Located in one of California’s busiest farming regions, Woodland-based startup Nytch is working to foster greater engagement between consumers and their local small businesses. Since small brick-and-mortar businesses are unable to put their entire inventories online, the mobile service allows local businesses to use their greatest assets—knowledge, experience, and product awareness—to provide local consumers with more convenient retail services. We recently spoke with Nytch’s co-Founder, Grant Lea, to learn more about his startup’s work helping small businesses, the Woodland startup ecosystem, and what steps he believes policymakers should take to further support the startup community.

The South Bend - Elkhart Regional Partnership includes 47 smart connected communities across Northern Indiana and Southwest Michigan that are working together to improve economic development across the region. With five distinct committees focused on improving business opportunities, increasing per capita income, and improving quality of life, the largely volunteer-driven partnership is working to make the region a hub of economic activity. We recently spoke with Bethany Hartley—the partnership’s Director of Diversity & Inclusion—to learn more about the organization’s work improving diversity and inclusion programs for entrepreneurs across the region.

Based in Lincoln, fyiio is a new tutorial management platform using its patented technology to create user-centric educational guides. By combining video and written guides into templates, the startup is working to ensure that consumers and businesses are getting the most out of their tutorial experiences. We recently spoke with fyiio’s founder, Alex Kuklinski, to learn a little more about the startup, Lincoln’s startup ecosystem, and the patent process.

Capice, a Florida-based AI startup that uses deep learning to analyze data, is helping companies of all sizes quickly generate predictive outcomes from a variety of sources—including audio, image, spreadsheets, and text. But the startup also recently announced that it is offering medical researchers free access to its deep learning network to help combat the spread of COVID-19. We recently spoke with Capice’s CEO, Gordon McDonald, to learn more about how the startup’s deep learning platform works, and the firm’s decision to open up its platform to coronavirus researchers.

Based in Connecticut, AnytownUSA is the country’s first online market devoted exclusively to the sale of American-made goods. We recently spoke with Geralyn Breig, the founder and CEO of AnytownUSA.com, to learn a little more about the online marketplace, digital tax concerns, and the future of the platform.

Located in the greater Chicago area, MoreWithUs – Everyday Jobs is an online platform working to empower job seekers to market themselves to employers. The startup’s goal is to create a wide-reaching social media job candidates’ platform that includes profiles from millions of active and engaged job seekers.

Charlotte-based startup Vishion is a new mobile tool that lets users search for products from a variety of popular brands by color and hue. The app went live earlier this week, and is already positioning itself as a critical tool for interior designers and homeowners alike. We recently spoke with Samantha Smith, Vishion’s Founder and CEO, to learn more about the mobile tool, Charlotte’s startup ecosystem, and local diversity and inclusion initiatives to increase the voices of overlooked entrepreneurs.

Blerp, a Salt Lake City-based search platform, was started by three college friends as a side project while attending the University of Utah. Today, the audio sharing service is integrated with a number of large-scale social media and streaming platforms—including iOS, Android, Twitch, and Discord—and provides users with the opportunity to create and share audio clips with their friends and other online users. We recently had the chance to speak with Derek Omori, Blerp’s co-founder and Director of Operations, to learn more about the app, the Salt Lake City startup ecosystem, and how the company is working to moderate and share audio content in a fun and family-friendly manner.

Located in the rapidly growing Charlotte region, BAM Concepts is working to evaluate consumer products, such as razors, and then use technology to improve their benefits for consumers. We recently spoke with Attila Madarasz—one of BAM Concept’s three founders and the firm’s managing director—to learn more about the startup’s mission, the Charlotte ecosystem, and the company’s goals moving forward.

Located in the Sacramento region, OpenGrants is a new startup that’s working to provide equitable access to public funding through the use of software and data products. We recently spoke with Sedale Turbovsky—OpenGrants’ Founder and CEO—to learn more about his startup’s work, his concerns about public funding transparency, and what federal agencies can do to further promote entrepreneurial engagement.

Located in The Queen City, software startup 10XTS is using blockchain and distributed ledger technologies to help drive the next generation of regulatory compliant financial services data management. We recently spoke with Michael Hiles, 10XTS’s CEO, to learn more about his startup’s work, the Cincinnati startup ecosystem, and his work on behalf of the Token Taxonomy Act to support the development of the U.S. blockchain industry.