Latest news with #RealLISTStartups
Technical.ly
29-04-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Making the best of ‘Smalltimore': Inside the RealLIST happy hour for rising startup founders
People who talk about 'Smalltimore' hit on something crucial: The reality that nothing really happens unless people with common interests or passions actually come together to get things done. The corollary: Put yourself out there, and you'll just start meeting people. Come at it with an ounce of curiosity and humility, and you might find your next job, investment, coworker or professionally useful skill. At its best, 'Smalltimore' means Baltimore is small enough that you'll start running into the same people again and again, probably even in different contexts. The barrier to entry can be way easier to clear in a city this small, where you don't compete with millions of others for the same space and opportunities. On the flip side, 'Smalltimore' allows people to keep operating in their own particular silos, whether that's in the Johns Hopkins bubble (with its own myriad of silos) or in redlined Black neighborhoods. You don't need to know about the next generation of software developers coming out of the city's STEM high schools if you don't concern yourself with hiring locally. The fortunes of a startup on the rise don't matter if you work for a major private employer and never have to meet hungry entrepreneurs. We at have tried to be connectors across these divisions ever since we began focused reporting in Baltimore roughly 13 years ago. That's why, last week, we celebrated our latest RealLIST Startups — our annual feature honoring the region's most promising early-stage companies — with a happy hour that brought many of those winning firms' founders together to mingle with others from throughout the local economy. Regional leaders and staffers from Kaiser Permanente, T. Rowe Price and the Sport & Entertainment Corporation of Maryland joined various innovation ecosystem players to celebrate these companies at Spark Coworking, a longtime player in this small-business scene. Remarks from CEO Christopher Wink and Kaiser Permanente vice president Gracelyn McDermott punctuated a night filled with the informal connections that help make 'Smalltimore' something more expansive, beyond county and industry boundaries. Check out some photos from the celebration, courtesy of several of its attendees.
Technical.ly
04-04-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Philly founder proves the maxim ‘Your net worth is your network'
Simone Ammons built software startup QuneUp with about $140,000 from a side gig. Now, she's growing it through the power of community. Ammons launched her company with funds she made from working as a technical writer. Still bootstrapped, Ammons mostly relies on her strong network to keep it growing. That goes hand in hand with her dedication to uplifting others along the way, she told reporter Sarah Huffman on Speaking, our monthly segment on WURD Radio's 'Reality Check' hosted by Tonya Pendleton. 'Everything about QuneUp … was partnered with somebody else in the community that looked like me,' Ammons said, referencing how she connected with the 'fraction of a percent' of other Black women in the business community. Philly-based QuneUp, started in 2022, began with Ammon's personal frustration at work. As an engineer, every time equipment broke down, she got the call to fix it. The equipment often lacked vital information, like the vendor or when it was installed. In response, she developed a QR code sticker that takes the technician to the equipment landing page with all the information needed for repairs. Featured as an honorable mention in 2025 RealLIST Startups, QuneUp has also been recognized with valuable support from other respected institutions, including at two pitch competitions supported by the Philadelphia Department of Commerce. In 2024, QuneUp came in third place, taking home a $2,000 prize and the year prior, it was a finalist in Philly's Most Diverse Tech Hub Pitch Competition. It was also a member of the December 2023 Capital Readiness Program session run by the University City Science Center and, most recently, selected for the inaugural cohort of biotech accelerator HiveBio. Those connections also gave her the platform to find new customers, Ammons said, crediting the Department of Commerce for helping her land two pilots. Plus, it acted as a 'mini MBA' to learn how to run a business beyond just building the software, Ammons said. 'What I realized in business is that your net worth is your network,' Ammons said. Being a part of the community means she's just '10 conversations away from somebody who is interested in investing in a company like mine.'
Technical.ly
12-03-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
The year's top trends for early-stage startups in the mid-Atlantic, by the numbers
Early-stage startups are coming in strong in 2025, with AI, social and the environment in focus. We've gathered data on 74 early stage startups in the mid-Atlantic region, via our annual RealLIST Startups in Philadelphia, DC, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Data includes employee counts, funds raised, workplace setup and university affiliation. The startups fell into eight categories: Software, healthtech, greentech, biotech, cybersecurity, robotics, fintech and services. No matter what category the startups represent, many of them have incorporated AI, such as DC-based PerVista AI's gun-detecting technology, Philly-based Sahay AI's railroad inspection robotics or Pittsburgh-based Moss's agriculture analyzer. More of this year's startups use AI in one capacity or another than don't. Another trend that is obscured by the limited number of categories are three social app startups — Spinnr, InPress and RYLA — that offer alternatives to big social media platforms like X and Facebook. RealLIST Startups continue to lean into the greentech and healthtech sectors, but the overall variety is diverse, including startups that offer everything from vinyl record manufacturing to laundry service. Right now, though, we're looking at the bigger picture. Read on for some of this year's top regional startup trends, by the numbers. Hybrid work reigns supreme It's been a couple of solid years now of industries declaring that remote and hybrid work are out and 100% in-person is in. While there are of course industries where employees have to be in person, whether it's a wet lab or a consumer-facing brick-and-mortar business, tech jobs generally allow for a lot of flexibility. That flexibility is reflected in the 74 early-stage companies named on the 2025 RealLIST. Less than 10% — just seven — work entirely in person. Those seven startups are spread across industry categories, with four in the largest category, software, and one each in healthtech, greentech and service. Software, by far, has the most remote-only jobs in the sample, with 17 startups that are remote-only. The two cybersecurity startups are both remote-only as are a few in healthcare, greentech, fintech and service. 47% of the startups are hybrid — the most of any workforce type. Hybrid dominated in healthtech, greentech, biotech, robotics and fintech. Starting not-so-small The startups in our dataset have all been founded within the past three years. It's expected that most don't yet have a large number of employees, and that is reflected in the data, where 29 of the 74 startups have 0-2 employees and 51, or about 70% of the startups, have 5 employees or fewer. But there are some surprises. Gemma Biotherapeutics, at less than a year old, is an outlier, with 80 employees, five times more than the startups with the next highest number of employees, Clean Plate Innovations and RoboLoop, both Pittsburgh startups founded in 2024 with 15 employees each. Counter to what we might expect, some of the youngest startups have the most employees, though it's worth noting that Gemma, Clean Plate and RoboLoop are all university-affiliated. Overall, about one-third of the 2025 RealLIST Startups have between 5 and 15 employees. Accelerators have impact, but some startups succeed without them More than twice as many of the startups have participated in accelerators or incubators, with 19 startups responding that they have not. 29 of the accelerator-attending startups have raised between $100,000 and $999,999, compared to five of the no-accelerator startups. Where it gets interesting is when you look at startups that have raised $1 million or more. Eight startups in total have surpassed the million-dollar mark — and six of them did not participate in accelerators, incubators or pitch competitions. One startup, Philadelphia's Gemma Biotherapeutics, affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, is an outlier in several areas, including raises. The biotech company, founded in 2024, has raised $34 million. That's nearly three times more than the next highest raise on $12 million by DC's HyperSpectral Corp. At the same time many of the startups are pre-seed and have yet to raise any funding. 12 of the accelerator-attending startups reported $0 in funding, as did six of the no-accelerator startups. University affiliations are more common on the coast With so much innovation, not to mention entrepreneurship programming, coming out of the region's universities, it's not a surprise that almost one-third of the startups are affiliated with a university. Philadelphia has the most university-affiliated startups in our dataset, with ten, but Baltimore is right up there with nine; Pittsburgh has the fewest, with four, and DC is right in the middle with five. As noted with the data about the number of employees, university-affiliated startups may get bigger earlier and have opportunities to raise funds through networking and other university resources.
Technical.ly
04-03-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
RealLIST Startups 2025: Meet 20 Philly startups hot on the track to success
Philly, let's celebrate the top up-and-coming startups of the year. annual RealLIST Startups identifies the region's young companies on track to continue that momentum. We rank them 1 through 10, based on our analysis of their recent wins, and also include a list of runners up. To compile this list, we searched through the past year of reporting and asked the general public for nominations. The final list spans industries, including fintech, robotics and, of course, some big life sciences startups indicative of Philly's current trends. How do you land on the list? These companies must make most of their revenue from selling a product (i.e. no consultants), not have undergone a significant exit event and be founded in 2021 or later. The highest ranking companies on the list all rose to the top based on major events like big fundraises, participation in accelerators, notable investors and noble missions. This year, we broadened our horizons to include all of Greater Philadelphia — including our now 'satellite' market of Delaware. Here are your 2025 RealLIST Startups in the Philadelphia region. Methodology: To build RealLIST Startups, editorial team assesses factors including societal impact, founder experience, capital raised and community involvement. We ask each startup candidate to complete a survey to help us understand and verify these factors, and we only include companies that have responded. Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
Technical.ly
03-03-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
RealLIST Startups 2025: 16 early-stage Pittsburgh companies poised to make a difference
After months of outreach and careful consideration, our collection of this year's most promising Pittsburgh startups is here. annual RealLIST Startups identifies the region's young companies on track to continue their upward trajectories. We rank these companies 1 through 10 based on our analysis of their recent accomplishments, and also include a list of runners up. We've published this annual feature in various ecosystems stretching back nearly a decade, highlighting companies with impressive products, goals, founders and funders. 2025 marks the fourth year of our Pittsburgh roster; find the 2022, 2023 and 2024 editions here. compiled this year's list by reviewing our reporting and asking the public for nominations. The final group includes startups pushing to change the game in several industries, including medical devices, marketing, manufacturing, recycling, agriculture and health insurance. To land on this list, the companies must be founded in 2022 or later, make most of their revenue from selling a product (no consultants) and not have undergone a significant exit, acquisition or IPO. The companies on this list have achieved significant milestones, including major fundraises, accelerator participation, notable investors and impactful missions. Pittsburgh, here are your 2025 RealLIST Startup honorees. Can't see the info above? View it in a new tab. Methodology: To build RealLIST Startups, editorial team assesses factors including societal impact, founder experience, capital raised and community involvement. We ask each startup candidate to complete a survey to help us understand and verify these factors, and we only include companies that have responded. This year, despite a $300 million raise and unicorn status, did not respond to requests for comment and is not on the list.
