2022 Best Tech Startups in Hawaii

July 11, 2022 thetechtribune

The Tech Tribune staff has compiled the very best tech startups in Hawaii. 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. Terraformation

Founded: 2019

“Scalable systems to solve climate change. Seed banks, software, solar desal, and more.”

2. Makai HR

Founded: 2018

Also honored in: 2022 Best Tech Startups in Honolulu

“When our team began to conceptualize the evolution of outsourced HR in Hawaii we started searching for something that defined our islands. Unanimously, it was the ocean. From the ocean comes new life and constant change — that is where our story began.

With most of us being former small business owners, we understood the entrepreneur’s dilemma of the nice-to-have’s and the need-to-have’s when considering services that support our businesses. With the cost of doing business in Hawaii at an all-time high, price is always a factor.

Our vision began to take the shape of a paperless, easy-to-use HR solution that would support businesses in Hawaii at an affordable price, letting owners choose the level of HR services that fit their needs. Beautiful to gaze upon, but complex below the surface, like the majestic ocean that surrounds us.”

3. Orthogonal Thinker

Founded: 2016

“Our mission is to give people access to nature’s most effective health solutions while setting new industry standards for transparency and quality. We develop products to rewrite the rules of an old industry to pioneer the new standard of “Farma”, Food as Medicine.

Psilocybin & Wellness – This includes Empowering Emotional Intelligence through DEA registered Psychoactive Compounds.

Whole Food – This includes expanding Maui Raw production, innovation and distribution.

Cannabis | Hemp | CBD – This covers the whole spectrum of products and solutions.

Our platform approach allows shareholders to benefit from the revenues of multiple holdings and subsidiaries.”

4. TurnoverBnB

Founded: 2016

Also honored in: 2022 Best Tech Startups in Honolulu

“TurnoverBnB is an online platform that helps vacation rental hosts with turnovers by offering hosts software to schedule cleaning. In addition, TurnoverBnB allows hosts to find local cleaners for their short-term rental cleaning.

As hosts, we understand the amount of time and energy involved with scheduling cleaning for your short-term rentals. Our software allows you to connect with your existing Airbnb and VRBO calendars to automatically schedule your cleaners via SMS text messaging and email. After a very short set-up process, scheduling of cleaners becomes completely hands off for the host. To make life easier, we also offer the option to pay your cleaners via credit card, which takes the stress out of payment while earning miles.

In the event no one is available for your turnover, you will be notified and given the option to find a cleaner in your area for your turnover from our marketplace. When we find a cleaner for you, we charge a modest 10% commission based on the cleaning price you set.”

5. WattIQ

Founded: 2013

Also honored in:

“What if you could mine data from every electrical device in your enterprise just by plugging it in?

WattIQ is the only enterprise-grade IoT solution that connects thousands of unconnected electrical assets, making it possible for the first time to monitor utilization, health, energy usage and location using a single device, the smart plug.

The WattIQ system is both manufacturer- and device type-agnostic and can scale from tens to thousands of assets within a building or across multiple sites.

WattIQ’s insights helps customers optimize asset sharing, make critical procurement and maintenance contract decisions, prevent unplanned device failures, and protect valuable products and science.”

6. Smart Yields

Founded: 2015

Also honored in:

“Together we can farm smarter. Smart Yields is building relationships through a groundbreaking analytics system powered by the people who know it best – our farmers.

We connect farmers, agricultural researchers and their communities through crowd-sourced data gathered from a network of integrated sensors that measure everything from soil health to inputs such as water, energy and nutrients. In turn, these users tap into a vast wealth of local, regional and national knowledge to increase productivity, yield, and revenue.

Our inspiration is the ahupua‘a, a traditional land division in Hawaii that stretches from the mountains to the ocean, containing the many important resources needed for the communities within. Hawaii, home to our global headquarters, is committed to doubling its food production by 2030. We see significant unmet needs here and around the world, as well as great potential in empowering ‘agripreneurs’ – the aspiring, growing farmer.”

7. Sales Transformation Group

Founded: 2018

“Our technology platform helps growth minded-construction owners and executives who are frustrated that they don’t have a scalable sales system. We provide a proven sales system for growth-minded contractors who want to win the long game, build a winning team that can scale predictably, sell profitably, gain decisions and commitments quickly and consistently and has the ability to see the future and growth for the reasons they want.

At Sales Transformation Group, Inc. we have an online course and group coaching technology platform that teaches sales leaders how to craft the right message that strikes a nerve for their niche. We help shape the optimal mindset for high integrity sales with a proven sales process that supports selling value and building long term partnerships in your local market.

We don’t teach high-pressure sales, making you feel bad and lose sleep at night because you sold an owner something they don’t really need. We are changing the lives of our contractors and their staff by shaping the identity of the most honorable sales professional, transforming their mindset and giving them the tools to build B2B and High-end B2C clients in their local markets. We don’t teach “get rich quick” methods but help you shape a sales culture of growth that will last for generations.”

8. Nalu Scientific

Founded: 2015

Also honored in:

“Nalu Scientific specializes in advanced mixed signal integrated circuits with applications in particle tracking and time of flight measurements. Nalu Scientific has been the recipient of multiple SBIR awards, to develop the next generation System-on-a-Chip based front-end electronics for particle tracking applications. Our team has extensive working relationships with several U.S. national labs and also international collaborations (such as KEK in Japan).”

9. HealthTechApps

Founded: 2012

Also honored in:

“HealthTechApps, Inc. creates technologies that make better health easier to achieve for people everywhere. We focus on creating apps to help people with brain injuries and illnesses.

We are commercializing MePrint™, a mobile and wearable app, to help athletes and their physicians recognize, monitor and manage a sports concussion. We leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing to help physicians analyze videos and develop personalized treatment plans. We have tested our MePrint prototype with hundreds of high school football players in California and Hawaii and 92% of the players said they will use it to monitor and manage their concussion.

HealthTechApps recently participated in two phases of XLR8UH, a Honolulu-based venture accelerator associated with the University of Hawaii.”

10. Huedoku

Founded: 2014

Also honored in:

“Ultimate color puzzle. Everything history has taught us about color. Learn color relationship and get better. It’s the feel. Intuitive color puzzle teaching halation, simultaneous contrast, complements, value, and of course hue. This could change the way you see color.”