GrepBeat’s “Startups To Watch” recognizes 10 early-stage tech startups that we believe are going to make big news going forward—maybe even unicorn-big. This is the second year we have chosen the list, which we revealed at an invite-only event on Sept. 29 at The Pit in downtown Durham. The event was sponsored by Pacific Western Bank and Robinson Bradshaw.
The field is restricted to early-stage tech or tech-enabled startups—so no agencies or consultancies, and no life sciences/medical devices/biotech startups—with annual revenue <$3M. There are also no repeat winners; each year is a totally new list.
We received a total of 62 nominations this year, and just like last year, we had a tough task narrowing the field.
Here are GrepBeat’s 2022 Startups To Watch, in alphabetical order:
HQ: Chapel Hill
Year Founded: 2020
CEO: Tai Huynh
Description: Acta’s SaaS solution congregates data on local government emails to streamline constituent response and coordinate better communication among staff members. The platform’s customers include the City of Raleigh and Town of Morrisville.
Read more about Acta in our August 2019 article.
Allstacks
HQ: Raleigh
Year Founded: 2016
CEO: Hersh Tapadia
Description: Allstacks looks to address bottlenecks in software production with analytic tools that connect with platforms developers use to create and release software, such as GitHub or Trello. Allstacks’ platform allows developers to see and manage the status of all projects in one place and ensures predictability in project release.
Read more about Allstacks in our February 2019 feature. CEO Hersh Tapadia was also a guest on the Friday Nooner this June.
HQ: Durham
Year Founded: 2020
Co-Founders: Alexina and Brian Alonso
Description: Founded in the heart of the Covid pandemic by husband-and-wife duo Brian and Alexina Alonso, Built Story is a marketplace for self-guided tour delivered via smartphone that allows users to create and buy tours on its web app.
Read more about Built Story in this March 2021 profile, and learn about Built Story’s selection for the Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund in this July 2022 article.
HQ: RTP
Year Founded: 2021
CEO: Dezbee McDaniel
Description: Clinical study marketplace CliniSpan Health looks to address well-documented racial health disparities by recruiting clinical study participants from underrepresented groups. CliniSpan Health was able to increase the inclusion rate for Black participants in the recruiting pipeline for the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine trials three times higher than the national average.
Read more about CliniSpan Health in our March 2022 profile.
HQ: Raleigh
Year Founded: 2018
CEO: Jihoon Baek
Description: Catering especially to young professionals running clinical labs, Dendi looks to fill a vacuum in the laboratory information systems market with its laboratory productivity platform. The LIS platform helps labs scale sustainably by streamlining workflows and tracking key metrics.
Read more about Dendi in GrepBeat’s November 2020 profile.
HQ: Durham
Year Founded: 2021
CEO: Rebecca Egger
Description: Little Otter Health connects families and children to mental health resources that can help them navigate a space in which children’s mental health conditions often go undiagnosed or underdiagnosed. Through the Little Otter Health app, families can access therapy, psychiatry and regular child mental well-being checks.
Read more about Little Otter Health in this June 2022 profile.
HQ: Durham
Year Founded: 2017
CEO: Bernard Worthy
Description: A partner in the 2020 NC Rapid Recovery Loan Program, LoanWell’s self-described “Squarespace for Lenders” allows for no-hassle loan distribution with automated loan origination and portfolio management software for community lenders. The end-to-end loan platform makes secure, private loan transactions accessible for small businesses and loan providers alike.
Read more about LoanWell in this June 2020 GrepBeat profile.
HQ: Durham
Year Founded: 2012
CEO: David Shaner
Description: In Offline’s current (and most successful) iteration, it sends two curated restaurant recommendations a month to subscribers, along with coupons for those restaurants that expire at the end of the month. The service is live in Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte and will expand in 2023 to Richmond, Nashville and Atlanta thanks to the most successful crowdfunding campaign in state history ($2M+).
Read more about Offline in our story from yesterday.
HQ: Durham
Year Founded: 2016
CEO: Ed Barber
Description: Digital health startup Pattern Health, which recently made GrepBeat headlines for its $3.3 million Series A raise, provides a no-code platform that enables medical researchers, healthcare providers and clinicians to build mobile apps quickly and at a lower cost.
Read more about Pattern Health’s history in our 2019 article.
HQ: Cary
Year Founded: 2021
CEO: Doron Gordon
Description: Founded by the team behind Samanage—which exited for $350M to Solar Winds—Viably is an all-in-one financial management and banking app for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
Read more about Viably’s $22 million seed round in this July 2022 GrepBeat article.
