RI’s Business Future: The Companies Who Can Grow The Economy

NuLabel - Providence

"NuLabel has developed patent pending liner-free label technology that uses an activateable adhesive  to eliminate the need for the liner. NuLabel has also developed activation hardware to seamlessly integrate NuLabel’s liner-free platform into a company’s existing labeling operation. This low cost, zero waste solution offers numerous benefits."

The company is scalable - NuLabel could drive sales and grow jobs for RI. Closed $1.5M in loan guarentees from EDC in 2011.

Andera - Providence

"Andera is the leader in online customer acquisition solutions for financial institutions. Its suite of products and services includes online account opening, consumer marketing, fraud prevention and an in-house software development kit."

Founder Charlie Kroll is building a powerhouse and has been hiring for the past year. Raised $9M in 2010.

Banneker -Lincoln

Banneker is a provider of supply chain management solutions, specializing in third-party logistics (3PL) services. In 2010, Banneker made INC Magazines list of fastest growing companies and reported over $15M in revenue - a 177% increase in 3 years.

38 Studios - Providence

"38 Studios is an entertainment and IP creation company in development on a broad range of products, including online and console video games, toys, novels, comics, film, TV, and other forms of digital media."

Founded by Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling - it moved to RI after receiving $75M loan package.

Biomedical Structures

Warwick-based Biomedical Structures "is a leader in the advanced design, development and manufacturing of medical textiles for device manufacturers in the orthopedic, cardiovascular, general surgery, and tissue engineering and regenerative medicine markets."

In 2011 Biomendical Structures acquired the medical textile manufacturer Concordia Medical and expanded their full line of services -  "which run from concept design to complete production, supply chain management, and post-manufacturing sterilization and packaging, all at increased volume and on-demand scalability."

Ximedica - Providence

Founded as ITEM, now reinvented as Ximedica - a company that "provides expert human-centered research, product development, regulatory, and introductory manufacturing services to leading medical and healthcare companies."

Now, a leader in medical innovation.

Alteris Renewables

If renewable energy takes off, Alteris may be one of the biggest winners. The Providence-based company is a roll-up of a range of smart companies fighting for the space.

"Alteris brings together innovative financing options and unsurpassed installation know-how to provide clean energy solutions that work. With over thirty years of experience, nearly 30MW of renewable power operational, and over 3,000 installations."

NABsys - Providence

NABsys aims to make whole-genome DNA sequencing fast, inexpensive, and accurate enough to be used in clinical care. NABsys seeks to "build on existing solid-state technologies to create a whole-genome sequencing technology that employs electronic detection, but do not depend on a polymerase, and directly obtains DNA sequence information over hundreds of thousands of bases." 

The Brown spinoff raised $7M in 2010 in a series B round and followed with a $10M C round raise in 2011.

ASA - South Kingstown

ASA is a global science and technology solutions company. While many on this list are spinoffs from Brown - ASA is fueled by URI researchers and grads.

A high profile win for ASA was their work on the Gulf Oil Spill clean up.

"ASA’s solutions are based on applied science and advanced research. Our services and products, along with our staff’s diverse technical backgrounds, are specialized in the analysis of marine, freshwater, air, and land resources; computer modeling of physical, chemical, and biological processes; geographic information systems (GIS); operational research; and data management."

Others to Watch

Our experts also said to watch Swipely - Angus Davis' firm that looks like it can scale. 

They tapped non-profits like Edesia, a producer of ready-to-use foods and the MET School/Big Picture - both can scale and create jobs.

In addition, ourt experts like MOO.com in East Providence as a firm reinventing an old technology into a new.

Watch for G-Form, Rite Solutions and ProThera Biologics - all could be driving the economy forward in RI.