Noteworthy Updates: Diverse Workforce, Innovative Solutions, and Record-Breaking Funding
There was no summer vacation for Ohio’s innovation ecosystem. As startups in our region set fund raising records and scale their businesses, their success inspires more young companies, fueling the pipeline of opportunity and the requirement for more venture capital.
From using artificial intelligence to accelerate and improve clinical trials to speeding up barber shop deliveries and expanding touchless ordering, new companies in Central Ohio are disrupting the old way of doing things and creating jobs. Dozens of diverse interns are working in those promising startups and a well-known IT executive launches a company that creates new careers paths in technology for underserved communities.
Tap into the buzz.
As Venture Capital Expands in the Region, Young Companies Build Company Cultures that Scale
Columbus VC Scene Achieves National Notoriety
National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and PitchBook report that Ohio advanced technology companies raised a record $1.5 billion in venture capital last year. With $130MM in assets under management, Rev1 Venture’s funding to startups since 2016 is $54.2 billion.
Rev1’s High-Growth Startups Improve Efficiency and Save Time
Deep Lens Harnesses Artificial Intelligence to Improve Clinical Trials
Deep Lens, a spinout of Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Rev1 portfolio company, deploys artificial intelligence (AI) to match patients and clinical trials—connecting the right eligible patient at the right time in their diagnosis to the right trial.
Hair Drop One-hour Delivery Saves Stylists and Barbers Time and Money
As a high-growth startup company, Hair Drop addresses a significant pain point in the hair and beauty product industry—inventory and supply management. Serial entrepreneur Maurice Womack applies new technology to a problem that plagues stylists, barbers, and shop owners everywhere, with an initial focus on African American beauty supplies, including more than 700 brands.
Matterport and Gores Holdings VI Announce Closing Business Combination
Matterport, a leading spatial data company driving the digitized of the built world, and Gores Holdings VI (NASDAQ: GHVI, GHVIU, and GHVIW), a specialty acquisition company, completed the Business Combination NASDAQ: MTTR). Less than 1 percent of the built world is digitized.
Refill Technologies Responds to Demand in Contactless Ordering: Secures $1MM Angel Investment
Capitalizing on consumer demand for convenience and the ever-growing appetite for digital ordering, veteran-owned Refill Technologies builds order pages for clients’ mobile websites, which customers can then call up by QR code.
Together Rev1 and Startups Increase Workplace Diversity
Color Coded Labs (CCL) Boosts Diversity in Tech Careers
Doug McCollough launches Color Coded Labs, an innovative, culturally focused, technology bootcamp, , to increase workforce diversity. The company creates a viable path for people looking to change into technology careers. CCL starts with training and mentoring, then connects successful students with companies that are seeing diverse talent to fill technology jobs.
Rev1 Fuels Startup Workforce Diversity with Innovation Internship Program
Rev1’s Innovation Internship Program placed 144 students, 71 percent female and/or racially diverse, with 30 startups since the program’s March 2020 launch. Innovation Internship provides an unmatched learning experience for both interns and startups.
