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The St. Louis Tech Startup Report: 2014 Year in Review is an overview and summary of the tech startup ecosystem in the Greater

St. Louis Metropolitan Area. This report reflects our best efforts to capture information about the growth, evolution and current state of technology startups in the St. Louis region for the calendar year

2014. The report is based entirely on original data gathered from more than 310 active startups in the St. Louis region.

We would also like to give special thanks to these following organizations, who have given us tremendous help and support in

the creation of this report:

The catalyst for tech startups in St. Louis, ITEN provides unique programs for rapid product development, connections to talent, essential networking, and access to funding. Designed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, requiring neither payment nor equity, ITEN is a unique community asset building a new culture of innovation. ITEN can be found on the web at www.itenstl.org and @itenstl on Twitter.

2 Introduction

3 Key Trends

4 The Money

6 Jobs & Hiring

9 Inclusion Initiative

11 The Companies

12 ITEN Top Ten

14 ITEN Fast Ten

16 Segment Rankings

17 St. Louis: Hub of Innovation

19 Letter from Our Chairman

20 St. Louis Tech Startup Ecosystem

2014 Year in Review

ITEN has got to be the best resource

for tech entrepreneurs in St. Louis. Our

business has benefited beyond what

we could have anticipated. The one-on-

one mentorship with Chuck Vallurupalli

has helped me grow as person and an

entrepreneur. The hard work preparing,

giving, and redoing our presentation

for Mock Angels was worth the long

hours. Because of the mentorship, training,

and programs offered by ITEN we are not

only well-established and plugged into the

tech ecosystem in St. Louis we also have

raised over $175K only a few months after

the Mock Angel program. Great team at

ITEN with real wisdom!About ITEN

JIM KOETTING

FOUNDER & CEO,

PFITR

About this Report

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on expanding innovation to include all populations and technology clusters. These efforts included the BioSTL-led inclusion initiative and the development of new accelerators to spur this trend along. Prosper Capital was established to help fund and support emerging companies with female leadership. The Yield Lab was developed as an accelerator to focus on opportunities in the AgTech space. These accelerators along with Captial Innovators, SixThirty, Arch Grants, the St. Louis Arch Angels, the Billiken Angel Network, and Cultivation Capital continue to attract and keep funded companies in our region.

2014 proved to be an historic and expansive year for ITEN as well. ITEN graduated 13 companies from our Mock Angel program up from our total of 8 in 2013. We grew our staff to 5 FTEs and 6 Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIRs). Our EIRs continue to give direction and insight to our programming that has only gotten better since their involvement. We moved our monthly 2nd Thursday event to Venture Café, enabling us to greatly expand our programming and networking opportunities for the tech community.

We approach 2015 with hopeful optimism for more successful exits for our region’s entrepreneurs and

In this report we look at the year that was, point out some key trends and statistics from the region’s tech startup companies, as well as highlight our Top Ten and Fast Ten companies for 2014. This year there are lots of changes on both of those lists. We have a new #1 in our Top Ten list as Yurbuds, last year’s #1, was acquired by Harman International Industries. ITEN’s ever popular startup community map is in the Report as well---new and improved to reflect some of the expanded offerings to entrepreneurs in 2014.

There was certainly a lot to celebrate in 2014. More companies received funding than ever and the total dollars invested continues to rise, with over $155.1M invested into our tech startups in 2014. In addition to Yurbuds, another homegrown company-Answers.com, was acquired by Apax Partners in a huge deal. Innovation and entrepreneurship became mainstream parts of the St. Louis economy and beyond. Corporate partners in the region such as Anheuser-Busch, Boeing, and Purina highlighted their innovation programs, in some cases even locating their innovation teams inside incubators like T-REX or CIC in the Cortex district.

In 2014, a strong emphasis was placed

01 Entrepreneurs are getting smarter.

02 Entrepreneurship has gone mainstream.

03 Inclusion is Mandatory.

04 IT is the key to a progressive future.

Regional development requires that all ideas and viewpoints have a legitimate, respected place at the table. Assuming this exists automatically can really hold back a region’s success. The St. Louis region has finally seen a dramatic increase in intentional efforts focused on equal access to knowledge, networking and opportunities within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Inclusion is key to retaining and attracting the diversity essential for long-term success.

In this technology-driven world we live in, it is not an understatement to say that all industries require computer and IT skills, and demand for expertise in this area is only going to increase. Strong STEM educational priorities and enlightened immigration policy are the bookends for a ready and robust workforce. Our region must be focused like a laser on attracting and developing the best programmers, developers and IT management talent. Can we lead in Cybersecurity, Healthcare IT, Ag Tech, Internet of Things, and Financial Tech? Let’s go for it!

The good news is that there’s more money available to tech startups in St. Louis than ever before. And with the announcement of new funds being created, that good news is getting even better. Still, the reality is there is not enough money to support all of the good deals, and those that do get support often won’t get enough. For many entrepreneurs the choices will be to die on the vine, move to where the money is, or find new ways to do more with less. Our new ventures are often competing with inferior, but better-funded, solutions from the coasts. How are we going to solve this conundrum?

05 Undercapitalization: Get used to it!

Regional corporations are recognizing the tech startup community as a source of business solutions, talent, and new innovations. We need to unlock this potential, and there are definite signs it could kick into high gear in 2015. B2B startups need to find their first customers. Here’s a prediction: The day is coming when local corporations will line up to review new solutions arising from our own tech startups.

06 Corporations are coming to the party.

Most cities of any size now have entrepreneurial activity, some more than others, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a city with nothing going on. When we compare statistics with other cities, some will show St. Louis is doing well and occasionally some won’t. At ITEN we measure ourselves against ourselves: how we’re progressing from year to year and driving innovation ever deeper into our regional culture. What makes St. Louis special, and what has led more than anything else to the dramatic rise of entrepreneurship in our city is the spirit of all for one and one for all that permeates the tech ecosystem. For-profits and not-for-profits working hand in hand; individuals seeking to “give first” and trust that the future will be brighter for all. This is the Spirit of St. Louis at its best, and it will carry us far as we work together, honoring the efforts of each individual and each organization.

07 Collaboration is our differentiator.

JIM BRASUNAS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ITEN

No question about it. Since we started ITEN seven years ago, the understanding of the typical first-time entrepreneur about the challenges that lie ahead, while far from complete, has increased significantly. It’s because there’s so much more information available to wannabe entrepreneurs, coupled with the work that universities, ITEN, and other support organizations have done over the years. Because of this, the quality of deals is also on the rise.

It’s become a common area of focus across the country, and in many places around the world. Many cities and large corporations have recently established or expanded programs focused on fostering entrepreneurship and innovation. The 1 Million Cups program has expanded to over 50 cities with over 2500 entrepreneurs taking part each week at sites all around the country. And check out the long list of cities from around the world that have a Startup Digest edition: that publication is adding one or two cities a week. Regions are realizing that economic development will increasingly come from innovation and entrepreneurship, and what better place to find both of those than in their local startup community?

Introduction Key Trends

investors. We look forward to playing an essential role in making St. Louis a hub of innovative startup activity for years to come.

Enjoy the 2014 Tech Startup Report!

FRANCIS CHMELIR DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, ITEN

Welcome to the 2014 St. Louis Tech Startup Report! ITEN is

pleased to present this year in review, highlighting the exciting growth

and activity in our region.

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The St. Louis tech scene continued to gain momentum in 2014. According to CB Insights, St. Louis was the fastest growing area for funding in 2014 and, to quote Tech Cocktail’s recent report, “St. Louis’s tech ecosystem has not just grown over the past few years – it actually blew up”. This is amazing considering where we were just a few years ago.

Funding for tech companies more than doubled between 2013 and 2014, increasing from $66 million to over $155 million, and experienced nearly a 5x growth over the last two years. The total number of companies being funded continues to grow, too. In all, at least 77 tech startups were funded in 2014, with 17 receiving $1 million or more and 26 receiving at least $500,000.

For an ecosystem to continue to develop, it must have exits and create additional funding sources. Both happened in 2014. The two biggest exits in 2014 were the Answers.com acquisition by Apax and the Yurbuds acquisition by Harmon Industries. From a capital perspective, Cultivation Capital announced its second fund of $40 million and I anticipate other funds to be announced in early 2015. St. Louis companies once again attracted outside venture capital from premier firms such as Bessemer Venture Partners, Interwest Partners, Mohr Davidow Venture Partners, and LightSpeed Venture Partners making investments. Angel investing groups and the Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC) continued their funding pace, maintaining the records set in 2013.

Momentum continues on the accelerator and seed investment front as well. Two new startup accelerators, Prosper and Yield Labs, announced that their first cohorts will begin in 2015. With the addition of those accelerators, along with SixThirty, Capital Innovators and Arch Grants, 60 companies will receive between $50,000 and $100,000 in funding from those programs in 2015. St. Louis has led the way in the state with Missouri now ranking fourth in number of accelerators, trailing only California, New York and Texas.

As indicated by the 2014 numbers, St. Louis continues to provide tremendous opportunity for startup tech companies. It is growing at a pace that few envisioned. National press and the increased interest by outside venture capital groups confirms that St. Louis is one of the premiere places to start a high-growth business in the Midwest, if not in the nation.

HAL GENTRY

GENERAL PARTNER AT

SIXTHIRTY FINTECH,

PROSPER, AND

CAPITAL INNOVATORS

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7

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2

1

0

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

1.2

3.5

5.0

5.9

7.5

The MoneyCombined Monthly Revenue of ITEN Network Companies ($M)

Money Invested in St. Louis Tech Startup Companies (Current Year’s Increase in Red) ($M)

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

28 28

30.3

40.3

66.7

70.6

292.4

155.1

137.3

Interesting Trend

Amount of Self-Funding in ITEN Companies

2014: $3.5M2013: $3.8M2012: $4.1M

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This was the year of momentum in the St. Louis region! We saw so many of our most promising startups take off and new ones pour into the region.

As I walked the floor of a recent startup event next to a local venture capitalist, he remarked, “I don’t know a single company in here and I love it.”

The growth of tech entrepreneurship is one of the strongest economic drivers in the St. Louis region. Tech workers command high salaries and as a result many other businesses thrive when new IT professionals move to St. Louis. These workers also bring an enhanced vibrancy to the neighborhoods where they reside.

This past year we saw Boeing relocate an entire IT division to St. Louis and some of our fastest growing tech startups such as LockerDome, Aisle 411 and Pixel Press hiring. We are proud of the work ITEN is doing to make St. Louis a national leader in technology jobs. Smart people find a great quality of life in this region. That is a winning combination.

Supporting the tech community is a top priority. This past year we helped connect local tech CEOs to the leaders of Southwest Airlines. They wanted a non-stop flight to San Francisco to increase fundraising and recruiting. Not only did they get it, but through the St. Louis Regional Chamber, Southwest invited a group of top startups on the inaugural St. Louis to San Francisco flight to celebrate the new route.

It’s also why our economic development team has increased our commitment to Accelerate STL. This platform showcases the robust startup activity in our region. It’s giving people around the world an idea of what it means to start and grow a business in St. Louis.

This is just a fraction of what is ahead for the tech sector in St. Louis. CNBC just named St. Louis a top tech hub to watch. We agree and look forward to much success in the future.

DENNY COLEMAN, CECD, FM, HLM

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER ST. LOUIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP

Jobs & Hiring

2%

2%

3%

3%

5%

7%

7%

7%

8%

14%

16%

26%

Hiring Fields

1ST 6 MONTHS OF YEAR:

2013: 185

2014: 259

2015: 429

FULL YEAR

2013: 425

2014: 539

2015: 878

“2014 has been a very

good year for the tech

community in St. Louis. 

St. Louisans have realized

exits at companies like

Answers, Yurbuds and

ShipWorks, and venture-

backed companies have

been very successful at

raising additional rounds

of financing at increased

valuations.”

CLIFFORD HOLEKAMP

SENIOR LECTURER IN

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

DIRECTOR OF THE

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

PLATFORM

OLIN BUSINESS

SCHOOL

WASHINGTON UNIVER-

SITY IN ST. LOUIS

Number of Employees Tech Startups Expect to Hire

8

9

“The entrepreneur ecosystem in St.

Louis is incredible.  HealthyMe wouldn’t

be where it is today without

the support and mentorship of key

programs like ITEN, BioGenerator and

Capital Innovators.  In fact, HealhyMe’s

ITEN mentor is now our CEO.  Can’t beat that for an endorsement.”

As one of many activities to help address this need, BioSTL developed and launched the Bioscience & Entrepreneurial Inclusion initiative in 2008, and began programing efforts in 2014. The goal of this program is to introduce the St. Louis entrepreneurial ecosystem to high potential women and underrepresented minorities interested in starting or expanding a high growth business in the biosciences and tech industries. Through a strategic pathway and strong collaborations with partners including ITEN, our programming provided opportunities for engagement, training and access to various resources for participants.

The inaugural event: “Creating Opportunities in Bioscience: Business & Networking Forum”, was a huge success, attracting more than 200 attendees. We hosted two additional events during the summer with the intended goals of

raising awareness about the overall bioscience industry

highlighting entrepreneurs currently building high growth businesses

exposing participants to our region’s entrepreneur resources and organizations

The St. Louis startup ecosystem’s commitment to becoming more inclusive was demonstrated by the fact that more than 30 vendors and Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESO) participated in these two events.

During a seminar in August, we hosted 55 attendees for a more in-depth look at building a bioscience startup. The seminar led many of our meeting participants to apply for Cortex’s new Square One program; a 10-week business “boot camp” designed to support first-time entrepreneurs here in our region.

We are thrilled to report that out of the 33 participants selected for this inaugural boot camp class, one-third participated in our Bioscience & Entrepreneurial Inclusion programming. The Square One program offered three tracks for those selected to participate: bioscience, IT, and consumer/advanced manufacturing. Square One provided free formal instruction, hands-on learning, expert assistance, and networking in a supportive environment for budding entrepreneurs.

It was clear through the diversity of ideas and technologies represented in the Square One program that there is a strong connection between the biosciences and IT. Examples of

companies that cross both industries include: Square Fruit Labs—a company developing an advanced biotissue and bioplastics 3D printing and material-handling robot for industrial and biomedical applications; and RXplain—a mobile app designed to assist patients with medicine adherence.

In 2015, we look to continue our inclusion efforts and bring additional programing to women and underrepresented minorities. We are already working more closely with ITEN to plan a wide range of activities for the year. As bioscience and IT fields become increasingly linked, we find these collaborations extremely valuable. We must work together to develop highly talented professionals and support their entrepreneurial endeavors to create high growth ventures that ultimately will increase the level of innovation and opportunities in our region. If everyone in the startup community is able to work together to achieve that goal, St. Louis will remain on track to be one of America’s top innovation hubs.

DR. CHERYL WATKINS-MOORE

DIRECTOR, BIOSCIENCE & ENTREPRENEURIAL INCLUSION

BIOSTL

Inclusion Initiative

For a long time St. Louis has been home to universities and

corporations of international stature. However, St. Louis has lacked

the required infrastructure, entrepreneurial culture and ecosystem

to fully capitalize on its potential as a multi-dimensional, thriving

business community.

DANA FOWLER

FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, HEALTHYME MOBILE SOLUTIONS

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0

2011 2012 2013 2014

Total Full Time Employees of ITEN Network Companies

601

835 827

1073

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

2011 2012 2013 2014

Total Part Time Employees of ITEN Network Companies

57

109

252

386350

400

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11

ITEN COMPANIES

22% MINORITY-OWNED 20% WOMEN-OWNED 8% IMMIGRANT-OWNED 5% VETERAN-OWNED

LAUNCHCODE PARTICIPANTS

42% PREVIOUSLY UNEMPLOYED 30% MINORITY 23% WOMEN

SQUAREONE PARTICIPANTS

36% UNDERREPRESENTED POPULATIONS

PROSPER WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

31 MASTERMIND GROUP PARTICIPANTS

60 YOUTH & COLLEGIATE #PROSPERNEXT EVENTS PAR-TICIPANTS

70 ENTREPRENEUR RESOURCE EVENTS PARTICIPANTS

Note: The data above is not mutually exclusive.

“Our region will grow by finding and encouraging

entrepreneurs from all parts of the community. As we seek

out immigrant and other minority entrepreneurs, we

bring them into the network of entrepreneurial resources

to encourage their success. Inclusion initiatives like the one that ITEN helps

lead, are so important for creating the entry funnel

of new opportunities, both for the region and for those

individuals themselves. St. Louis Mosaic Project provides

inclusion initiatives so that our region benefits from the many

immigrant entrepreneurs in our community.”

BETSY COHEN

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ST. LOUIS MOSAIC PROJECT

The most vital ingredients in a startup community are the entrepreneurs and ventures that are bringing new ideas to market, reshaping industries, and ultimately creating something of lasting value. The St. Louis region is blessed with numerous emerging companies that are not just growing, but thriving. Once again we honor these great ventures in our Top Ten, Fast Ten, and Segment Rankings for 2014.

These lists recognize and celebrate the tech ventures that are getting the most traction, most likely to become lasting successes, and most likely to make significant contributions to the St. Louis region’s economic prosperity.

For our Top Ten list and the industry segment lists in this report, we focus on the following key metrics: total funds raised (from all outside sources including but not limited to friends and family, grants, debt and equity), current monthly revenue, and total employees (including founders working full time on the venture). These three factors are the main criteria we use to measure a venture’s impact on the community. We give additional weight to the growth in these three primary metrics during 2014. Thus we assign more importance in our ratings to the traction that companies are getting right now.

There are great tech ventures in St. Louis that didn’t make this list. That in no way means that they aren’t destined for great success. The bar is being raised every year by the rapid growth of our top companies, and the honor of being mentioned as one of St. Louis’ Top Ten startup tech ventures means more this year than ever before.

For our Fast Ten list, we look only at companies founded in 2013 or later, and look particularly to their growth during 2014. We believe that some of the companies on the Fast Ten list are likely to emerge and make a major impact in coming years.

“Due to the

diligent work of

ITEN and other

supporters of the

ecosystem, Stone

Carlie enjoyed

a large increase

in start-up

companies that

we serve during

2014 and expect

a similar increase

in 2015.”

The Companies

Note: Due to the proprietary nature of most of the data used in our rankings, we rely heavily on the companies to provide that information to ITEN on a confidential basis. Therefore, limited or absent data may affect a company’s inclusion or ranking in the list.

MARIE CARLIE, CPA

SENIOR MEMBER,

STONE CARLIE

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Norse

www.norse-corp.com

Norse is the global leader in live attack intelligence. Norse delivers continuously updated and unique Internet and darknet intel that helps organizations detect and block attacks that other systems miss. The Norse DarkMatter™ platform detects new threats and tags nascent hazards long before they are spotted by traditional threat intelligence tools. Norse’s globally distributed distant early warning grid of millions of dark sensors, honeypots, crawlers, and agents deliver unique visibility into the Internet - especially the darknets, where bad actors operate. The Norse DarkMatter™ network processes hundreds of terabytes daily and computes over 1,500 distinct risk factors, live, for millions of IP addresses and URLs every day. 

Fun Facts

Norse has employees in 5 countries and 13 states.Norse’s Global Infrastructure is attacked by adversaries on average 6,000 times per second.Norse’s engineering team received 7 exotic sports car rentals as year-end bonuses, resulting in a pow-erful recruiting video.

Splice Machine

www.splicemachine.com

Splice Machine provides the only Hadoop RDBMS. It is designed to scale real-time applications using commodity hardware without application rewrites, providing companies with a high-performance, massively scalable database for applications that don’t require compromising SQL support, secondary indexes, joins, and transactions.

Fun Facts

Splice Machine is featured in Datamation’s top 20 Big Data Companies list.Splice Machine raised $18M in 2014.Splice Machine has offices in both St. Louis and San Francisco.

MulticoreWare Inc.

www.multicorewareinc.com

MulticoreWare is the leading provider of programmer productivity tools, libraries and application development services for homogenous and heterogeneous multicore CPU and GPU architectures.

Fun Facts

MulticoreWare launched a very successful HEVC encoder product.MulticoreWare is featured in 2014 Inc. 500 list, ranked at 110th. MulticoreWare was selected by EE Times for the hot-test startups list.

LockerDome

www.lockerdome.com

LockerDome helps you personalize the web. Through lockerdome.com and LockerDome-powered widgets, more than 75 million people per month use the platform to discover, collect, and engage around things they like.

Fun Facts

LockerDome has users in more than 100 countries.LockerDome employees once slept in the office for 81 days straight to finish a release.LockerDome raised $10M in 2014.

FoodEssentials

www.foodessentials.com

FoodEssentials’ LabelINSIGHT is the food industry’s most powerful and innovative product insight exchange, providing manufacturers and retailers a live view into the grocery marketplace.  LabelINSIGHT provides retailers and suppliers with gold standard consumer-facing product data, a transparent view in to the data for the entire organization, and custom integration into existing systems, taxonomies, and use cases.

Fun Facts

FoodEssentials founders all grew up together in Hong Kong.FoodEssentials has a presence in Australia, Hong Kong, France, Chicago, and St. Louis.Over one weekend, FoodEssentials collected over 10,000 new products for a client.

Hatchbuck

www.hatchbuck.com

Hatchbuck is simple sales and marketing software for small business that automates sales and market-ing efforts overnight. Turn emails into conversations, website visitors into handshakes, and customers into raving fans with our all-in-one sales & marketing platform. It’s time to grow.

Fun Facts

The Hatchbuck team grew 112% in 2014.Hatchbuck grew their base of customers and in-creased revenue by 300% in 2014. Hatchbuck is its own customer. The Hatchbuck team uses Hatchbuck sales and marketing software to at-tract, capture, nurture and convert prospects into customers.   

These dynamic ventures just missed making the Top 10 (in alphabetical order):

Blendics

Bonfyre

BusyEvent

Gremln

Juristat

Kingdom Scene

Rovertown

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03

04

05

06

07Aisle411

www.aisle411.com

Aisle411 is the leading local and indoor location platform powering over 13,000 retail stores with indoor mapping, search, location and analytics solutions that help retailers and brands drive store visits, in-store shopper engagement, and merchandising insights.

Fun Facts

2.3 million products are found in Aisle411’s product search engine.30% of Aisle411 employees are female.Aisle411 was officially founded in a Panera Bread restaurant (locally-known as St. Louis Bread Co.) due to free Wi-Fi access and great food, a true St. Louis start-up incubator. 

TruQC

www.truqcapp.com

TruQC is a quality control and process documentation app built for the iPad. Originally designed for industrial painters, TruQC is now bringing QC and reporting tasks into the digital age for customers in an array of industries.

Fun Facts

St. Louis hockey legend Barret Jackman is an inves-tor in TruQC.TruQC has been downloaded in 67 countries.TruQC’s app is now available in Spanish. 

08

09 Click With Me Now

www.clickwithmenow.com

Re-humanizing the online channel with the easiest & safest way to share the web! With products like: REALTIME, REPLAY & RECORD - all based on patent-pending Collaborative Customer Interface Platform – Click With Me Now is changing the way people connect online.

Fun Facts

Click With Me Now raised $2.45 million in 2014. Click With Me Now has developed a second product on its collaboration platform.Click With Me Now has grown to 12 employees all committed to “humanizing online communications”.

Observable Networks

www.observable.net

10Observable Networks delivers critical threat defense services based on dynamic endpoint modeling to understand the behavior of all network devices and identify early stage and hidden indicators of

compromise.

Fun Facts

Observable Networks was listed as one of the “10 security startups to watch” by Network World.Observable performs nearly 2 billion device inspec-tions per day for its current customers.Observable Networks grew over 50% in employee count in 2014.

HonorableMentions

14

15TopOpps

www.topopps.com

TopOPPS uses advanced analytics and automation to optimize the sales process.  It helps define, align, and enhance the sales process - while ensuring that everyone is following it.  Sales management benefits from the clearer visibility and real time updates while sales people benefit from the intelligent mobile coaching and simplified updates.  As a result of the sales process optimization and streamlining, deals close faster, win rates increase, and forecasts are more accurate. 

Fun Facts

TopOPPS moved twice in 2015 - first to Downtown T-REX and then next door to the Curlee BuildingTopOPPS is the second venture together for founders Jim Eberlin and Ted Stann.  They previously founded Gainsight.The song “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift is the TopOPPS’ sales team’s theme song. 

Pushup Social

www.Pushup.com

Pushup Social is a technology that allows a brand or organization to create their own online community on their existing website in a matter of minutes. With Pushup, brands and organizations see a higher return on the investments they are making in building loyal fan bases, clients or supporters, by engaging their community members directly on their own website. Site owners can engage their community, access analytics, moderate content, improve SEO, and increase the overall stickiness and relevance of their website. Additionally, community members can now share photos, posts and much more as they interact on the website of the brand or organization they are passionate about.

Fun Facts

Pushup Social is undefeated in Ping Pong tournaments, having defeated such powerhouses as Elasticity and LaunchCode in head-to-head match-ups.Two of the three founders are foreign-born, from Nigeria and Denmark. Pushup Social will be featured in the upcoming first episode of AT&T’s new web series, “3:00 Inspiration Break”, hosted by small business expert Susan Solovic. 

Pixel Press

www.projectpixelpress.com

Pixel Press is a technology company focused on building creative and fun mobile gaming experiences for audiences of all ages that leverage both the analytical & creative sides of the brain.

Fun Facts

Pixel Press users have created over 100k games and published 13k games to the arcade. The final boss, “The Doodle Wizard” of Pixel Press’ new game in partnership with Cartoon Network is voiced by “Weird Al” Yankovic.Pixel Press’ newest developer, Mark has long blonde hair and rides his skateboard to work. If you see him downtown on his way in say hello!

PFITR

www.pfitr.com

PFITR is a cloud-based software that helps public treasurers across the country by improving transparency, reducing risk, and improving cash flow. Public treasurers are attracted to this new technology because the streamlined iPad and mobile application increases productivity and elimi-nates the need to print so many reports.

Fun Facts

PFITR has employees and contractors from all over the world.PFITR is the only start-up company that has gone through two start-up accelerator programs simulta-neously: Capital Innovators and SixThirty.The only pictures in PFITR’s offices are underwater scenes, mostly ship wrecks.

Marketvolt

www.Marketvolt.com

MarketVolt helps B-to-B, B-to-C, and nonprofit businesses attract leads, engage prospects, convert sales, and maximize customer relationships, using email marketing and other interactive technologies. Businesses in the St. Louis region and across the globe choose MarketVolt’s email software because it gives them a powerful, easy-to-use and affordable way to create, deliver, track and automate marketing campaigns. They also can rely on MarketVolt’s marketing experts to assist with planning and execution of email campaigns, web site development, social media, and offline marketing.    

Fun Facts:

MarketVolt was first established in 2001 as a product and service of Foundry Software Development Company before spinning out as an independent startup in 2013. MarketVolt can integrate seamlessly (without customized code) with more than 300 applications, including Salesforce, Dynamics, Zoho, other popular CRMs and many event management, e-commerce, accounting and social media management tools.MarketVolt has delivered nearly one billion emails on behalf of its clients.

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02

03

04

05

06xooker

www.xooker.com

Xooker is the next generation ad delivery platform: mobile, location aware, personalized, and fun.   Game changing analytics overlay engagement tools (messaging, deals, automatic check-in, games and rewards) in a unique way that enables local and national merchants to get new clients, and keep them as profitable repeat customers.  Consumers get valuable, personalized real-time information about items and offers at their favorite merchants, and have fun while they do.

Fun Facts:

Xooker will launch to 2.5 million opt-in mobile subscribers and 3,500 Merchants.Consumer choice rules with Xooker.  Individual consumers get targeted messages at times they can best use them, for products, services, and merchants they select.With Xooker, a store or restaurant of any size can have a branded game. 

07HealthyApp HealthyLife Studio

www.healthyapphealthylife.com

HealthyApp is designed to break the smartphone habit cycle, preventing overuse of target apps while creating new rewards that reinforce the user’s self-control. The main goal is to help users reduce their smartphone dependency by monitoring app usage on their smart devices, and identify potential areas for improvement. HealthyApp is targeting user groups such as parents who want to monitor their kids, doctors who want to help their patients, employers who need to manage their employees, and self-motivated individuals who want to set up goals on a phone diet. It’s a secure and effective way to spend less time on one’s smart devices, and more time on one’s life.   

Fun Facts

All founders are foreign-born from China.HealthyApp has offices in St. Louis and BeijingAll founders are successful business owners, one of them is ex-CTO of Alibaba Software and Yahoo China.

08Prattle Analytics

www.prattle-analytics.com

Prattle Analytics was founded by Evan A. Schnidman Ph.D. and William D. MacMillan Ph.D. to develop and sell unique data products to the financial services industry. Prattle’s core data product utilizes proprietary text analysis methods to generate quantitative data based on the sentiment of central bank communications. This data presents better than 70% correlations with fixed income, equity and currency markets allowing portfolio managers to predict asset price movements and make informed investment decisions. Prattle Analytics central bank sentiment data is currently used by some of the largest hedge funds in the world. 

Fun Facts

Both Prattle Analytics’ founders are recovering academics.As recovering academics, Evan and Bill have benefited greatly from hiring their former students to aid in their data development process.One of Prattle’s data developers is a top NFL prospect.

09MeterGenius

www.metergenius.com

MeterGenius is a customer engagement and analytics platform that enables electricity suppliers to provide residential customers tools and incentives to engage with and lower their electricity usage. MeterGenius gives homeowners the ability to track electricity consumption, create reminders to help them change their behavior, set goals and track their progress, compare themselves to similar neighbors, and earn points that can be redeemed for smart and energy efficient appliances.

Fun Facts

In their first pilot in Texas, MeterGenius increased customer retention by 27% and reduced consumption by 6%.All co-founders were Northwestern University graduate students.MeterGenius won $135,000 in business plan competitions in 2014.

10iChurch Phone Apps

www.ichurchphoneapps.com

iChurch enables leadership at small to medium-sized churches to  efficiently and effectively manage and engage volunteer staff in real-time. iChurch is a mobile app that helps churches realize a reduction in costs and better forecasting/utilization of volun-teer staff through the utilization of custom reports and analysis via mobile app.

Fun Facts

Recent Washington University PMBA graduate partners with an MIT Alum to design the UI/UX for the iChurch Volunteer Management App.iChurch is 100% owned  by an African-American, raised in the St. Louis regionKeith Turner, the founder, previously founded an award winning company in the area TurnGroup Technologies.

Campaign Manager

16

17

Minority-Owned01 MulticoreWare Inc.

02 FoodEssentials

03 PushUp Social

Women-Owned01 SparoLabs

02 EDIS Solutions

03 HealthyMe Mobile

Solutions Security01 Norse

02 Observable Networks

03 Parameter Security

Mobile App01 Aisle411

02 TruQC

03 TopOpps

It was maybe four years ago when CIC began seriously considering expansion outside of Massachusetts. Initially we started with the obvious places, where startups and innovation are seemingly evergreen: San Francisco, Silicon Valley, New York City. Exploring these markets left us hungry for expansion but the complexities and costs that would have come with opening up a space in one of those cities kept us from jumping in.  Also, part of the fun of CIC in Cambridge comes from the satisfaction knowing that we added to the current “innovation ecosystem” in real, meaningful ways.  

Once we started to look at new markets from that perspective, things started to get really interesting.  We began to look at cities that we hadn’t ever considered.  Cities on the rise, but ones with a lot left to prove.  We traveled to a number of cities including Baltimore, Winston-Salem, Philadelphia, Miami - and St. Louis. 

I’ll skip the number crunching parts of our exploratory phase, but suffice to say that St. Louis set itself apart from other cities because the local, grass root projects here were further developed and producing measurable results.  There was also real money behind these projects - and a supportive city

government and very active universities.  This signaled to us that there was a long term plan in place.  But what left us most enthusiastic were the people who were (and are) most directly behind the startup growth initiatives.  St. Louis appeared to us like a bootstrapped startup, run by people bullish about the city and determined to build something big and important.  From Arch Grants and T-REX to Cortex and BioGenerator, there was a lot of amazing stuff going on, and the energy and enthusiasm felt quite familiar to what we’d experienced in Cambridge.

The opening months of our entry into St. Louis have been nothing short of amazing.  They’ve exceeded our expectations in just about every way.  The clients and people who work in our spaces are some of the most talented entrepreneurs in the city and the community energy has created buzz that’s reverberating even back to Cambridge and Boston.  Our @4240 space is filling with a wonderful mix of clients ranging from Arch Grants alumni and Washington University spinouts to investor groups and corporates.  LaunchCode is now doing its important work from within CIC.  Some of our client companies have come from far off places like Israel.  We’ve even got people

driving in from Chesterfield!  All this stuff really matters. 

Three years ago, choosing St. Louis as our first expansion city seemed counterintuitive to many of us.  Now, we’re just grateful to be here and excited for everything to come.  2015 will no doubt be an uphill slog every single day of the year.  But what joy it is to be a part of this incredible city. 

DOUGAN SHERWOOD

CO-FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR, CIC ST. LOUIS

St. Louis: Hub of Innovation

CIC St. Louis opened its doors to its new facility at @4240 Duncan

Avenue last October.  The launch was the culmination of a journey

for CIC into St. Louis that began almost three years ago.  So many

people have asked, “Why did CIC choose St. Louis?”, Here’s some of the

backstory that has led us to where we are today.  

Segment Rankings

Financial Services01 Gremln

02 PFITR

03 Prattle Analytics

Sales/Marketing01 Hatchbuck

02 TopOpps

03 Less Annoying CRM

Social Media01 LockerDome

02 Gremln

03 Bonfyre

Game Design01 Kingdom Scene

02 Pixel Press

03 Xooker

“The dialogue around

startups in St. Louis is

changing. Our larger

clients are looking for

guidance on how to

partner with startups

to more quickly drive

business value. By

fostering conversation

and collaboration,

we are helping with

job creation and the

bolstering of our local

economy. Investing in

startups is investing in

the future of our city.”

Outside Funding Status

54% 46% 63% 37%

With

out

Out

side

Fund

ing

With

Outside

Funding

With

out

Reve

nue

With

Revenue

Funded Company Status

73%

27%

With

out

Re

venu

e

With

Revenue

Revenue Status

RON DAUGHERTY

FOUNDER,

DAUGHERTY

BUSINESS

SOLUTIONS

ITEN Company Status

18

19

STL Metro

Missouri - Non STL

Illinois - Non STL

US (Remaining)

Europe

Africa

Asia, New Zealand & Australia

Latin America

Middle East

5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

0%

30%39%

15%13%

12%12%

35%23%

4%4%

0.4%1%

2%2%

1%4%

1%2%

“St. Louis startups made great strides in 2014

on several fronts. A lot of money was invested

in local startup companies, new accelerators

focused on women and agtech companies were

formed, and large corporations continued to buy

in to the startup storyline. But perhaps even more

importantly, several tech companies saw significant

exits, thus putting money into the hands of local

investors/entrepreneurs. Exits included Answers

Corp., yurbuds and ShipWorks. What investors in

those companies do now will be a major narrative

for 2015. Following the Answers exit, a group of

Answers executives raised nearly $40 million for a

new fund. It would be a tremendous positive if a

good chunk of that money was reinvested into St.

Louis companies. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least

if a few high-profile startup companies also made

big exits in 2015.”

BRIAN FELDT

TECHNOLOGY REPORTER,

ST. LOUIS BUSINESS JOURNAL

“To see innovation and entrepreneurship drive change is remarkably exciting. The St. Louis region has the

perfect mix for a growing startup hub: premier universities like Washington University and Saint Louis University,

internationally recognized innovation hubs, support organizations, mentorship programs, capital efficiency, an

educated workforce, competitive cost of living, and affordable real estate, among others. As we shared recently

with a group of investors in New York, these strengths, combined with our region’s leading role in fields such as

plant and life science; financial services; information technology; aviation and renewable energy, make St. Louis

a place where big ideas grow.”

JOE REAGAN

PRESIDENT & CEO, ST. LOUIS REGIONAL CHAMBER

This past year has been an exciting one for the tech startup community in St. Louis, and for ITEN. We were able to accomplish so much, as you can see demonstrated in this report.

The rapid growth in tech entrepreneurship can play an essential role in crafting a positive narrative for the future of the region, and is the foundation for the innovation economy that is essential for a prosperous future. Now operating as an independent organization, ITEN has the flexibility to be an effective leader in creating that future and overcoming the many challenges faced by the entrepreneurial community.

Founded in 2008 to be the catalyst of the St. Louis IT startup ecosystem, ITEN has received tremendous support along the way as an operating entity of Innovate St. Louis. During the past 7 years, we have been at the forefront of the development of the St. Louis tech startup ecosystem. We are grateful for Innovate’s support and are very proud that we are now ready to take on new challenges on our own. We are very encouraged by the growing community support. Without all of you we would not be where we are today. Your support inspires us!

Letter from Our Chairman

ITEN will sharpen our focused mission to accelerate individual startups. Each venture is unique, and we will continue to improve our programs and tools to help them overcome barriers and find their individual pathway to success. With new initiatives in the pipeline for 2015: Tech Inclusion Initiative, expansion of our Entrepreneur in Residence program, the new STLTechJobs website, an innovative startup/corporate engagement program, and the possibility of launching a new tech fund, ITEN is committed to serve the critical needs of the startups, the innovation ecosystem, and the wider community.

We look forward to the next 12 months with a great deal of passion and enthusiasm as we continue to build on the considerable momentum among the ecosystem that ITEN has helped to create.

Our motto: “Entrepreneurs Helping Entrepreneurs” sums up our core value. We’re excited to see where it’s going to lead us this year!

JEAN ROBERSON CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, ITEN

IP Issue

Finding a Cofounder

Startup Biggest Challenge

23%

1%

3%

5%5%

6%

7%

9%

12%

14%

15%

Time Management

Forming StrategicPartnerships

Sales

Develop Prototype

Finding Mentors

Customer Aquisition

Marketing/Advertising

Talent

Funding

Prior Entrepreneurial Experience of Founders

Yes

No

Under 25

26-35

36-45

46-55

56+

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

Age of Founders

Founders’ college and origin

Founders’ college Founders’ origin

67%

33%

20

21

“In 2014 Arch Grants and ITEN

deepened their collaboration

by making ITEN the venture

development partner for tech

focused Arch Grant recipients.

This partnership ensures Arch

Grants funded companies take full

advantage of ITEN’s outstanding

offerings including its Mock Angel,

Business Model Validation, and

Development programs. This type

of collaboration is of tremendous

benefit to the participating

entrepreneurs, and to the broader

community as both organizations

leverage their respective strengths

to ensure entrepreneurs can access

the resources they need to make

their businesses successful.”

GINGER IMSTER

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ARCH GRANTS

“The start-up environment in St.

Louis is exciting and very energized

with professionals and innovative

ideas. I have found ITEN to be a

good resource for information,

support, and talent. Particularly,

ITEN’s Entrepreneurs-in-Residence

are invaluable advisors with a

great willingness to share their

experiences.”

A.KEITH TURNER

FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, iCHURCH PHONE

APPS

“This is an extremely exciting

time to be involved in innovation

and technology in St. Louis. The

region is on a meteoric rise as a

hub for entrepreneurism and St.

Louis’s culture of partnership and

collaboration is strong and unique

draw. Being an integral part of the

regional entrepreneurial community

not only strengthens our own

research at Washington University,

but creates a dynamic, high-energy,

creative spirit that is so important

for encouraging start-up activity.

St. Louis is realizing its full potential

of being world-class leader in

innovation. From large undertakings

like Cortex to smaller in-the-lab

experiences, Washington University

is proud to be part of the effort.”

HOLDEN THORP

PROVOST AND EXECUTIVE VICE

CHANCELLOR FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

RITA LEVI-MONTALCINI DISTINGUISHED

UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST LOUIS

St. LouisTech Startup Ecosystem

MVF

SIUE ENTREPRENEURSHIPPROGRAM

HARRIS-STOWE ENTREPRENEURSHIPPROGRAM

WEBSTERENTREPRENEURSHIPPROGRAM

UMSLENTREPRENEURSHIPPROGRAM

WASHINGTONUNIVERSITY’SSKANDALAIRIS CENTER

CAPITAL INNOVATORS

BILLIKEN ANGELS

THINKBIG

FTL CAPITALiSELECT FUND

MTC IDEA FUND

ARCH GRANTS

REGIONAL GROWTH CAPTAL

ARCH ANGELS

HELIX FUND

LAB 1500

CLAIM

NEBULA

ARCHREACTOR

ITE

TECH SHOP CIC

CIC@CET

TECHARTISTA

STLVENTUREWORKS

T-REX

LAUNCH CODE

ENSTITUTE

TALENT FINDERSIGS

BUSINESS MODEL VALIDATION

GVMS

MOCKANGELS

BIOGENERATOR

CULTIVATIONCAPITAL

SIXTHIRTY

SLU CENTER FORENTREPRENEURSHIP

HIVE44

OPO

CHAMBER

ST.LOUIS MOSAIC PROJECTIMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM

STLTECHJOBS

THE YIELD LAB

PROSPER WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

PIPELINE

LINDBERGH TECHNOLOGY FUND

CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT

TALENT FUNDER

CODE WORLD ORDER

VENTURE FOR AMERICA

ST. LOUIS MAKES

LEWIS AND CLARK FUND

INDUSTRIOUS

REGIONAL

VENTURE CAFÉ

THE MISSION CENTER L3C

SLEDP