The Tech Tribune staff has compiled the very best tech startups in Knoxville, Tennessee. In doing our research, we considered several factors including but not limited to:

1. Revenue potential
2. Leadership team
3. Brand/product traction
4. 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. AUBO Robotics

Founded: 2013

“AUBO Robotics manufacture lightweight collaborative robots (Co-bot). Founded in 2013 as Smokie Robotics had a name change in 2016 to AUBO Robotics. The company was developed in collaboration between three Phd professors from USA and China, to make a lightweight intelligent collaborative robot. This robot arm was specially designed with important functions from the start, combining state of the art technology with user friendliness to make this collaborative robot (Co-bot). The open source architecture enables the robot operating system (ROS) to be supported though API for industrial, research and academia use. AUBO-i5 robot uses the CAN Bus network to communicate between harmonic drives this offers un-parallel versatility to configure this robot from 3 to 7 DOF. Low cost of ownership and high positional repeatability are some of the other criteria that makes up the outstanding features of this robot. Certification, now include CE for Europe, TUV, NRTL for USA and Canada, KCs for Korea, and NRTAC for China.”

2. Vendor Registry

Founded: 2011

“Vendor Registry’s mission is to streamline the purchasing process for cities, counties, utilities, higher education and school boards in order to generate new revenues for vendors and suppliers, decrease costs for government and institutional purchasing departments and save valuable time for all parties involved.”

3. Survature

Founded: 2013

“Survature provides an all-new survey platform that increases participation and reveals participant priorities”

4. Smart RIA Ventures, LLC

Founded: 2016

“Effective investment advisors rely on knowledge, experience, and powerful tools to guide their clients’ healthy financial growth. Smart RIA, a cloud-based software package designed to help navigate this complex and exciting industry, offers a combination of simplicity and performance that streamlines compliance while providing a thoughtfully crafted user experience you won’t find elsewhere.”

5. ResQue

Founded: 2015

“ResQue takes the mystery and hard work out of successful social media marketing for real estate agents. By uncovering the agent’s personality via a unique, psychologically driven survey, we post on the their behalf to their target demographic. Using their listings, industry and demographically related content, and our proprietary personal story generator, we execute a flawless social media marketing campaign on their behalf.

Our primary goals are uncovering motivations, aggregating data, and creating frictionless leads back to the listing agent.”