Industry: Hardware

WingXpand

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2022 | Status: Active

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What is WingXpand?

WingXpand is the most simple and powerful drone solution of its size. It combines the small size and simplicity of a quadcopter with the horsepower of airplane wings.
– Wings expand from pack to 7ft wingspan in < 2 min

– Flies 5x longer and carries 10x more pro tools than a small quadcopter

– White glove services for professional drone operations

Company Leadership

Michelle Madaras

Chief Customer Officer & Co-Founder

Michelle spent the first part of her career as a top ranked on-air television news reporter, culminating at Fox 2 News, St. Louis. She is an expert at product marketing and go-to-market strategy derived from her strong analytical and communication skills. She also founded and led a public relations and marketing firm where she gained experience with businesses ranging from startups to 100M+ non-profit where she was the senior executive responsible for all aspects of marketing, communications and campaign strategy.
— University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Bachelor of Science of Journalism, Minors in Informatics and Political Science

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James Barbieri

Co-founder & CEO

James Barbieri (CEO): Aerospace industry expert who spent 10 years at Boeing and the U.S. Intelligence Community in a wide variety of roles spanning engineering, corporate strategy, business development and senior R&D leader responsible for executing a $6M+ portfolio of innovations.
— Washington University in St. Louis, Olin Business School, Master of Business Administration (MBA), Entrepreneurship Focus
— National Intelligence University, Master of Science & Technology Intelligence
— Saint Louis University, Parks College of Engineering, Aviation, and Technology, Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering, Certificate of Asian Studies

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Upgrade Energy

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2022 | Status: Active

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What is Upgrade Energy?

Upgrade Energy began its journey in 2020 from shifting from a drone company to a battery company after realizing the biggest limiting factor in drone technology is flight time. The founder, Matthew Barnard, developed a new LiIon battery technology and along with his team, scaled the company to manufacture drone batteries at scale in St Louis Missouri. After early traction, the company further expanded their product line to carrying 14 distinct products to date. After working through customer feedback, Ariel Cerfoglia and Matthew Barnard have worked to bring Smart Battery technology to their battery technology, enabling battery analytics to further improve the safety and widespread use of the batteries. Since launching, Upgrade Energy has sold over 1000 batteries, selling through 3 online retailers, direct to consumer, and specific batteries developed for commercial clients. Upgrade Energy has attracted numerous high profile customers such as Drone Express who handles drone delivery for Kroger’s Grocers, Papa John’s Pizza, Win Supply Construction company, Whirrx who performs ground surveys nationwide, the US Air Force Academy, and several other companies who are currently testing our batteries for deployment for their drone services. Upgrade Energy has a team of 5 and is continuing to scale their business through increasing manufacturing output. So far, Upgrade Energy has made a difference through enabling delivery of goods, enabling further reach of search and rescue operations, and enabling the advancement of clean tech to provide a greener future for all.

Upgrade Energy has brought to market a silicone anode Lilon based battery system which achieves a 30% increase in pack energy density to standard NMC Lilon based battery chemistries.

Company Leadership

Matthew Barnard

ceo

Matthew Barnard has been involved in robotics from a young age. After finishing his degree in computer science, he worked as a software developer, then an electrical engineer for a consumer product company. While launching a drone startup, he realized that the need for a better battery technology is what was limiting the drone industry, and Upgrade Energy was born.
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uFab

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2022 | Status: Active

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What is uFab?

uFab is a St. Louis based company startup that is committed to changing how circuit boards are designed and fabricated. Modern circuit board designers face a plethora of challenges, from long lead times to unreliable supply chains. To solve these issues facing them, , uFab has developed a patent pending technology to fabricate circuit boards in a matter of hours, rather than days or weeks. Customers can reduce development time by months and focus on what matters most to them: creating new and interesting hardware.
Inventors and innovators are constantly seeking to change the status quo, but, taking their ideas from paper to reality can be challenging or sometimes feel impossible. uFab’s clients look to us to actualize their ideas, taking something from idea to reality without all the hassle. uFab helps clients through the entire development cycle using its tech, from planning to circuit board design, rapid prototyping to finalized design. Once completed, uFab often works with clients to strategize viable mass production options. Our clients have us focus on the technical, while they focus on what they do well in their business.

Company Leadership

Tyler Richards

founder

When Tyler was young, he had no doubt he was going to work with electronics. He would spend his free time building 3D printers from scraps, high vacuum chambers with items from Ebay, and restoring vintage electronics. Now, Tyler has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and his experience in industry ranges from music synthesizers to plant growth chambers. With his passion for inventing, Tyler always pursues new and interesting ways of making things, and wants to continue that as founder of uFab.

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Peppermint

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2022 | Status: Active

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What is Peppermint?

Peppermint is a consumer healthcare brand that designs beautiful products for those with mobility challenges. Its first product is a walker unlike any other.

For the first time in US history, those over 65 years of age will out number those under 18. These are known as the “baby boomers” and they are very different than the generation before them. Among the many differences is their interest in “embracing” as opposed to “accepting” their age, and their focus on health and wellness.

The healthcare equipment category is filled with brands that force a feeling of being a patient instead of a person, and products that look like hospital furniture.

By reinventing what a brand and its products can look like for those with mobility challenges, Peppermint can help encourage people to embrace their season of life and better connect them with their loved ones, communities, and their health and wellness.

Company Leadership

Scott Bernstein

founder & cEO

Scott has dedicated much of his career to innovative businesses on both the investor and operator sides. Prior to founding Peppermint, Scott sat on the leadership teams of several startups including Freely Pet and Stix Golf.

Scott was also on the investment team at Lewis & Clark Ventures, a Series A stage VC firm, and managed operations for Capital Innovators.

Scott has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA in Economics from the University of Colorado Boulder.

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MARSfarm

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2022 | Status: Active

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What is MARSfarm?

There is a technological revolution occurring in the agricultural industry to ensure that humans will be able to sustainably feed our growing population in a changing climate. For over a century, U.S. farmers have learned the technical skills they need from vocational programs in secondary schools. Teachers working in these agriculture programs are desperate to bridge the growing disconnect between the technology being used in the industry and what is accessible to them.

MARSfarm brings ag-tech into the classroom by providing a platform for agricultural educators to give students early exposure to emerging industry practices and problems. Countertop-sized greenhouses designed for the classroom are the enabling hardware of this platform. Our software provides the ability to execute control sequences (called “recipes”) in these greenhouses and remotely monitor them. Consumable kits consisting of seeds, fertilizer, etc. are paired with “recipes” designed in partnership with pioneers of emerging agricultural technologies. This combination of equipment, software, and consumables will ensure that educators are always teaching industry-relevant skills that lead to valuable career education.

Company Leadership

Peter Webb

cEO

Peter Webb began his career working first as a database administrator and then in a business development role at Hussmann Corporation. Peter has also consulted for The Open Agriculture Initiative at the MIT Media Lab and served as the Director of Indoor Farming at The Yield Lab Institute where he mentored several startups in the IN2 program.

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Drew Thomas

coO

Drew Thomas comes from a background in engineering, manufacturing, and career technical education. After experiencing CTE training firsthand at Ranken Technical College, he spent his career programming CNC machines to serve the aerospace industry. This led to consulting opportunities for Quip and a teaching position at TechShop, a maker-space formerly in Cortex.

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Flora

Origin: IL | Grant Awarded: 2022 | Status: Active

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What is Flora?

Flora was born from pains of horticultural hopelessness: Aabesh De, the Founder of Flora, was killing every single plant in his line of sight. The last straw was when his mother gave him a rose bush plant to babysit: The rose bush withered away in a week.

Aabesh was frustrated that there wasn’t an accessible, easier way to learn about houseplants and gardening, while connecting with other plant parents along the way. Surprised that there wasn’t a “heart monitor for your plants” in the market, started tinkering around with numerous moisture and light sensors in late 2020, and invented the Flora Pod.

He eventually developed the Flora iOS app for launch in July, 2021, which has now grown to more than 125,000 users from more than 190 countries! Flora has now grown to a talented, plant-obsessed, rock-star team of 30 individuals committed to one singular mission: To save as many plants as possible and commit to fighting the climate crisis through connecting millions of people with nature.

Company Leadership

Aabesh De

founder & cEO

A first-generation immigrant and globe-trotter, Aabesh is driven by a lifelong sense of curiosity.

He founded Flora from this applied curiosity, inventing the Flora Pod and developing the Flora iOS app from his frustrations with horticultural hopelessness. He taught himself mobile development (primarily in Swift), and found his calling in building useful, mission-driven products for thousands of people. He previously worked at Microsoft and Etsy, and is now dedicated to saving as many plants as possible and committed to fighting the climate crisis through connecting millions of people with nature.

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Intramotev Autonomous Rail

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2021 | Status: Active

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What is intramotev Autonomous Rail?

Each year in the US alone, over $690B in goods are moved via a fleet of 1.6 million railcars. On any given day, though, 900,000 of these railcars won’t move. A loaded railcar sits idle for 24.6 hours on each leg of its journey, just waiting to be picked up by a diesel locomotive. For locomotives to move these railcars, it requires 3.5 billion gallons of diesel annually – that’s over 37 million metric tons of greenhouse gases emitted into our atmosphere. Intramotev is building a future where no railcars sit idle, and not a gallon of diesel is consumed to move them. By putting motive power directly into the railcar instead of relying on locomotives, we enable freight to move itself from point-to-point independently and without fossil fuels.

Company Leadership

Timothy Luchini, Ph.D

CEO

PhD Mechanical Engineer with experience leading teams of up to 40 engineers to scale early-stage technologies in the aerospace industry.

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Alex Peiffer

COO

Business development and strategy expert with an MBA from University of Southern California, USAF logistics veteran.

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Corey Vasel

CTO

Expert in battery and motor technologies with experience developing early stage technologies in the aerospace industry.

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Equine SmartBit

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2018 | Status: Active

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What is Equine Smartbit?

Equine Smartbit (ESB) is a Saint Louis based engineering company. We engineered the first significant change in horse bits in 3400 years by integrating sensors into new wireless bit designs. This enables owners, trainers, and veterinarians to access accurate scientific measurements for health and wellness monitoring and performance sports. Our device can measure heart rate, oxygen levels, temperature, motion, and environmental parameters with a single piece of tack. All measurements are streamed in real time to a secure historical database. Users also gain access to deep analytics for a comprehensive analysis of a horse’s health and performance metrics. Our technology can assist with disease prevention and longevity through early identification of health issues. Smartbit users can fine-tune their training regimen without guesswork to optimize performance and achieve a competitive advantage. Our non-invasive technology represents a breakthrough in the equine industry and we did it all in the Arch Capital in the world!

Company Leadership

Shower Zhang

Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer

Shower is a Chemical Engineer with an MBA degree from Peking University. Shower has a long list of achievements in Supply Chain, Planning and Operations Managements, include IT Innovation award from American Feed Association.

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Mike Saigh

Co-Founder and CEO

Mike is a well known inventor and business professor. His most recognized invention includes mobile access to database, which became backend of Kindle and iTunes.

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KNOWiNK

Origin: MO | Grant Awarded: 2013 | Status: Active

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What is KNOWiNK?

KNOWiNK provides a proven solution rooted in knowledge gained from our extensive experience as former election officials and from working with and listening to election authorities across the country. Our approach and innovative solution delivers an incomparable and seamless voter check-in and verification process for your election authority.

Company Leadership

Scott Leiendecker

Founder

Scott earned his degree from University of Missouri-Saint Louis. Before joining KNOWiNK, Scott worked as the election director for the St. Louis City Board of Elections and and is the creator of Poll Pad.

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Involved Industries

Explore All Startups

Be a Part of the Movement

We champion extraordinary entrepreneurs to create positive change – for St. Louis and for the world. Join us by applying to our Global Startup Competition, becoming a financial supporter, volunteering your time or amplifying our message.

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See How You Can Get Involved →