According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Business Formation Statistics, 2021 was an exceptional year with an all-time record high of 5.4 million applications filed to form new businesses in 2021. Santa Cruz County is no exception. We’ve seen an astounding number of budding startups and new entrepreneurs with ideas aiming to create their unique products that address the ever-pressing concerns of the future that lies before us: climate change, healthcare access, ethical labor, and more.

There are several tech startups that have made significant progress over the past year but here are a few that we are most enthusiastic about:

Airset

During the pandemic, inadequate airflow inside buildings became a concern. Hospitals were ground zero for contagion. Devin Carlson and Brandon Rodgers created Airset to provide advanced airflow controls for healthcare HVAC systems. “We are building a networked airflow control damper that will be the definitive air balancing solution for all healthcare facilities,” explains Devin Carlson, co-founder.

Climatize

Climatize is on a mission to make every transaction an investment in climate action. Climatize is an investment platform connecting individual investors with renewable energy projects that contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set by the United Nations (UN). Climatize operates on a crowdlending business model basis– debt crowdfunding – a community of investors collectively lending money to projects. As an investor you can lend money to project promoters in order to finance their projects, starting with as little as $5, and get a fixed return on your investment throughout the duration of the loan. As a project promoter, you can use Climatize to raise money to fund your sustainable project with the help of our community of investors.

EcPunch

EcPunch is rebuilding the trust between employee and employer within the agricultural and service industries through object recognition and artificial intelligence. Our solution integrates human resources management with operational processes in order to minimize the use of several platforms, providing full traceability and transparency between stakeholders and accurate data for the decision-making process. Our blockchain-powered platform allows not only secure transactions but also certifies worker experience to be used as a reference in our Workforce Marketplace.

Fonda Technologies

Fonda team: Daniel Hernandez, Briya Leung, Premanand Doraiswamy, Rob Sandie.

Formerly known as The Apptopus, Fonda Technologies aims to empower Latino & minority-owned restaurants with the same online commerce abilities as the world's largest restaurant chains. Fonda Technologies uses an integrated set of software and services that bring online orders, menu building and optimization, online business listing configuration, and online revenue monitoring under one solution.

Immergo Labs

Immergo’s mission is to redefine telehealth for all physical therapists and patients towards enabling greater accessibility, affordability, and accuracy of remote care. Their goal is to provide an all-in-one physical therapy clinic through off-the-shelf VR headsets: giving therapists and patients the ability to be in the same room, walk around each other in 3D, and capture in-person success metrics with intelligent movement analysis from anywhere across the world.

The 418 Project

The 418 Project is an adaptive community art space for arts entrepreneurs including practices for physical, mental, and spiritual practices such as yoga and dance and movement art. The nonprofit purchased the River Street movie theater. The building is being renovated as a green space both inside and on the roof. The team includes Laura Bishop, Megan McGuire, and Claudia Aguilar.

Purcell

Purcell provides simplified refill solutions for food and everyday essentials. Brothers David and Russell Conway started Purcell after realizing the answer to reducing household trash relies heavily on the elimination of excessive food packaging. Food packaging comprises ~75% of American household waste, the largest single component in landfills. Food packaging relies heavily on plastic which is causing worrisome pollution. Purcell is dedicated to bringing bulk food from niche to mass-market to solve the problem of excessive packaging.

7 Brightest New Santa Cruz Startups