2020 Most Fundable Companies
The Winners
Congratulations to the 2020 Pepperdine Most Fundable Companies. In our third year, more than 4,500 early-stage US startups from across all 50 states vied for a space on the list, making it the most competitive year yet. All 20 winners are worthy of serious investor consideration based on several company variables including financial projections, market opportunity, intellectual property, competitive advantage, and management-team expertise. Company highlights are included in the event stream replay.
- Featuring Most Fundable Companies full pitches
- See all 2020 Semi-Finalist startups
- Special thanks to our sponsors
Platinum
BNNano, Inc.
Industry: Nanotechnology
Location: Burlington, North Carolina
Founders: Steven Wilcenski, Jason Taylor
About: BNNano leverages cutting edge materials innovations to transform and return value
to industrial commodities, facilitating applications such as aerospace, hypersonics,
thermal management and additive manufacturing.
Calviri, Inc.
Industry: Biotechnology
Location: Tempe, Arizona
Founders: Stephen Albert Johnston, Kathryn Sykes
About: Calviri will end cancer deaths worldwide via development of new diagnostic and therapeutic
products, such as a chip for early detection of antibodies in blood, and preventive
vaccines.
Terecircuits Corporation
Industry: Electronics Materials
Location: Mountain View, California
Founders: Jayna Sheats, Wayne Rickard
About: Terecircuits has developed a new class of polymer and novel circuit assembly techniques
to support microassembly and mass transfer for advanced displays and electronics.
Gold
Ai Software, LLC d/b/a Capacity
Industry: Software Technology
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Founders: David Karandish
About: Capacity is a new kind of helpdesk, powered by artificial intelligence, that automates
support for your customers and employees.
Athena, Inc.
Industry: Software Technology
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Founders: Simone Spence
About: Athena (originally Don't Get Mad Get Paid) enables users to collect back child support
in less time and for less money.
Flower Turbines, Inc.
Industry: Renewable Energy
Location: Lawrence, New York
Founders: Daniel Farb
About: Flower Turbines makes small wind turbines with aerodynamic innovations that allow
them to change the world market for uses near people and buildings.
RRTC, Inc.
Industry: Materials
Location: Belle Mead, New Jersey
Founders: Rik Riman
About: RRTC is a platform-manufacturing technology company. Patented, low-cost, sustainable
solidification technology creates novel composites with a performance edge for a wide
range of applications.
Silver
Agtools, Inc.
Industry: Software Technology
Location: Irvine, California
Founders: Martha Montoya
About: Agtools is a SaaS Food and Ag worldwide supply-chain platform offering real-time
actionable intelligence data to increase profitability and avoid food waste. 2019
Microsoft ML/AI award winner.
Baby Barista
Industry: Consumer Products
Location: Simi Valley, California
Founders: Cara Armstrong
About: Baby Barista’s connected machine revolutionizes infant formula feeding by making
the perfect bottle in under 30 seconds and delivering organic formula right to your
doorstep.
ECFX
Industry: Software Technology
Location: Venice, California
Founders: Dan O'Day, Nelson Quintero, Bill Burch
About: ECFX provides a cloud-based enterprise notice management system using intelligent
automation to streamline the entire electronic court notice workflow with firmwide
administration and analytics.
ExpressCells
Industry: Biotechnology
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Founders: Matthew Handel, Oscar Perez-Leal
About: ExpressCells is a revenue-generating genetic engineering company that creates knock-in
cell lines for biological research more quickly than competing technologies and enabling
better experiments.
Global Thermostat
Industry: Renewable Energy
Location: New York, New York
Founders: Graciela Chichilnisky, Peter Eisenberger
About: Global Thermostat commercializes its advanced, multi-patented technology to transform
carbon dioxide from a global liability into an opportunity for global prosperity.
Target Arm, Inc.
Industry: Aeronautics
Location: Ridgefield, Connecticut
Founders: Jeffrey McChesney, Ryan Bigham
About: Target Arm's device, Tular, enables launch and recovery of both rotary wing and
fixed wing drones from any moving vehicle, autonomously, and even during windy conditions.
WinSanTor, Inc.
Industry: Biotechnology
Location: San Diego, California
Founders: Stanley Kim, Nigel Calcutt, Lakshmi Kotra, Paul Fernyhough
About: WinSanTor is developing what may be the only disease-modifying treatment for peripheral
neuropathy, a debilitating neurodegenerative condition that affects the lives of hundreds
of millions of people.
Bronze
Adranos, Inc.
Industry: Defense and Space
Location: West Lafayette, Indiana
Founders: Brandon Terry, Chris Stoker
About: Adranos has developed a high-performance solid rocket fuel, ALITEC, that can increase
the range or payload capacity of launch systems by up to 40 percent.
Cast21
Industry: Healthcare
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Founders: Ashley S. Moy
About: Cast21 is changing the way the world heals with QUIN™ technology, a waterproof alternative to a cast or brace for broken bones.
Hope Trust
Industry: Software Technology
Location: Holmdel, New Jersey
Founders: Daria Placitella, Joshua Fishkind, Russell Fishkind
About: Hope Trust automates the special needs planning process, allowing families to ensure
that the complex, interdisciplinary needs of their loved one will be fulfilled.
Perfitly, LLC
Industry: Software Technology
Location: New York, New York
Founders: Dave Sharma, Kash Vyas, Raghav Sharma
About: Perfitly’s AR/VR-AI platform enables online apparel shoppers to try on and visualize
garments in 3D before buying, reducing returns and increasing sales.
Perytor Therapeutics, Inc.
Industry: Biotechnology
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Founders: Ramon Coronado, Joshua Shaver
About: Perytor Therapeutics discovered a new category of drugs extracted from placental
tissue that can be used to promote regeneration, while reducing pain and inflammation.
Wind Talker Innovations, Inc.
Industry: Telecommunications
Location: Anchorage, Alaska
Founders: Matthew Perdew, Ryan Luther
About: Wind Talker Innovations develops solutions to transcend the limitations of existing
networks, allowing instantaneous and high-speed communications between users on- or
off-grid.
Semi-Finalists
We also learned about some great companies that did not quite make our top 20, who we'd like to highlight as semi-finalists.
- 1Talon, Inc.
- AECS Consulting, Inc.
- Armchair Quarterback, Inc.
- Axalume
- Benchmark Space Systems
- Big Rock Technologies
- Boulder Learning, Inc.
- Brevvie
- Campground Views, LLC
- Cruz Foam
- Davenport SAF-T Systems
- Disa Technologies, Inc.*
- EasyKale Labs, LLC
- EscrowTab, Inc.
- Eyes 4 Lives, Inc.
- FFL Communications
- GameForm
- GoSun, Inc.
- Guardian Athletics, Inc.
- Halo Ramp Company
- HealthReel, Inc.*
- i2Chain, Inc.
- Japa, Inc.
- Makeena
- MedVector Clinical Trials
- MICROrganic Technologies*
- Morro Data
- MuscleSound, Inc.
- MyoGene Bio
- MyPay Circle, Inc.
- Neolth
- Notisphere, Inc.
- OcuMedic, Inc.
- Overlooked, Inc.
- PennyFly Entertainment
- Perfect Point EDM Corporation
- Power Orbital*
- Primary Ocean, PBC
- RSF Bio Therapeutics
- Safe Rx
- SAFE Steps
- SafeDeploy
- SEEMS Global Networok
- STAX Engineering, Inc.
- Susona, LLC
- TapOnIt
- Ternio
- TracksNTeeth, Inc.
- TygaBox Systems, Inc.
- UCHardChip, Inc.
- VideoKall, Inc.
- Viper Drill, LLC
- VUniverse
* Denotes finalists
Sponsors
Our growth would not be possible without the support of the following organizations. Thank you!
Silver Sponsors
Contact: Maria L. Garcia, Managing Director, North Los Angeles Region, Chase Private Client
and Chase Investments
Resource Partners
Contact: Gopi Mattel, CEO
In-Kind Premium
In-Kind
Disclaimers: Final stages may include an on-site or remote interview and a background check. Pepperdine University, in its sole discretion, may choose not to publish a company for any reason it deems appropriate. The Pepperdine Most Fundable Companies List does not represent an offer to sell securities. It does not constitute investment advice, nor is it an endorsement of any particular product or service. Pepperdine University is not a broker-dealer and does not perform services provided by a broker-dealer, including but not limited to any financial or investment advising.