Salt Lake City is among the best tech hubs in the US because of its rich IT landscape for startups. These 13 top startups in Salt Lake City prove that Silicon Slopes is a real thing.
The tech space associates Silicon Slopes with the many Salt Lake City companies and tech startups in the area. The term "Silicon Slopes" is the name of the non-profit startup network founded by Domo's Josh James. It seems strange for most people to think of conservative SLC as more than the seat of the Mormon religion. But, SLC is more than meets the eye.
Salt Lake City has a large LGBTQ+ community and has not had a Republican mayor since 1972. In fact, it is the first city in the US to elect an openly gay political leader, Jackie Biskupski. Most people also don't know that the Mormons were the first in the West to implement an irrigation system. It transformed what is now Salt Lake City from an arid plain to a tillable land.
Innovation and forward-thinking are not new in SLC. Over the decades since the 1970s, it has attracted many big tech companies with its large pool of tech talent. A favorable startup environment and low costs of living also contributed to this appeal. Large corporations with SLC operations are Amazon, Apple, IBM, Infosys, Dell, Oracle, and eBay.
Listen to the Podcast Episode About Salt Lake City's Top Startups
As of this writing, Crunchbase has identified 241 startups established as Salt Lake City companies since 2016. We picked a ripe dozen of the top startups among these companies for our regularly programmed Top Startups series—focusing now on The Crossroads of the West.
Top Salt Lake City Startups to Watch in 2022
Sisu is a software platform that simplifies the tracking and critical analysis of sales metrics and gamifies the real estate sales experience. Described as Growth Automation Software, Sisu provides one platform to accelerate your entire real estate transaction lifecycle.
Real estate agents typically track key performance metrics in a spreadsheet. Sisu provides accountability coaching applications to track daily performance and visualize outcomes in digital format. It also allows managers to pit team members and industry leaders against each other in friendly competition.
Sisu's platform has evolved into a central hub of real estate transactions, combining sales performance, transaction management, and business intelligence. Consequently, consolidates siloed systems into one dashboard to enable collaboration among realtors and their vendor networks.
Why Sisu? Sisu is a uniquely Finnish idea. A rough English translation of the concepts is determination, perseverance, strength of will, and rationality in adversity.
Under the leadership of CEO and founder Brian Charlesworth, he proves that Sisu pays. Since its founding in 2016, the company has raised an undisclosed amount in two funding rounds from three investors. Sisu's latest funding round was in January 2021.
Brian Charlesworth
Founder and CEO, Sisu
Startup Hustle host Matt DeCoursey spoke with founder and CEO Brian Charlesworth on Sisu's podcast, GRIT: The Real Estate Growth Mindset, on March 8, 2022. Tune in to learn about Matt's entrepreneurial journey, his stance on the importance of giving back, and why achieving balance should always be a work in progress.
Because we had such a great time speaking with Brian, Startup Hustle featured him in turn in "Real Estate Software for Teams." Listen to the episode here.
KetoNatural Pet Foods is a pet food manufacturing company, one of the few Salt Lake City companies on this list that is not a tech startup. The company sells Ketona®, a subscription-based, low-carb dry dog food, in three variants. It also offers low card chews and treats.
The rationale behind the low-carb formulation is that dogs are not built to consume carbs. High-protein kibble is nearer to a dog's natural diet. KetoNatural claims the product line contains more than 46% protein and less than 5% carbohydrates. The typical dry dog food contains about 21% protein and between 46% and 76% carbohydrates.
Dog owners can try Ketona® for 30 days. They then get their money back if they are not satisfied with the product. The products are available for retail or subscription orders. Subscribers can specify the refill frequency, and KetoNatural will send the food accordingly.
KetoNatural thrives under the leadership of founder and CEO Daniel Schulof and CFO/COO Michael D'Amico. The pet food company has raised $5.3 million in two funding rounds from three investors since it started in 2017. Its latest funding was a Seed round in March 2021.
Schulof is also the author of the book that deals with pet obesity. The book, entitled "Dogs, Dog Food, and Dogma," is available on Amazon.
Daniel Schulof
CEO, KetoNatural Pet Foods
Startup Hustle spoke with Daniel Schulof about "Overcoming Industry Scandals." Listen to the episode here.
Zartico is a software company providing a Destination Operating System for destination management organizations (DMOs). The operating system collects and analyzes complex profile data of visitors and their purchasing behavior. The goal is to gain insights for use in marketing, community development, and sustainability efforts for DMOs.
The tech startup combines context, business intelligence, analytics, and data visualizations to support a DMO's decisions in real-time. The company also claims its software is the first of its kind. It combines art and science to create the insights and intelligence that elevate global communities' well-being.
Zartico is a women-led startup founded in 2019 by CEO Sarah Lehman and co-founder and president Darren Dunn. Since then, Zartico has raised $4.5 million in two funding rounds since it started. The latest funding was a Venture - Series Unknown round in December 2021.
Sarah Lehman
CEO, Zartico
Startup Hustle spoke with Sarah Lehman about "How (and Why) to Lead with Confident Vulnerability." Listen to the episode here.
DeepSee is a Knowledge Process Automation platform. It extracts, processes, and transforms untapped data into key competitive insights in real-time. The AI-powered DataRig eliminates complexities between analysis and action. Highly-regulated industries such as capital markets and insurance verticals will find the KPA suite particularly helpful.
DeepSee's KPA platform automates line-of-business problems by leveraging the latest innovations in semantic modeling and natural language processing. Simultaneously, it solves scalability, deployment, and availability issues typical with most robotic AI initiatives. With enterprises swimming in data but little insight, DeepSee uses the power of AI to raise knowledge over the noise.
Gartner named DeepSee a "Cool Vendor" in its Conversational and Natural Language Technologies industry report in 2021. The report only recognizes five tech startups every year.
DeepSee is under the leadership of CEO and President Steve Shillingford and CTO Loris D'acunto. The tech startup has raised $22.6 million in two funding rounds from four investors since 2019. The latest funding was a Series A round in March 2021.
Steve Shillingford
CEO, DeepSee
Startup Hustle spoke with Steve Shillingford about "Knowledge Process Automation." Listen to the episode here.
Salt Lake City companies are not always about technology. BookClub is an author-led virtual book club platform that connects readers and writers in a new way. As a result, it creates a space for meaningful conversations through exclusive video content and live-audio discussions.
The platform offers two subscription plans: Basic (Free) and Premium ($9/month). Basic subscribers can explore the library of titles and authors and create custom reading lists. They can also participate in the reader community and chat with authors and readers in private virtual events.
Premium subscribers can also join all author and influencer-led book clubs and watch exclusive, in-depth author interviews. In addition, they can watch authors answer questions about their books and writing process and respond with comments and questions.
BookClub operates under the leadership of CEO and co-founder David Blake and CMO Pamela Levine. The platform has excited much attention among investors. It raised $26 million in two funding rounds since its founding in mid-2020. The latest funding was a Series A round in June 2021.
David Blake
CEO, BookClub
Startup Hustle spoke with David Blake about "The Power of Books." Listen to the episode here.
Continuum Technology is primarily a recruiting company for C-suite executives. It is a marketplace that connects world-class executives with venture-backed companies for fractional and full-time opportunities. Continuum also provides software to handle a company's fractional back office so management can focus on core tasks.
The tech startup offers software that manages executive availability, contracts, invoices, and payments. It connects venture-backed companies to exceptional executives for consulting, advising, and full-time opportunities. Continuum executives and founding teams work together to develop the people strategies. They also engage with growth companies to prepare them for the challenges of scale.
Continuum is under the leadership of CEO and founder Nolan Church and CTO and founder Greg White. Founded in 2020, the company has raised $2.9 million in one funding round in September 2021 from two investors.
Epitel designs and develops a wearable AI-powered electroencephalogram (EEG) system for seizure detection for people with neurological disorders. The revolutionary products therefore combine wearable EEG technology with cloud-based data analytics and machine-learning capabilities to monitor brain health.
The company obtained a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for its REMI system for in-hospital use. Patients apply the REMI system to the scalp below the hairline with a removable sticker. The device captures EEG with four sensors for accurate readings when connected to Persyst or other EEG-reading apps. Clinicians and caregivers can derive insights from the data by using Epitel software.
Epitel's wireless solutions empower clinicians and caregivers by providing long-term monitoring where and when needed. The tech startup is under the leadership of CEO/CTO Mark Lehmkuhle and COO Nico Choksi. It has raised $20.4 million in four funding rounds and nine investors since its founding. The most current funding was a Series A round for $12.5 million in February 2022.
Everee is a full-service payroll platform that helps employers manage their payrolls and allows employees to pick their pay dates. The platform therefore creates financial flexibility and wellness through innovative tools like Pay Your Way™, payroll intelligence, and flexible pricing.
According to their site, Everee offers the following features:
- Ability to pay 1099 and W-2 workers
- Automated tax filing
- W-9 and 1099 compliance
- Automated payments via an API with the option to bulk upload payments
- Integrations with QuickBooks Online and ATS
- Multiple deposit options, including apps like Venmo & PayPal
- Payments reporting
- Unlimited, same-day ACH payments (upon qualification)
- Worker scheduling
- Worker self-onboarding
It also offers a mobile app to process the payroll on the go. Additionally, employers with cash flow issues can avail of Everee Credit to access funds.
Everee is under the leadership of CEO Brett Barlow and CIO and co-founder Piers Mainwaring. Since its founding in 2018, Everee has acquired $13.7 million in two funding rounds from seven investors. Its last funding was a Series A round in April 2020.
GuardDog Solutions is a network security Software-as-a-Service company that offers cybersecurity management with AI-powered autonomous detection and response technology. Consequently, it makes advanced cybersecurity accessible for small, mid-market, and distributed organizations without complexity.
The AI-powered cloud platform proactively eliminates cybersecurity threats before they can compromise network environments. It combines remote security devices and cloud services to secure network "edge territory" by acting as a proxy for devices to networks.
GuardDog delivers real-time security threat updates to its security devices. Each device also has a built-in AI that learns about its environment and implements local security policies for individual users.
The 2021 Annual 'ASTORS' Awards of the American Security Today (AST) Homeland Security and AST Magazine recognized the company. GuardDog's software has received awards as Best Cyber Analytics Solution, Best Threat Intelligence Solution, and Best Vulnerability Management Solution.
The SaaS company is under the leadership of CEO and founder Peter Bookman and CTO Anant Asthana. Since its founding in 2019, guardDog has acquired $1.4 million in two funding rounds. Its last funding was a Seed round in December 2020.
Known Medicine develops 3D cell culture data sets to predict and create the drug treatment for every cancer patient. Its Oncology Diagnostics Inference Network (ODINTM) Platform uses proprietary M3DUSATM Models and IRISTM Analysis. These technologies help researchers predict how cancer patients respond to drug treatments. It also uses machine-learning-based image analysis to determine tumor sensitivity and the potential for drug resistance.
The goal of the biotech company is to take experimentation for cancer drug trials out of the patient's body and into the lab. The tech startup breaks down tumor samples into smaller ones and treats each piece using different methods inside specialized microenvironments.
The data can help oncologists make treatment decisions. It can also help biopharmaceutical companies with diagnostic patient selection for clinical trials.
Known Medicine is the brainchild of CEO Andrea Mazzocchi and CTO Katie-Rose Skelly. Under their leadership, the biotech company has acquired $9.6 million in three funding rounds from nine investors. Founded in 2020, the company's last funding was a seed round in August 2021.
Luz Data’s eCommerce Product Database and Market Intelligence Platform will benefit companies for competitor research. The company has more than 280,000 e-commerce websites in its database and most likely includes data about its clients' top competitors.
It provides clients with data to benchmark their products, enhances development efforts, and optimizes pricing. Competitor marketing activities can also help businesses create marketing strategies and budget allocation.
The e-commerce platform is under the leadership of founders CEO Josh Wilson and COO David Smiley. Founded in 2020, Luz Data has acquired $5 million in a Seed funding round from four investors in December 2021.
Opiniion is a reputation management platform for property management companies. It offers clients an automated tool to collect authentic feedback from residents in real-time.
Property managers can use its tools, services, and support to increase their curb appeal proactively. Features of the platform include the following:
- Review generation
- Review aggregation
- Automated multi-question surveys
- Real-time feedback alerts
- Automated customer touchpoints
- Automatic review response
- Outreach campaigns via email and SMS
Users of the platform can get more online reviews, survey current residents, and identify critical issues in real-time. Therefore, Opiniion helps property managers generate a regular supply of 5-star reviews with its automated system.
The platform is under the leadership of CEO Justin Bingham and President and COO Devin Shurtleff. Opiniion has raised $5.8 million in four funding rounds from five investors since it's founding. Its latest funding was a Series A round in January 2021.
Companies rely on new technology to help make office re-opening a safe undertaking. R-Zero is up for the challenge. The tech startup is an environmental services company, also the first to develop a continuous, automated disinfection ecosystem for built environments. It enables every organization to measure and manage indoor health risks with sophistication and ease.
R-Zero’s goal is to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. It combines space utilization sensor technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the Internet of Things. Additionally, R-Zero's intelligent biosafety technology platform works with IoT-connected hardware to provide visibility, automation, and smart risk reduction within indoor spaces.
Under founders CEO Grant Morgan and President Eli Harris, R-Zero has raised $65 million from eight investors in six funding rounds. Founded in 2020, its latest funding was a Series B round in June 2021. It also acquired utilization sensors company CoWorkr in July 2021.
Salt Lake City Startups Sizzle
Salt Lake City creates a progressive and innovative environment for tech startups and entrepreneurs, which is surprising to many people. Low costs and a large talent pool make SLC ideal for starting and growing top startups. It is no wonder that Silicon Slopes is getting so much attention from investors and big corporations.
If you would like to read more about top startups in other cities, check out our list here!
At Startup Hustle, we are always eager to talk with startup and innovative founders. We like to pick their brains for in-depth discussions on the burning topics of the day. If you are a hustler in the tech startup and entrepreneurial space, we should sit down and talk. Hit us up on Startup Hustle. We'll be waiting!
