12 Santa Cruz Startups to Watch in 2021
Nestled between the mountains and the sea, Santa Cruz is unique. Slightly alternative, different, with an innovative spirit paralleled only by the strength of our community. The startup swell is strong here. While ideas rise and fall with the tides, companies small and large continue to define the future.
The trials of 2020 introduced challenges in many forms, yet our startups went above and beyond. Our tech community continues to receive funding, making rapid progress, and turning its important visions into reality. The criteria for startups we selected included having been founded within the last 5-7 years, and actively hiring and employing in Santa Cruz. They also demonstrated market and customer traction.
1. Ambient Photonics
Focus: Breakthrough energy harvesting technology unlocking limitless possibilities for self-powered connected devices.
2020 Milestones: Completed proof of concept self-powered IOT devices with several global electronics companies
2021 Goals: Break ground on Santa Cruz pilot manufacturing location for our low-light energy harvesting solar cells. Seeking to close a Series A funding round. Currently hiring electrical engineers with energy harvesting and IOT expertise. More hiring to come!
2. Cruz Foam
Focus: Supplying the world with eco-friendly packaging.
2020 Milestones: Identified product market fit with eco-friendly packaging, several Fortune 100 clients in POC. Hired significant engineering talent. Expanded Santa Cruz offices.
2021 Goals: Steadfast focus on significant accounts, scaling and transforming the world with eco-friendly packaging. Hiring!
3. GetVirtual
Focus: Giving local businesses affected by COVID-19 the tools to adapt to the virtual landscape while teaching students entrepreneurship.
2020 Milestones: Supported 50+ businesses, connected 100+ students from UCSC, CSUMB and Santa Clara University to the program, built out our instructor lead and self paced GetVirtual curriculum.
2021 Goals: Become the leading collegiate online Social Entrepreneurship Program helping small businesses; expand to 10 colleges; usher 1,000 students through the program giving them practical real-world work experience while giving back to small businesses; help 200 small businesses get virtual; create an inspiring brand. Planning on launching a $500k Crowd-Funding round in Q1 2021 and hiring later in the year.
4. HitchFire
Focus: From the founders of Tepui, the leader in roof top tents, comes HitchFire! Inspired by adventure, road trips, and the love of the outdoors, HitchFire leads a new category in hitch-based accessories. The rugged, hitch-mounted grills and accessories are purpose-built, made with the highest quality materials, and designed to withstand the roughest weather and toughest conditions for a world full of undiscovered trails and expeditions.
2020 Milestones: Launching a new brand and a new product virtually during a pandemic.
2021 Goals: To be recognized as the leader in a new category of lifestyle based hitch accessories. Yes we are hiring.
5. InStock
Focus: Bringing local back into shopping while supporting local businesses and community.
2020 Milestones: Graduated from Ycombinator and raised our preseed round. We launched our service in Santa Cruz and expanded to the Peninsula.
2021 Goals: Develop new concierge service and raise a seed round from institutional investors. Currently hiring and looking for Head of Operations and Growth.
6. LeverEd
Focus: Unlocking growth for students in a digital format
2020 Milestones: 300% revenue growth, transitioned schools in the first week of distance learning and were able to help avoid learning loss that has dominated the news; launched a Republic Crowdfunding campaign that was 234% funded; received 2 certifications from Digital Promise and recognition as one of the most innovative early stage ed-tech companies in the world by ASU/GSV; launched a pilot in Kansas City, MO with LEANLAB Education (our first steps outside CA)l launched a Homeschool version of our program; and closed a Pre-seed SAFE round in December, led by CCA members.
2021 Goals: We are expanding our product to a full elementary math program and will pilot a Spanish language version in the fall.We have an active equity seed round that will likely close in February and are hiring.
7. Lookback
Focus: A platform that bridges the gap between end users and product teams to deliver optimum user experience
2020 Milestones: We had significant growth after a lot of companies went to remote customer research in March due to the pandemic. We made sure to use this opportunity to help and empower companies to make the change as easy as possible, and we also released a free video platform: www.goteam.video so that the extended product team could easier make the transfer to remote work. We have used Goteam internally for the last 2 years for all internal and external meetings.
2021 Goals: We are extending our platform with several features and capabilities over the next 6 months so that larger product teams can share customer experience throughout the organization for more efficient product development. We are always looking for coders, especially women and diverse coders. We have a diverse team but would like to get more women on our tech side of the company.
8. Parallel Flight
Focus: Industry leading heavy lift drones with hybrid powertrains
2020 Milestones: The design of our beta level aircraft in 2020 was our biggest achievement
2021 Goals: Demonstrate beta and bring it to customers, completing Regulation A funding round. There are several open hiring positions.
9. Smartbins
Focus: Changing grocery shopping with package-at-purchase solutions
2020 Milestones: Piloting with world’s largest CPG's and retail chains while keeping a local presence in Santa Cruz!
2021 Goals: Pilot online fulfillment dispenser, complete design for manufacturing on S1 Dispenser, and bringing an Add-on System to European Market. Also looking to hire an engineer (software, electrical, or mechanical)!
BioTech
10. Dovetail
Focus: Creating a more comprehensive view of the genome
2020 Milestones: Proud to serve customers in a safe and effective manner while also seeing the extension of Dovetail’s proximity ligation technology into the field of epigenetics, an area of research that seeks to understand genome modifications, distinct from genetic changes, that drive changes to gene expression. The launch of two ground breaking products, Dovetail™ Micro-C and Dovetail™ HiChIP, available both as a kit and service, also opened new avenues for understanding how genome architecture influences and drives gene regulation.
2021 Goals: Driven to build on a foundation of proximity ligation technology to help answer bigger genomic questions in the lab. In 2021, Dovetail continues to have a vibrant research and development program that is focused on solving critical needs in the world of genome research.
11. Unnatural Products
Focus: AI-enhanced technology creating new drugs by engineering passively permeable, macrocyclic peptides that access traditionally undruggable targets.
2020 Milestones: A partnership with a top tier pharma, building out & moving into our new space on Delaware Ave, and some compelling early in vivo data on our oncology programs.
2021 Goals: Continue to grow and develop our platform, pipeline, and team. Currently raising our Series A and hiring now and in the future, looking for Chemists, Biologists, and Data Scientists.
12. BONUS STARTUP: Esaiyo
Focus: We really like this company. It will formally launch in Q1 2021. They believe that every story has an object, and every object has a story.
2020 Milestones: Completed initial funding, IP filing, pilot customers, built the framework and micro services to scale our technical infrastructure.
2021 Goals: 2021 launch our MVP and scale two major clients. Series A seeking $2.6m in tranches. $500k, $2.1M