The world of tech is huge and only getting bigger. That means lots of startups will start raising funds and trying to get the attention of possible investors and consumers. Many will fail, but some will rise up. What are the top tech startups out there that you should be aware of? Here are four:
Dragos
Between 2011-2015, Robert Lee worked at the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command, defending infrastructure from cyber attacks. In 2016, he co-founded Dragos with two NSA colleagues. What does Dragos do? It’s an industrial cybersecurity company. Using the Dragos Platform, it’s able to gather, identify, and respond to cyber threats that can knock out crucial infrastructure like the power grid and water supply. With new technologies, a society’s infrastructure is a lot more efficient, but it’s also vulnerable to cyber attacks. That’s why the services Dragos provides are so important. Lee describes the type of security Dragos offers as I.T. and physics combined. They find threats and figure out how they work, so better defenses can be built up. In 2018, Dragos raised an impressive $48 million, making it one of the top tech startups to know.
WISErg
While individuals are told how to fight food waste, grocery stores actually waste way more food. In 2018, a report revealed stores throw away as much as 43 billion pounds of food a year. What can be done? Founded back in 2009, WISErg’s goal was to figure out a way to fight food waste by turning scraps into something useful. The team created a special fertilizer that transforms food waste into nutrient-rich feedstock for farms and other industries. In 2014, they launched the machine, known as The Harvester. Big stores like Whole Foods Market use it, and by October 2018, WISErg raised almost $70 million. Not only does WISErg help reduce food waste, but the fertilizer they create can increase crop yields and strengthen soil in a very affordable way. Currently, farms all over the United States, Mexico, and Latin America use the fertilizer.
Emotix
A lot of people are wary of robots and artificial intelligence, but the industry is booming nonetheless. The challenge is to make robots personable and empathic. Emotix, a consumer electronics company based in India, was founded in 2014. It has a fairly small team of roboticists, neuropsychologists, and academics. Together, they came up with a companion robot designed for children. Miko 2 educates kids, while also entertaining them. At only half-a-foot, it’s small and not scary-looking to kids. It also has end-to-end encryption for security. The goal is for Miko 2 to replace television, which is non-interactive. The robot helps a kid strengthen their emotional intelligence as well as knowledge. Right now, Miko 2 is only found in India, but the company is still young and could expand. Emotix has raised over $12 million in funding.
Cognigo
If you don’t live in Europe, you may not have heard of the GDPR. The EU General Data Protection Regulation was established in response to companies collecting personal data and not securing it. This is a problem not limited to Europe; it happens all over the world, including the US, with data breaches at companies like Facebook, Equifax, and more. More and more top tech startups will center around cybersecurity. Cognigo is one of those companies. Using cognitive computing and advanced machine learning algorithms, Cognigo’s system can help a company become GDPR compliant in days, as opposed to months. Cognigo was founded in 2016, and NetApp recently acquired it for $70 million.
———
WISErg fights food waste, a problem that has gained a lot of attention in recent years. Here are other companies fighting food waste.