FoundationDB

The Top 25 Startups in D.C.

The startup scene in D.C. is thriving. Startup o-founders are creating amazing companies that are doing really well. The nation's capital is filled with powerful connections that can't be matched in other cities and savvy startup teams are using these resources to build extraordinary companies. While D.C. has usually been filled with politicians, lobbyists, lawyers and other professions who have perfected the art of lying and being blood sucking parasites, these startups are creating amazing businesses that you can actually be proud of to work at. Here are the top 25.

#25 Foodem

Foodem is an online food marketplace that connects food distributors, specialty food manufacturers & farms with food buyers, such as restaurants, schools, etc. They connect wholesale food buyers and sellers through their online search and food procurement capabilities that will bring food distribution companies, specialty food manufacturers, and farms onto a single platform, where wholesale food buyers, such as restaurants will get the most competitive prices in a fast and efficient way.

#24 Zoobean

Zoobean is a web application that utilizes experts to curate children's products and creates learning guides that help families better engage with these products. It then provides each family with personalized recommendations for books, apps, and products they might enjoy based on their child's age, interests, and reading level. 

#23 AgSquared

AgSquared helps farmers create and manage their farm plans, capturing detailed records in the process. It’s easy, powerful, and fun. AgSquared's online software combines farm planning and management tools to simplify record keeping and track all the details of a farm's operation. AgSquared assists farmers by relieving the tedious task of creating a yearly farm plan and turning that plan into day-to-day practice as the season gets underway. All the while AgSquared harvests valuable information about the farm's operations to help build a complete picture of a farm's productivity, profitability and sustainability. 

#22 UKnow


uKnow has created the world’s first digital family protection platform that powers solutions in two high-growth categories, Parental intelligence and social identity protection. The platform, branded uKnowConnect, powers the company’s two direct to consumer offerings, uKnowKids (Parental Intelligence) and uKnowID (Social Identity Protection) and it enables web-based and mobile applications for leading identity theft, desktop security, cable & telecom and other service providers. 

uKnowKids enables parents to keep pace with their children’s digital lives and to learn from expert digital parenting advice and information. uKnowID, currently in development, is designed to increase the awareness of, and reduce the damage from, social account takeovers, reputational risk from your network, and predatory identity spoofing.

#21 Urgent.ly

Urgent.ly is a free smartphone web app which puts consumers just a few taps away from quick, nearby and available help in the event of a roadside emergency; saving time, money and providing increased peace of mind. Urgently offers towing and roadside assistance providers a powerful platform to more efficiently grow their business by connecting them with new customers close to their open and available service vehicles. 

#20 Vero Analytics

You can now focus on the business of data instead of the engineering of data. Tell Vero where your data lives and Vero will take care of the rest. Datasets built in Vero can easily be accessed from your favorite visualization tools.

The generation of SQL (Structured Query Language) queries and multi-step complex queries are all automated. You can slice and dice your data in complex ways and apply multi-layered set filters. Your pruned datasets can easily be integrated into Tableau, QlikView, or Excel.

#19 Mytonomy

Mytonomy is a video Q&A platform for college & career advice, powered by alumni mentoring. For school counselors, students, & parents. With a growing video library of over 3,100 videos, you can get advice on how to succeed in high school, picking the right college, mastering the 
college application process, and much, much more. 

#18 Fundrise

Fundrise is the leading online real estate investment and crowdfunding platform. Fundrise was the first company to take commercial real estate public online and offer true equity ownership in local properties. 

Fundrise offers real estate investments for both accredited and unaccredited investors, and allows real estate companies to build their investment network and raise capital online through a full service, web-based platform. 

#17 Soundtracker

Soundtracker makes it easy to discover and play the music your friends and your neighbors are listening to. Use Soundtracker to comment on your friends' stations, chat, check their latest music, and more. Discover your city's favorite artists. Access any artist, any genre from the largest music catalog on Internet radio with more than 32M songs for free. Create your own channels and share them with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Foursquare and via Email. 

#16 APX Labs

 APX Labs has been the leader in developing smart glasses based solutions for the industrial and commercial workforce. APX Labs proudly provides its Skylight platform to leading Global 1000 enterprises in manufacturing, logistics, oil & gas, and field services with active users in the US, Europe, and Middle East. 

Using APX Labs’ Skylight platform, users are able to interact with existing business processes where they can now access data and applications, broadcast point-of-view video or photos to colleagues, and receive live assistance on a heads up display without having to move away from their work. Skylight integrates with nearly any type of smart glasses and with most existing ERPs to drive improved productivity, operational flexibility, and process compliance & safety for the connected workplace. 

#15 Encore Alert

Encore Alert continually identifies key mentions and trends from a brand's social media and helps marketers act in time to capture results by sending real time alerts to their inbox. It is the leading actionable social insights solution, offering recommended responses to digital marketers at brands such as NASA, the Atlanta Falcons, WeddingWire, Georgetown University, and the Consumer Electronics Association. 

Marketers are alerted about use cases such as: 

-What their followers are talking about 

-When a URL begins to trend 

-A new influence or brand advocate is formed

-When there's a hot conversation in their industry

#14 Geostellar

The first of its kind, online solar energy marketplace. The one-stop shop for solar energy for your home, making going solar as easy as booking a plane ticket. Geostellar pioneered big-data geomatics to make solar energy accessible, affordable and plentiful. The company is the recipient of numerous awards, including selection as an IHS Energy Innovation Pioneer, the Global Cleantech100, the Global Cleantech Cluster Association's Best of Solar and the AlwaysOn GoingGreen Global 200.

#13 FiscalNote

Unlocking open data and making it useful across industries using cutting-edge artificial intelligence and beautiful design. Their vision is to make FiscalNote mission-critical to every office and organization, and foster a transparent political and legal system in the process. 

#12 Speek

Speek is changing the way professionals communicate - for good. Conference calls and screen shares are supposed to be productive, right? Speek makes sure you don’t waste any time getting into your call. 

It’s as simple as: 
1. Send your Speek link to the members of your conference call. 
2. They enter the phone number they want to use. 
3. Their phone rings, and they’re on the call.

People can now concentrate on being productive, rather than remembering random numbers and PINs. 

#11 Social Tables

Social Tables is a web-based event planning platform for hospitality, meeting and event professionals. They wanted to make event planning less stressful, so they built software using cutting-edge technology that consolidates every part of your event planning process. Social Tables eases designing a floor plan, streamlines the arduous seating process, saves you a ton of time, and makes event planning fun again. 

#10 Disruption Corporation

On a mission to figure out how to better serve the maturing private market and its participants in the creation and management of their wealth. The public markets are becoming increasingly efficient and alpha opportunities are decreasing. At the same time, the private markets are increasing in access and information. No one is leading with respect to advice and guidance in this transition. Until now. 

#9 Tie Society

A new approach to what the neckwear ownership experience should be, Tie Society was conceived as an alternative to the overpriced and stagnant neckwear retail model. Tie Society provides higher-quality, better looking neckwear and menswear accessories for less by circumventing traditional supply channels, allocating costs more efficiently and engaging directly with their customers. 

Their collection is hand-picked by professional fashion stylists with a proclivity for the esoteric, and who are dedicated to providing their members with only top-quality products. Choose the ties you want. Keep them as long as you'd like. Exchange them whenever, you can even buy them if you want. Think Netflix-style rental service, but for ties and men's accessories, similar to Rent the Runway, but for men.

#8 9Lenses

9Lenses is the leading organization intelligence SaaS platform for discovering, collecting, and connecting human insight across the enterprise. Companies spend $385B annually trying to gather and capitalize on their organizational intelligence (human insights). However, today’s approaches of gathering these insights are inefficient, disconnected, and slow to deliver value. 9Lenses is the first enterprise SaaS platform that has productized this process, accelerating and automating how companies move from human insights to value-creating actions.

#7 Optoro

Revolutionizing returned, excess, and overstock inventory for the retail sector. Optoro's mission is to be the leading platform for returned and excess inventory, connecting buyers and sellers worldwide. Through their cloud-based, multi-channel selling technology, online remarketing expertise, and full suite of business intelligence tools, they offer their clients the optimal solution for managing their reverse logistics and creating a more sustainable supply chain.

#6 EverFi

EverFi is the leading education technology company focused on teaching, assessing, badging, and certifying students in critical skills. They combine cutting-edge personalized technology, deep education research and data, and a dedicated implementation team that allows each teacher to feel as though they have a blended learning assistant in their classroom. Most importantly, EverFi partners with the private sector and foundations that sponsor this innovation across the country at no cost to K-12 schools. 

EverFi is building and operating the nation's largest network for online education in off-curriculum, but highly valuable content areas such as financial literacy, student loan management, digital literacy, substance abuse prevention and other key life skills for the 21st century student. EverFi’s award-winning, proprietary software-as-a-service platform is designed to provide a highly engaging experience for students and features the latest technology and instructional design, including rich media, high-definition video, 3D simulations and social networking. 

#5 Flat World Education

The college textbook company that is driving down student costs, increasing access, and personalizing learning. Flat World Education designs and enables personalized learning solutions at scale. Through their Flat World Knowledge e-book publishing platform, over 1 million students in 77 countries have access to affordable, expertly authored textbooks. In partnership with leading postsecondary innovators, they also accelerate major transformation initiatives through personalized, mobile, competency-based learning solutions. 

By delivering breakthrough results in cost, access, career readiness, and lifelong learning, Flat World Education sees the opportunity for personalized education as an equalizer, not a differentiator. 

#4 Spree Commerce

The most powerful and flexible e-commerce platform for the Ruby enterprise. Spree capitalizes on the dynamic nature of the Ruby programming language to provide the most flexible commerce platform available. The Spree storefront offers a full feature set and is built on common standards, so you don't have to compromise speed to market, efficiency or innovation. The modular platform allows you to easily configure, supplement or replace any functionality you need, so that you can build the exact storefront that you want.

#3 ID.me

ID.me is the premiere digital identity network that allows consumers to prove who they are online while controlling how their information is shared with brands. For their partners, ID.me acts as a trusted intermediary, capable of verifying consumer identity and group affiliations in real-time. With ID.me, brands ensure a consistent customer experience across offline and online channels while reducing costs associated with manual verification. 

#2 FoundationDB

FoundationDB's mission is to provide data storage technology that frees engineers and companies to focus on problems other than building their data stack. To that end, FoundationDB is creating a new generation of database technology that combines the advantages of modern NoSQL databases with the power and reliability of ACID transactions.

#1 Contactually

Contactually automatically reminds you to stay connected with your top leads. Perfect for realtors and small business owners. They help you prevent anyone from falling through the cracks by systematically and organically bubbling up the important people who haven't been spoken to in a while. For millions of professionals, relationships are the backbone of a viable business. Whether it’s current clients, future prospects, or potential investors; Contactually’s mission is to help you build stronger relationships with the people that matter most to your current profession.

Our rankings are based on feedback from local startup cofounders and team members. We also receive feedback from small business owners, freelancers, digital nomads, startup & business journalists and all types of entrepreneurs. To get involved in future articles about DC startups just visit our survey page

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Links

#25 Foodem is an online food marketplace that connects food distributors, specialty food manufacturers & farms with food buyers, such as restaurants, schools, etc.

#24 Zoobean We help families find apps and books their kids will love.

#23 AgSquared helps farmers create and manage their farm plans, capturing detailed records in the process. It’s easy, powerful, and fun. Follow us to learn more!

#22 uKnow makes parenting easier and keeps kids safer online and on the mobile phone.

#21 Urgent.ly America's new and trusted roadside assistance provider, changing the way people get roadside help. No subscriptions, no memberships.

#20 Vero Analytics Query everything.

#19 Mytonomy is a video Q&A platform for college & career advice, powered by alumni mentoring. For school counselors, students, & parents. Available in NC.

#18 Fundrise Real estate investing for everyone through crowdfunding.

#17 Soundtracker Play 32M free tracks together with friends and anybody nearby on your smart phone and the web.

#16 APX Labs Speed up core processes.

#15 Encore Alert Helping brands grow with bite-sized mktg opportunities found in social media data! 

#14 Geostellar The first of its kind, online solar energy marketplace. The one-stop shop for solar energy for your home, making going solar as easy as booking a plane ticket.

#13 FiscalNote Unlocking open data and making it useful.

#12 Speek makes conference calls more productive. Sign up and host a free conference call today!

#11 Social Tables Our mission is to inspire face-to-face experiences by empowering those who plan and attend them. 

#10 Disruption Corporation A New Kind of Asset Management & Financial Services Firm For The Private Market.

#9 Tie Society The largest and #1 service of our kind. Choose the ties you want. Keep them as long as you'd like. Exchange them whenever. Netflix for ties.

#8 9Lenses is the leading Organizational Intelligence SaaS Platform for discovering, collecting, and connecting human insight across the enterprise.

#7 Optoro Revolutionizing returned, excess, and overstock inventory. Changing the last mile in the retail value chain.

#6 EverFi is the leading education technology company to teach, assess, badge, and certify students in critical skills needed for life.

#5 Flat World Education The college textbook company that is driving down student costs, increasing access, and personalizing learning.

#4 Spree Commerce Behind the Best Storefronts. 

#3 ID.me Your Identity. Your Rewards. Find the best coupons and get cash back rewards from hundreds of leading brands and retailers. Sign up now for free!

#2 FoundationDB is a scalable and fault tolerant database that supports multiple data models using high performance multi-key ACID transactions.

#1 Contactually automatically reminds you to stay connected with your top leads. Perfect for realtors and small business owners - sign up for a free trial!