manufacturing for the agricultural landscape
What makes your company different? Our all-in-one scan and spray drone is designed to transform agricultural pest management. This drone employs proprietary software to accurately detect, identify and verify pests (weeds, insects or diseases) across a crop field. Once a pest is located, the drone pilot has the freedom to make a real-time decision and spot-treat the area immediately or drop a geotag and return to provide treatment later. Additionally, our innovative mapping drone can relay data to sprayer drones in real time.
The pitch: Agricision was established in 2019 by farmers Ken and Diana Warren. Determined to protect their crop from a small problem that would quickly spiral out of control, the Warrens knew there were two options: spray the entire field or manage it by hand. Seeking a better way, they brought on a team to develop the next generation in precision agriculture spray drones. This year marks a significant milestone for Agricision by introducing our suite of drones, including our scout-sprayer drone, which will outperform other drones with its impressive 1-hour battery life.
Co-founders: Kevin Combs and Jeff Lysiak
Founded: 2022
Capital raised: $3.3 million
Employees: 8
Service provided: Diagnostic testing for male fertility
What makes your company different? Our IP-protected diagnostic and functional tests measure a newly identified biomarker that must be present on male sperm in order for it to fertilize a female egg.
The pitch: The PS Fertility story begins with a breakthrough discovery by two researchers at the University of Virginia concerning sperm and egg fusion in human reproduction. The novel discovery of a biomarker on the outer wall of some live, male sperm led researchers to uncover exciting, new and meaningful information about sperm function that quantifies the levels of fertilization-competent sperm. This information gives health care providers the only male fertility test measuring fertilization competency at the sperm-egg interface, which leads to better advice for couples on the likelihood of fertilization and then helps to guide fertility treatment options. The most used current tests are upstream of the sperm-egg interface and don’t correlate with the ability of a sperm to fertilize, thus our tests are a substantial leap forward in helping over 7 million couples annually better understand the impact of potential male-cause infertility.
CEO: Samarth Gupta
Founded: 2023
Capital raised: $120,000
Employees: 2
Service provided: Generative AI-powered contract drafting and analysis tool for in-house lawyers
What makes your company different? LexIQ is tailor-made for in-house lawyers working with commercial contracts, including NDAs, MSAs, SaaS, vendor, licensing and lease agreements. Our white-glove service enables you to fully customize your implementation with bespoke features while securely uploading your playbooks, templates and historical contracts data. We lead with security first — deployed on Microsoft Azure and compliant with SOC2 Type II and ISO 27001 standards.
The pitch: For in-house lawyers who spend hours drafting and analyzing contracts, we offer a GenAI-powered Word plugin that significantly reduces the time spent on contract negotiation. GenAI is rapidly emerging as a key driver in the legal tech market, projected at a compound annual growth rate of 9.1%
from 2023 to 2030, with the market value expected to reach $50 billion by 2027. Data indicates that 50% of legal transactional work will be automated by 2024, with legal tech budgets set to triple by 2025. Our five- to 10-year grand vision is to become a one-stop shop for all legal research and analysis. From our commercial contracts beachhead, we will expand to other verticals such as financial services (M&A, tax, construction, etc.) and intellectual property, while also expanding our services to cater to mid- and large-sized law firms.
Co-founders: John Gaskins and Patrick Hopkins
Founded: 2020
Capital raised: $6.5 million
Employees: 17
Service provided: Nanoscale thermal measurements (for the semiconductor industry, among others)
What makes your company different? Laser Thermal is defining the future of thermal measurements leveraging recent advances in fiber optic technology to innovate solutions to challenging problems. These advanced measurement systems provide customers with infor-mation leading to increased yield, performance, efficiency and cost savings.
The pitch: While semiconductor logic and memory devices that are ubiquitous in everyday life have continued to shrink and become more complex, subse-quently generating more heat, measurement technologies to characterize how heat moves in and around these devices have not kept pace. At the same time, excess heat continues to be the leading cause of component failure in microelectronics, power electronics, and wireless technologies. Laser Thermal has brought the world’s most advanced thermal measurement technologies out of the academic lab into the commercial market, all while placing an emphasis on ease of use, throughput and automation. Our tools provide thermal measurements at scales that do not currently exist in the commercial market.
Co-founder and CEO: Scott Janney
Founded: 2020
Capital raised: $2.65 million
Employees: 6
Service provided: Magazine Jukebox is a digital entertainment hub with magazines and games for businesses to offer their visitors.
What makes your company different? We are the only digital entertainment hub available for consumers to access via QR code or SMS without downloading an app.
The pitch: Magazine Jukebox is transforming digital entertainment for businesses worldwide. Our platform offers seamless access to games, magazines and trivia without the need for additional apps, streamlining the experience for customers and employees alike. Whether you’re a café, health care center or laundromat, Magazine Jukebox caters to diverse business needs. With a user-friendly interface and customizable options, businesses can effortlessly keep customers entertained while boosting brand loyalty and requesting Google reviews.
Co-founder and president: John Foley
Founded: 2023
Capital raised: $1 million
Employees: 6
Service provided: A marketplace for buying and selling used electric vehicles
What makes your company different? We are entirely focused on the electric vehicle market and the unique needs of those buyers and sellers.
The pitch: Recharged is the future of used EVs. With data-driven insights, a unique and trusted “Recharged Score Report,” and solutions to all the challenges EV buyers and sellers face, Recharged is quickly becoming the trusted brand in our space. As a result, dealers have now started listing their used EV inventory on the Recharged platform, finding they can sell their used EV inventory faster and more profitably. These partnerships make our business more asset-light and scalable and create opportunities to monetize our other offerings. While many of our buyers and sellers already are coming from other states, our focus in 2024 is to fully serve all the dealers in Virginia and begin growth into our neighboring states.
Founder and CEO: Kim Snyder
Founded: 2019
Capital raised: $25 million
Employees: 62
Service provided: Data analytics for community banks
What makes your company different? KlariVis stands out in the realm of banking analytics solutions due to its origin and design ethos. Far from being just another analytics tool, KlariVis is a comprehensive bankwide dashboard and analytics solution crafted by bankers for bankers. KlariVis doesn’t offer a one-size-fits-any-industry solution. The team understands and addresses unique needs of community banks, having navigated the same challenges themselves. This allows them to deliver solutions that drive real results for the community banking industry.
The pitch: Community banks today grapple with a daunting data dilemma, navigating through vast amounts of siloed data in disparate systems. Converting this into actionable insights is crucial for enhancing customer service, optimizing operations and staying competitive amidst larger institutions and nonbank rivals. This is where KlariVis shines. Designed by seasoned bankers, KlariVis offers a transformative solution. Its platform seamlessly consolidates and organizes valuable data, presenting it through intuitive dashboards that provide clear and actionable insights. This real-time visibility empowers teams, driving efficiency, profitability and productivity organization-wide. KlariVis isn’t just a tool; it’s community banking’s strategic advantage. By enabling banks to maintain independence while effectively competing with larger national institutions, KlariVis emerges as the catalyst for success in today’s data-driven banking landscape
Co-founder and CEO: Jordan Peace
Founded: 2018
Capital raised: $24 million
Employees: 37
Service provided: Fringe is an ecosystem of 140 popular apps and services — from Airbnb to DoorDash to Talkspace — where employees can pick and choose benefits with points supplied by their employers.
What makes your company different? As the first platform for personalized lifestyle benefits, the goal of our service is to create a curated and customized experience for everyone involved. Unlike traditional employee experience programs, Fringe offers over 140+ well-being and lifestyle services in one space that’s easy to set up and manage. We have companies up and running within two weeks to jumpstart utilization and engagement. We are not a discount marketplace, nor an affiliate program, and our partners do not pay to
be listed.
The pitch: The Fringe well-being marketplace truly humanizes the relationship between employer and employee by allowing users to select products and services that employees can benefit from to live easier, better and more fun lives. Fringe boosts loyalty and engagement for companies while simplifying vendor administration for people leaders. Through Fringe, employers are able to deliver the power of choice by giving employees points to select those services — from mental health offerings to child care to grocery delivery and more — that best meet their needs and bring immediate value to their lives.
CEO: Alexandra McLeod
Founded: 2022
Capital raised: $1.7 million
Employees: 5 (plus 3 contractors)
Service provided: Parlay is a software-as-a-service platform that helps community banks and credit unions approve more small businesses for loans. Using Parlay, lenders can get more SBA(7) loans funded efficiently, fill their applicant funnel and maximize their customer lifetime value while providing crucial support to business owners in their communities.
What makes your company different? The entire founding team is military veterans or military spouses, which guides our commitment to expanding inclusive access to the American dream. Parlay has a mission of expanding access to affordable access to capital for underserved small business owners nationwide.
The pitch: Three out of four small businesses find it hard to access affordable capital because they don’t qualify. With Parlay, leaders can quickly pre-vet and guide qualified applicants through the application process using our user-friendly system. For those not yet eligible, we don’t just say no — we offer a ‘not yet.’ Our unique platform helps these businesses improve their loan readiness and maximize their chances of future approval.
CEO and founder: Cameron Hardesty
Founded: 2019
Capital raised: $8.5 million
Employees: 20
Service provided: Local wedding flowers in 60 U.S. markets, designed by Poppy and arranged by hand by one of our 700-plus network florists.
What makes your company different? We offer flexible and affordable pricing for wedding flowers, source direct from ethical farms to reduce waste, and we are the first national network of wedding and event florists of our kind.
The pitch: Poppy is the first online, full-service wedding florist bringing affordable, on-trend, locally arranged wedding flowers to couples in 60 U.S. markets. With more than 4,000 clients since 2020, we are the largest full-service wedding florist in the country.
CEO: John Doyle
Founded: 2022
Capital raised: $61 million
Employees: 30
Service provided: Cape is a mobile carrier that provides nationwide 5G and 4G cellular coverage with added privacy and security.
What makes your company different: At Cape, we believe privacy and security are inherently valuable. We ask for minimal personal information and store sensitive credentials locally on your device, not on our network. We build software features that solve hard problems related to privacy, security and resilience on the global cellular network. That’s privacy by design, and we apply this thinking to everything that we build.
The pitch: Cape is America’s privacy-first mobile carrier. We are tackling an enormous set of problems that exist due to the rise of smartphones and mobile networks as a primary avenue to accessing the internet. Nearly three out of four Americans are more concerned about data security now than they were a few years ago. A majority are taking action by adjusting settings and purchasing privacy-related services for their phones and apps, but until now they have had no control over the risks inherent in the underlying cellular networks they use to access the internet. We founded Cape to help American consumers take back control of their mobile identities so they can be connected without compromise.
Co-founders: Dashia and Destiny Oliver
Founded: 2022
Capital raised: $25,000
Number of employees: 4
Service provided: RVA Hot Wheelz is the state’s pioneering and sole Polaris rental provider, offering Slingshot rentals in the Richmond area. Our rental options for these three-wheeled vehicles are flexible, allowing customers to rent by the day or hour.
The pitch: Experience the thrill of the open road like never before with RVA Hot Wheelz. Our partnership with Polaris Adventures ensures top-of-the-line vehicles and expert guidance, guaranteeing a safe and unforgettable experience every time. At RVA Hot Wheelz, we cater to thrill-seekers, adventure enthusiasts and anyone looking to make lasting memories, whether they’re planning a solo ride or a group outing. Discover the ultimate road trip excitement in Richmond.
