The Top Startups Making a Splash in Charlotte
Charlotte North Carolina is home to a lot of software startups. When I say “startup”, what I specifically mean is an innovative company with high growth and scaling potential.
I have compiled a list of the top software startups in Charlotte, North Carolina (and the close surrounding area). The list takes into account the company’s size, scope, funding and growth trajectory.
Other factors considered include:
- Revenue potential
- Leadership team
- Competitive landscape
- Brand/product traction
The companies in this list are all independent (they haven’t been acquired), which means I left out great Charlotte startups like Yap, the voice-to-text company that was acquired by Amazon a while back.
Also, the companies included are all privately owned.
Passport
Year founded: 2010
Passport transforms the way cities manage their operations, it is one of the best examples of Charlotte as a fintech hub.
The company’s mobile-first platform has been adopted by more than 450 cities, universities, and private operators around the world in cities including Chicago, Toronto, London, and Miami.
They power the mobile ticketing app that Charlotte Area Transit System just rolled out and some parking lots near Uptown are on the system.
They are consistently recognized as one of the fastest growing companies and Best Places to Work in Charlotte, North Carolina. Passport has an ingrained practice of putting people first, a guiding principle in its culture.
MapAnything
Founded: 2009
MapAnything is a location services company for your Salesforce data.
With more than 1,400 customers globally, ranging in all sizes and industries from small businesses to international enterprises, MapAnything is a Gold Salesforce App Innovation Partner.
MapAnything is the recipient of the Ventana Research 2016 Technology Innovation Award for Location Analytics and has been named a Customer’s choice by users of Salesforce.
SmartSky Networks
Founded: 2011
Business flyers need to do business and SmartSky has developed 4G LTE connectivity for planes large and small, and it includes WiFi selling on your smartphone with the SmartSky select app.
They have their headquarters near Charlotte Douglas International Airport, North Carolina. SmartSky was formed in 2011 by senior aviation and telecommunications executives seeking to transform aviation using disruptive communications technologies.
SmartSky delivers data to the aircraft with speeds comparable to next-generation satellite solutions and provides unmatched speeds when getting data off the aircraft.
They provide In-flight broadband internet for aircraft. Pretty awesome innovation.
Payzer
Founded: 2014
Payzer is a mobile platform for contractors to manage their business. It is an All-In-One financial tool offering mobile and online payments, Instant Financing and a whole lot more.
The mobile app allows users to accept credit cards, debit cards, and electronic checks in the field or at the office. With Payzer you can provide financing options in a short time and close more sales.
You can also issue a Payzer debit card to your employees and subcontractors in a bid to control purchases. You can instantly transfer money to those cards, automatically track company purchases.
Crazy thing is, there are a lot more features available.
Avidxchange
Founded: 2000
Account Payable and Accounts Receivable both require attention to detail and time, often lacking in busy businesses. That’s why AvidXchange created software that handles both sides with Automation, mobile support, and cloud-based savings for medium to large companies.
Basically, they help companies pay their bills.
Airwavz Solution
Founded: 2013
They design, develop, own and operate 5G-ready, fiber backbone wireless infrastructure platforms primarily inside private commercial and government buildings allowing the wireless carriers to improve service and increase capacity throughout their networks.
T1 Visions
Founded: 2008
It is a software company specializing in multitouch, multi-user applications for enterprise, education and active learning environments.
They seek to simplify the complex and create solutions that do not replace existing workflows but support and streamline them.
Stratifyd:
Founded: 2015
It is designed to equip business leaders worldwide with deep intellectual business insights in minutes instead of months.
The Stratifyd platform is an Artificial Intelligence powered Data Analytics platform that analyses and visualizes complex structured and unstructured data sets.
The platform uses an interactive visualization layer to allow users to inject their domain knowledge via visual dashboards.
The web-based platform allows users to share analytics insights with colleagues thereby enabling collaborative analysis.
They have their headquarters at FreeMoreWest.
PeraHealth
Founded: 2008
Two brothers Michael and Steven Rothman lost their mother Florence to a complication that was treatable but difficult to diagnose. As an engineer and scientist skilled in data analysis, the brothers started PeraHealth and developed the Rothman Index, using data to predict health problems before they became health tragedies.
PeraHealth is transforming healthcare through the intelligent use of data. By leveraging the Rothman Index, a validated patient acuity score, PeraHealth clinical surveillance software solutions enable healthcare providers to identify at-risk patient sooner for earlier intervention.
They also help to determine when to discharge patients, prioritize patient bedside visits, optimize ICI bed use and improve documentation accuracy and timeliness.
Sitehands
Founded: 2016
It was built to change the status quo for how hands-on technology work gets done in the field. Sitehands enables better outcomes through simplification of interactions and orchestration of right skills at the right time and place, whether for on-demand, break-fix, program or project work.
They apply ideas, knowledge, experience, and passion in how IT field technology services get done.
Movement Mortgage
Founded: 2008
This company started out with just 4 employees and has now grown to 4000 employees across over 600 offices. The movement has trained loan officers in 47 states on its way to becoming one of the nation’s fastest-growing companies.
Movement Mortgage was created in 2008 amidst one of the biggest financial meltdowns in American history.
Their goal is to have a long-term impact on the individual lives of those underserved in the community.
Levvel
Founded: 2013
They have deep expertise in application development, DevOps, cloud technology, product innovation, and design.
Their consultants are industry veterans with wide business-domain knowledge and a specific focus on financial services, insurance, media, and health care.
Levvel has a host of clients and they just signed a big lease at 101 North Tryon and are growing fast.
Tresata
Founded: 2011
Tresata enables businesses to monetize customer data by collecting, curating, computing and converting it to unmatched customer intelligence across all existing and growing data assets and at a unique segment of one.
Tresata is the world’s first end-to-end real-time CIM software platform that completely runs in Hadoop.
They offer automated solutions for identity intelligence, marketing intelligence, and fraud intelligence.
Skipper
Founded: 2016
It was formerly known as the waggle company and was one of three local companies to get invited to Techstars Austin.
Skipper provides
- Real-Time Visit Updates: You get a notification when they arrive and a report at the end with pet photos, there’s a GPS tracked map included
- Free Same-Day Scheduling and Cancellation
- Professionally Trained and Employed Staff
SentryOne
Founded: 2004
They build, test, document and monitor SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, and the Microsoft Data Platform.
SentryOne is getting ready to move its headquarters from Huntersville to South End. They also opened an office in Ireland in 2018.
Elements Brands
Founded: 2011
Elements Brands believes that the consumer product world is changing. The internet has enabled various audiences to raise their hands and say “Hey, make something specifically tailored for us”.
Elements Brands exists as a long-term home for these consumer-specific companies. They are a blend between a private equity fund and a traditional consumer products company.
Elements Brands amplifies the potential of these hidden gem and creates enormous value by aggregating and operating small brands with a long-term growth mindset.
They buy mom-and-pop insurer product lines and turbocharges their sales with their online expertise.
Milkful
Founded: 2015
Milkful bars are a wholesome, convenient, energy-packing snack for moms, especially nursing moms.
They believe that your breast milk is a product of what you put into your body and that is why they created bars purposely without artificial ingredients, preservatives, processed sugar or fake anything.
Rabbu
Founded: 2017
They manage Airbnb and VRBO listings and properties on behalf of their owners.
Rabbu automates check-ins with duration based codes sent directly to guests, it also monitors WiFi status and all connected devices to ensure guests always have internet access.
They also optimize energy usage when homes are vacant to save money and increase monthly profits. You can also gain insights into your homes, their performance and key data analytics all in one place.
Rabbu just closed on a seed round of funding to increase the number of homes in its portfolios.
BriteVerify
Founded: 2009
People make mistakes when they are asked to sign up for an email list all the time. If you’ve never asked people to sign up for an email list, you’d know.
BriteVerify integrates with a web page and catches typos in real time and lets people know that their email isn’t correct.
Tech Talent South
Founded: 2013
Tech Talent South offers coding boot camp and training program. They have campuses in 11 cities across six states and recently landed a multi-million-dollar investment to build out their corporate training program.
