2020 Best Tech Startups in Durham
The Tech Tribune staff has compiled the very best tech startups in Durham, North Carolina. In doing our research, we considered several factors including but not limited to:
- Revenue potential
- Leadership team
- Brand/product traction
- Competitive landscape
Additionally, all companies must be independent (unacquired), privately owned, at most 10 years old, and have received at least one round of funding in order to qualify.
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1. ArchiveSocial
Founded: 2011
“ArchiveSocial empowers agencies and organizations to actively participate on social networking channels by ensuring they can fulfill legal requirements and avoid lawsuits. Our cloud-based archiving and analytics technology is trusted by more than 2,000 public agencies.
Our office is located in the heart of Downtown Durham, NC, walking distance from the Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham Bulls Athletic Stadium, American Tobacco Campus, the American Underground (a Google for Entrepreneurs Tech Hub), and some of the best food in the Southeast.”
2. Validic
Founded: 2010
Also honored in:
“Validic is the healthcare industry’s premier technology platform for convenient, easy access to digital health data from best-in-class clinical and remote-monitoring devices, sensors, fitness equipment, wearables and patient wellness applications. Validic’s mission is to improve the quality of human life by building technology that makes personal data actionable.
Mobile health technologies are reshaping patient engagement and population management opportunities for healthcare companies. Validic is powering this ecosystem to allow for the accelerated deployment of healthcare companies’ strategic initiatives.”
3. Infinia ML
Founded: 2017
Also honored in: 2019 Best Tech Startups in Durham
“Infinia ML provides the people, process, and technology to automate business challenges with data science. Serving industries from manufacturing and healthcare to marketing and human resources, the company’s capabilities include natural language processing, object detection, and behavior prediction.
The Durham, N.C. company’s Chief Scientist is Lawrence Carin, Ph.D., one of the world’s most published machine learning experts. Together, the Infinia ML team has 31 patents, 11 books, 10 Ph.D.s and more than 600 published papers.”
4. First
Founded: 2014
Also honored in:
“First uses AI to help real estate agents win more listings from their sphere, database, and social networks. We predict who will sell by tracking 700+ signals across 214 m people nation-wide. We deliver this to you in a simple, easy-to-use app.
Our mission is to help good real estate professionals work more efficiently, and with greater confidence.”
5. AdWerx
Founded: 2013
Also honored in:
“Adwerx was launched in 2013 to revolutionize localized online advertising for Real Estate professionals. With a strong focus on retargeting advertisements, Adwerx is committed to helping those in the Real Estate industry utilize the technology they need to be successful and stay top-of-mind in their local markets. For as low as $40, any Real Estate agent can use this powerful tool to drive awareness for their business.”
6. ServiceTrade
Founded: 2012
Also honored in:
“ServiceTrade helps commercial service companies deliver an amazing customer experience and increase the value of their business.
ServiceTrade is a software as a service platform that manages job scheduling, technician scheduling and efficient routing for single or multiple offices in an easy user interface. Documentation of the work performed is stored online and delivered to customers’ inboxes for always-on access to service history. Online communication and coordination between field technicians, the home office, and the customer make each appointment more professional.”
7. Keen Decision Systems
Founded: 2010
Also honored in: 2019 Best Tech Startups in Cary
“Keen Decision Systems offers a software solution to help marketers make dynamic, data-driven decisions that build winning brands. Keen clients experience an average 25 percent improvement in marketing performance in the first year.
The Keen Difference
1. Predictive Modeling — Uses normative meta data and published academic information along with marketers’ existing data to accurately forecast opportunity
2. Accurate Insights — Keen generates precise forecasts across the brand portfolio to predict future financial results within about 3 percent (and machine learning improves precision over time).
3. Expert Team — Founded by a CPG exec and a data scientist Keen brings empathy and expertise to its culture and solutions.”
8. Sift Media
Founded: 2015
“We sift through 50 billion mobile ad requests daily, leveraging advanced AI & machine learning algorithms to hyper-target app install ads for our clients. To date, Sift Media has served 60 billion mobile ads and delivered 30 million app installs for thousands of advertisers. Sift Media is backed by $3.25 million in capital from investors including Wakefield Group, Piedmont Capital, Alerion Ventures, and IDEA Fund Partners.”
9. Adzerk
Founded: 2009
“Adzerk’s APIs make it easy for engineers and PMs to build their own server-side, fully-customized ad server. Top e-retailers and user communities use Adzerk to build innovative ad servers to promote anything from native ads to internal content to sponsored listings (where vendors and sellers pay for their organic listing to be promoted in search and browsing results).
Engineers reliably see a 90%+ reduction in dev time using Adzerk’s APIs versus doing it entirely from scratch. Adzerk’s customer list includes Fortune 500 brands, public companies, and unicorn startups, including Bed Bath & Beyond, LiveNation/TicketMaster, Wattpad, TradingView, imgur, Strava, and many more.”
10. WalletFi
Founded: 2016
“WalletFi offers a proprietary platform that identifies recurring charges, subscriptions, and CoF payments, and allows users and financial institutions to transfer those payments to a new card in case of re-issuance. WalletFi reduces customer churn for banks and financial institutions while also increasing customer engagement and reinforcing top-of-wallet status.”