Innovative entrepreneurial activity in San Antonio is gaining momentum, and people are noticing.
Our inaugural compilation of 20 companies to watch in 2019 highlighted the types of innovation you can find in San Antonio, Texas.
That first list helped people across the U.S. and beyond discover entrepreneurs in bioscience and healthcare, cybersecurity, SaaS, augmented and virtual reality, robotics, artificial intelligence, and tech used for social impact.
We published stories about these startups in a magazine-sized, softcover book and sold out our first print run.
We don’t repeat company mentions from year to year, so you’re getting a look at the growing (unranked) list of startups to watch for growth, innovation, and potential to have an impact at scale given time.
These new companies (and one honorable mention) are leveraging innovation in impactful ways with promising early-stage traction and market-product fit to show for their efforts.
Based on research, we included startups that:
- Are privately-owned company
- Have revenue potential (if they are pre-revenue)
- Generate $5 million or less in revenue
- Employ 50 or fewer employees
- Have raised Series A or earlier funding rounds
- Have been in existence for five years or less
San Antonio startups to watch in 2023
Darkhive closed a $1.1 million pre-seed funding in 2022 for its affordable drones explicitly designed for military and public safety use. Defense industry executive and U.S. Special Operations veteran John Goodson launched Darkhive in Sept. 2021. The startup expects an additional $30 million in equity-free funding from Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III government awards in 2023.
In mid-2022, Christian Garcia launched Developmate, a software platform that simplifies real estate due diligence for developers. After only six months, the startup has earned $100,000 in revenue. Plans in 2023 include rolling out new products and scaling Developmate to other cities across the U.S.
Read: Developmate solves due diligence challenges for real estate developers
Biotechnology startup Hera Biotech closed an oversubscribed $1.9 million seed financing round in 2022 that will help the company bring the world’s first non-surgical diagnostic test for endometriosis to market. Co-founder and CEO Somer Baburek launched Hera Biotech in 2020 to address women’s unmet health and reproductive medicine needs. Plans call for a Series A raise in 2023 to support the commercial launch of its product by 2024.
Read: Hera Biotech closes $1.9M seed funding for endometriosis diagnostics
LASO Health is a mobile and desktop application directly connecting healthcare consumers with physicians, specialists, and healthcare services such as MRIs. The product launched in early 2020 to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, LASO Health raised $8 million in early-stage angel funding to fuel its plans and features for a 2023 national roll-out.
Read: LASO Health raises $8M for innovative healthcare platform
CEO and co-founder Guillermo Vela launched NeuScience in 2019 to focus on applying an AI software platform to cancer drug discovery. NeuScience’s AI-driven platform works with computer vision to detect the unique biomarkers for cancer tumors. Plans call for a clinical trial in 2023 to show how NeuScience’s platform can expand upon the current survival rates for brain cancer patients.
Read: NeuScience Launches Fundraising for Cancer Drug Discovery AI Platform
Secur delivers accessible, affordable on-demand personal security to individuals and small businesses across Texas. The San Antonio-based startup launched its service last August and serves Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. The bootstrapped startup is launching an angel investment round in 2023 to fund national expansion of its service.
A surgery professor at UT Health San Antonio and former U.S. Navy trauma surgeon developed a new type of surgical retractor, innovating a medical device that hasn’t changed much in over a century.
Read: Advanced Surgical Retractor Systems Innovates 100-Year-Old Medical Device Design
Alt-Bionics is a medical device company tackling the unaffordability of high-cost prostheses by delivering affordable alternatives with capabilities that are similar in both form and function to higher-priced devices.
Read: Robotic Prosthetics Startup Alt-Bionics Raises $283K Seed Funding
BEINCOURT offers an end-to-end streamlined platform for conducting virtual court processes with robust virtual capabilities for those who cannot attend a hearing in person.
Read: Legal Tech Startup Creates Platform for Virtual, Hybrid Court Hearings
Grassroots Carbon is a public benefit limited liability company that provides certified soil carbon storage credits that organizations or individuals can buy to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Grassroots Carbon sells its credits by working with ranchers and farmers using regenerative farming practices that help the soil capture more carbon.
Read: Soilworks Launches Grassroots Carbon, a Carbon Credit Company
Energy technology startup New Dominion Enterprises, Inc. (NDE) is producing additives to make batteries safer and longer-lasting, thanks to Air Force funding to improve the performance of military tactical radios.
Read: New Dominion Enterprises Wins Air Force Phase 2 SBIR Funding for Energy Innovation
MedCognition has a portable system that provides highly-realistic, clinically intuitive medical simulation training.
Read: MedCognition positions for explosive growth in AR medical training
Transect streamlines the environmental due diligence process for developers working in the energy, infrastructure, and real estate industries.
Read: Transect helps developers reduce infrastructure project backlog
Medical device startup Renovo Concepts is developing a way to reduce the damage caused by inflammation setting in after severe traumatic injuries to the brain (TBI) with its Mechanical Tissue Resuscitation (MTR) device.
Read: Renovo Concepts Raises $6.4M Series A Funding for Traumatic Brain Injury Device
Turn Medical is commercializing its automated hospital bed that rotates the patient safely and easily to a prone position onto their abdomen.
Read: Turn Medical Automates Patient Prone Positioning for Critical Care
AVA Propulsion is a hardware and software technology company specializing in aerial vehicle automation that designs, develops, and builds large fixed-pitch multirotor and drone architectures to fly cargo to remote locations.
Cybersecurity startup Level Effect sold its network-aware endpoint detection and response technology to Huntress, a Maryland-based provider of managed detection and response to cyber threats.
Read: Level Effect Cyber Tool Acquired by Maryland-Based Company Huntress
FastVisa is a SaaS platform designed for integrated immigration and visa case management. Paul Kang and Ethan Jeong founded their startup in March 2016 and are one of the startups in the RealCo Accelerator program based in San Antonio.
Read: RealCo Adds Startups FastVisa and Totem to Its Accelerator Program
Perytor Therapeutics is commercializing its discovery of a substance that combats inflammation and has the regenerative properties stem cells possess. They have created a new category of anti-inflammatory treatment for the market.
In 2019, Yoni Medhin and Matt Metchly founded Grain4Grain in San Antonio. Their patent-pending food-tech innovation converts spent leftover barley grain from beer brewing into low-carb flour in just 15 minutes.
Read: Food Startup Grain 4 Grain Wins $50,000 at Tech Fuel Pitch Competition
Scraffic provides in-store traffic counting insights to businesses. During the 2020 pandemic, the startup pivoted to add a new technology platform that measures traffic in a business location’s drive-thru lanes.
Read:Retail Data Startup Scraffic Adds Drive-Thru Customer Tracking for Retailers
Irys is a San Antonio-based SaaS startup scaling its global mission and capabilities from its original incarnation as the municipally-focused Cityflag. The startup rebranded itself in mid-March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic triggered mass shutdowns. Irys went on to win a $1.15M Air Force contract and close a $1.2M seed round in 2020.
After successfully working with municipal clients, Irys is now focused on expanding its civic engagement platform via its partnership with global development firm Arcadis.
Read: Irys and Dutch Design Firm Arcadis Partner on Global Community-Engagement Solutions
Lew Moorman and Ed Byrne, co-founders of Scaleworks, launched Soilworks Natural Capital in June 2020 to acquire, invest in, launch, and incubate companies that can accelerate the adoption of regenerative farming practices. This focused investment in improving the way our food is produced is game-changing and worth watching.
By September, Soilworks had launched Wholesome Meats, a local business selling grass-fed beef from ranchers using regenerative grazing to create carbon-negative foods. In January 2021, the Grazing Land company launched its pasture grazing management SaaS platform.
Read: Soilworks Grows Regenerative Agriculture Companies Wholesome Meats and Grazing Land
JustAir, Inc. launched its patented advanced face mask system that protects users against COVID-19 with a powered air-purifying respirator in a more portable version than what’s used in medical or industrial settings.
Read: JustAir Launches Portable Powered Face Mask To Protect Against COVID-19
The San Antonio-based biotech startup Vitanova Biomedical is developing a new way to treat cancer called photodynamic therapy that causes no side effects and can kill many cancers.
Read: Vitanova Biomedical Develops Light-Activated Cancer Therapy Pioneered by UTSA Researcher
Allosense is developing platform for managing patent-pending smart sensors that can track assets.
Read more: Geekdom Startup Allosense Wins Air Force Funding for Asset Trackers
Leaptran advanced sub-metering package of advanced technologies helps large buildings optimize energy and manage increased demands for energy by integrating building energy management.
Read more: UTSA Startup Leaptran Wins Award for Sustainable Energy Innovation
Cyber Warrior Network launched the first cyber skills training and verification video game powered by artificial intelligence.
Read more: CyberWraith Video Game New Way to Close Cybersecurity Workforce Gap
Quickpath has a software application program interface, or API, that helps businesses lacking the specialized AI expertise connect different datasets to fuel machine learning AI.
Read more: Big Data Analytics Startup Quickpath Scaling as Machine Learning-Powered AI Demand Grows
Easy Expunctions is the first and only online automated expunctions provider in the legal tech space.
Read more: Easy Expunctions Shares Vision for Social Impact
Rectify is a data protection and privacy company that automates sensitive data redacting for its clients.
Read more: Data Privacy Startup Rectify Wins $50K Prize at Tech Fuel Pitch Competition
Enflux developed its analytics software as a service for health science universities to track student performance, a leading indicator for schools maintaining accreditation status.
Read more: A Big Partnership for Higher Ed Data Analytics, Enflux Partners with ExamSoft
Renu Robotics is manufacturing self-running mowers that don’t need supervision to help solar power operations reduce their maintenance and labor costs.
Read more: Renu Robotics Uses Crowdfunding to Scale Autonomous Robotic Tractors Company
FloatMe enables workers to get a “float” or short-term advance on their next paycheck without paying hefty fees or interest.
Read more: Fintech Startup FloatMe Closes $250,000 Pre-Seed Round
Sendspark is a video outreach platform for businesses to record and send personalized videos via email to buyers.
Read more: SendSpark Closes $300,000 Pre-Seed Round Led by Active Capital
Honorable mention
Lux Turn Technologies won the top prize at Trinity University’s Louis H. Stumberg Venture Competition for their after-market motorcycle signal accessory that illuminates the ground with signals for better cyclist safety.
Read more: Cycling Safety Tech Startup Wins Trinity University’s Stumberg Venture Competition
San Antonio startups to watch in 2019
BioBridge Global is a nonprofit company leveraging its diverse biomedical services to meet critical medical industry needs.
Read: BioBridge Global To Scale Biomanufacturing at Merchants Ice Complex
GenCure provides cell and tissue services for regenerative medicine, including patient treatment and clinical research.
Read: BioBridge Global To Scale Biomanufacturing at Merchants Ice Complex
Braustin Mobile Homes leverages technology to make mobile homeownership feasible for more home buyers.
Read: Buy a Braustin Home Using an App on Your Cellphone
Inflow is focused on innovative cyber and information technology (IT) services in support of U.S. national security.
Read: Innovative Cybersecurity Services for National Security Drive Inflow’s Growth
Brokerage Engine is an online SaaS platform for broker agents and brokerage firms.
Read: Broker Expertise and Rackspace Experience Behind Brokerage Engine Startup
Intrinsic Imaging is a full-service medical imaging core lab focused on supporting clinical trials for medical devices.
Read: Intrinsic Imaging Radiologist Develops Artificial Intelligence Tool to Streamline Workloads
Chargify offers a SaaS customized customer subscriber billing services for businesses.
Read: Chargify Grows As SaaS Companies Need More Flexible Billing
Kinetech Cloud is an IT consulting and software development firm specializing in enterprise custom app development.
Read: City of San Antonio and Kinetech Cloud Launch New Utility Assistance Program Application
Cityflag bridges the gap between city governments and their residents with civic engagement software platforms.
Read: San Antonio Launches Cityflag 311 App
Olifant Medical is a medical device company bringing the next-generation airwar device to the market.
Read: UT Health SA Clinician-Entrepreneur Invents Next-Generation Airway Device
CyberFortress provides small to mid-market businesses cyber insurance coverage.
Read: Tailored for Smaller Businesses, CyberFortress Delivers New Kind of Cyber Insurance
PATCH is an internet-connected medicine bottle invented by two Trinity University students.
Read: Trinity University Students Launch Smart Pill Bottle for Clinical Trials—PATCH
Dauber is a SaaS solution designed for the dump truck industry.
Read: Construction Trucking Loaded with Opportunity for Tech Startup Dauber
Plus One Robotics equips industrial robots with their proprietary computer vision and artificial intelligence for enhanced automation.
Read: San Antonio Startup Plus One Robotics Raises $8.3M
DC Industries creates customized cybersecurity and information technology training for transitioning military service members.
Read: Startup Companies DC Industries and Ractive Develop Cybersecurity VR Training
QualTex provides biological testing services to screen whole blood and plasma donations for international biotechnology customers.
Read: BioBridge Global To Scale Biomanufacturing at Merchants Ice Complex
Dearduck’s SaaS platform helps businesses provide personalized recommendations for their customers to make informed purchases.
Read: Dearduck Makes it Easier to Buy for Others
Ractive works with game studios, government agencies, and businesses to develop cinematics and virtual reality experiences.
Read: Startup Companies DC Industries and Ractive Develop Cybersecurity VR Training
Flightpath Finance gives mid-market companies current financial modeling forecasting and modeling capabilities.
Read: Flightpath Finance Closes $515K Seed Round, Wins $25K Geekdom Community Fund
Reckon Point specializes in indoor navigation, positioning, and scanning technologies.
Read: Reckon Point’s Indoor Airport Wayfinding App Places Startup on the Map
FunnelAI uses artificial intelligence to automate the sales lead generation and marketing process for companies.
Read: FunnelAI ‘s Artificial Intelligence Finds Real-time Customer Leads in Social Media
StemBioSys is a life-science tool company specializing in stem and progenitor cells, matrices, media, and other reagents.
Read: BioBridge Global To Scale Biomanufacturing at Merchants Ice Complex
GaitIQ is a primary healthcare SaaS application using machine learning and AI software designed to detect early signs of dementia.
Read: GaitIQ Spots Early Signs of Alzheimer’s in Your Walk
The IMG Studio creates client-focused content leveraging video production, animation, web, virtual and augmented reality, and customized applications.
Read: The IMG Studio Develops First VR Basketball Game for Adaptive, Paralympic Sports
Startups San Antonio E-book
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“Startups San Antonio finally gets it right and tells the story that has been a secret for far too long. News flash: San Antonio has an incredible startup scene filled with businesses solving some really tough problems in incredible ways.
Up until now, these startup stories have been siloed and mostly only heard by people who are involved with getting the products and services off the ground. Now, with the inaugural issue of Startups San Antonio’s Companies to Watch, the veil is lifted and we have clarity into the who, what, and most importantly, the why of these incredible local companies on their missions to change the world.
With her in-depth coverage of the companies that are featured, Iris elegantly captures the passion and spirit of the San Antonio startup world. The reader is left with an understanding of the personal connection the founders have to their projects, as well as what the future has in store for each company.
I highly recommend Iris’s book to anyone who is curious about what is really going on in San Antonio that keeps many of us so excited for the future.”
– Slidewave founder and CEO David Daeschler
“If you want to know what innovation is happening in San Antonio the resource to check is Startups San Antonio.”
– Active Capital founder and CEO Pat Matthews