Innovation paid off for 12 Austin-based companies named Nov. 6 to the 2013 Fall Austin A-List by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and South by Southwest Interactive.
The winners were among 157 nominees considered for their innovation and ability to collect investment money. The recognition is a way to help Austin-based technology and innovation companies gain more recognition, said Michele Skelding, senior vice president of global technology and innovation at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.
"What we need to do is find the good ideas, and the capital will follow," Skelding said during a Nov. 6 award ceremony attended by more than 250 business representatives.
Hugh Forrest, SXSW Interactive Festival director, said during the award presentation that SXSW has also helped give Austin companies a yearround platform to showcase their innovation.
"What we do for nine days in March shines a very bright light on all the creativity here in Austin," Forrest said.
Companies were recognized in three categories: emerging companies (early/seed stage) that raised less than $1 million in investment money; growth (mid-stage) companies that collected between $1 million and $10 million; and scale (later stage) companies that accumulated more than $10 million.
2013 Fall Austin A-List award recipients
(company descriptions as written by each winner):
Emerging (Early/seed stage)—less than $1 million:
Atlas is an intelligent wristband for fitness enthusiasts looking for a complete solution, not just a pedometer.
Datafiniti was founded with the ambitious goal of converting the largest source of data, the Internet itself, into structured data to make better business applications and push the boundaries of better decision-making.
Filament Labs is building a SaaS platform to power any app that goes between a patient and their care provider.
Pristine develops apps for Google Glass for healthcare environments to help treat more people at a more affordable cost.
Shelfbucks aims to level the playing field between physical and online retail, revolutionizing the brand to consumer channel through mobile.
YouEarnedIt fosters happiness at work through a simple, fun, and flexible SaaS platform that provides real-time recognition and meaningful, custom rewards for employees.
Growth (Mid-stage)—$1 million to $10 million:
Gazzang develops products that keep data secure, available and actionable in the cloud.
How Do You Roll leads the restaurant industry as the first fast-casual, custom sushi shop.
Uship is the world's largest and most trusted transportation marketplace, primarily serving the freight, household goods and vehicle shipping markets.
WP Engine is the premium managed hosting platform for websites and applications built with WordPress.
Scale (Later stage)—more than $10 million:
Main Street Hub offers an integrated social, web, and email marketing product designed to help merchants get more customers and keep them coming back.
Phunware is the pioneer of Mobile as a Service (MaaS)—the only fully integrated services platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize users on mobile.
