2022 Best Tech Startups in Detroit

August 25, 2021 thetechtribune

The Tech Tribune staff has compiled the very best tech startups in Detroit, Michigan. 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.

Looking for a badge to celebrate your awesome accomplishment? Find it here!

1. StockX

Founded: 2012

Also honored in:

“In a world where consumers increasingly value self-expression and individuality, the market for hard-to-find fashion, collectibles, and electronics has never been hotter.

Our global platform offers unprecedented access to current culture while our data-driven, bid-ask model provides buyers with the real-time visibility to know they’re getting a fair price. StockX’s special formula has rocketed the company to a multibillion-dollar valuation, with 10M+ lifetime trades on the platform—more than half of those coming in the last year. And we’re just getting started.

With key leadership and an inspiring vision in place, we’re poised for once-in-a-generation growth: into new product verticals, new audiences, and new geographies. To get there we’re looking for flexible, all-in teammates who are excited by ownership and the opportunity to take on emerging challenges.”

2. Autobooks

Founded: 2015

Also honored in:

“82% of small businesses fail due to poor cash flow management according to a US Bank study.

Autobooks is here to help.

Autobooks is a financial technology company that produces payment and accounting software which integrates into online banking platforms. The product allows financial institutions such as banks and credit unions to add a new level of service to their small business clients, and continue to compete in a rapidly changing market.”

3. Guardhat Technologies

Founded: 2014

Also honored in:

“Forged in the presence of a fiery blast furnace melting iron at 2000˚f. Fueled by grease, will and advanced engineering. Guardhat is focused on one thing and one thing only: transforming safety in the industrial workplace.

We exist to create original, smart and pioneering solutions that can protect the hardworking men and women that countless organizations, industries and national economies depend on every day.”

4. Airspace Link

Founded: 2018

Also honored in: 2021 Best Tech Startups in Detroit

“The rapid growth of the drone industry has outpaced the development of rules and systems to govern their use. The limited ability for citizens and businesses to know where they can safely fly or conduct complex flights are restricted by fragmented, non-existing data and systems for managing local government airspace. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is seeking partners to integrate drones safely into controlled airspace while making air and ground based safety a number one priority before it lifts the restrictive flight rules currently in place.

The Airspace Link platform is an all-in-one FAA-certified, cloud-based platform simultaneously connecting all constituents involved in legally flying a drone. State & local governments use the Airspace Link portal to define areas of risk, special ordinance and event restrictions within the community. Drone pilots plan and submit operations to the FAA through Airspace Link, enabling faster approvals and a stronger mitigation plans for complex flights (BVLOS, inspection, package delivery). With the combined data, Airspace Link is building new drone airspace infrastructure (similar to toll roads).”

5. Signal Advisors

Founded: 2020

“Signal Advisors is a venture-backed, Detroit startup that helps independent financial advisors grow their business in various ways—through technology, financing, peer-to-peer coaching, marketing, and more. They came out of stealth mode in August 2020, and have become the country’s fastest-growing annuity distributor.

But whether they’re building world-class software or delivering expert analysis on complex insurance strategies, it’s their people that make the difference.

To learn more about current career opportunities at Signal, visit: www.signaladvisors.com/careers.”

6. Quikly

Founded: 2012

Also honored in:

“Quikly is a digital marketing platform that empowers marketers to consistently acquire, activate, and retain customers, which leads to superior ROI. Leveraging elements of consumer psychology, our solutions deliver highly effective and measurable results across nearly every marketing initiative. Quikly’s technology provides an immediate way for brands to boost digital activation and engagement within existing channels like email, social, and mobile to deliver meaningful revenue over a short period of time.

Brands like Domino’s, Microsoft, Victoria’s Secret, Express, Keds, and McDonald’s have leveraged Quikly to achieve unprecedented, immediate, and measurable results.”

7. GreenLancer

Founded: 2011

Also honored in:

“GreenLancer is a web-based solar design firm that supplies the designs needed to build and install residential solar electric systems throughout the United States. Our services include feasibility studies, commercial and residential plan sets that are used to apply for permits, and NYC expediting.

Our online platform allows solar firms to get quotes, order, and receive services from one centralized place. For solar installers, GreenLancer is a scalable solution that provides high quality designs, quicker, and more cost effective than in-house design departments, or conventional brick-and-mortar design firms.”

8. AaDya Security

Founded: 2019

Also honored in:

“We understand that finding cybersecurity solutions to fit the needs of your small business is next to impossible. That’s why we created Marzo4, a cost-effective, all-in-one cloud-based platform to provide smart, simple and effective cybersecurity protection designed specifically for the needs of small and medium businesses.

Meet Judy. Judy is your virtual cybersecurity assistant and the heart of Marzo4. She works 24/7 to protect you from the most common cyber threats facing small and medium businesses with our 4 pillars of protection.”

9. CatalystXL

Founded: 2018

“Cardware™ is an OS. It’s a CMS. It’s an API.
Really, it’s just indispensable.
We’ve been amazed at how our users have come to rely on Cardware™ in so many different ways. In as little as 48 hours, Cardware™ is integrated with your database systems, and running as a fully functional app on any device.

Cardware™ works across any device. Yes, any device.
Give us your video, your audio, your text, your graphics… your mega-masses of content yearning to break free. Cardware™ doesn’t play favorites. It’s an equal opportunity interface on any device – mobile, desktop, touchscreen kiosks, you name it.”

10. Navv Systems

Founded: 2018

“Navv Systems, Inc. (NSI) is a leading provider of indoor navigation and location services technology that uses Indoor Positioning technology (IPS) to provide traffic control for hospitals, warehouses, manufacturing, and other large, complex organizations.

NavvTrack® was conceived at 877-bed Henry Ford Hospital and is being used to optimize patient transport, housekeeping, and central pharmacy deliveries. Henry Ford Hospital is 17-floors covering a total of 3,000,000 square feet and a part of the 6-hospital Henry Ford Health System.

At Henry Ford Health System, NSI is partnering with Apple to leverage the “indoor GPS” to optimize mobile workflows and enable real-time healthcare. The platform requires no new infrastructure and can be enabled in a short time.”