Meet the 2020 Geospatial Arch Grants Cohort

The 2020 Arch Grants cohort included a bold and unprecedented element. Building upon St. Louis’ geospatial revolution, 5 of their transformative $50,000 equity-free grants and pro-bono resources were awarded specifically to geospatial startups. Partnering with T-REX’s new Geospatial Innovation Center, these 5 geospatial startups have also been awarded incubator space for the duration of their grant, embedding them within our growing geospatial ecosystem.

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Stratodyne

Real-time aerial scouting is vital to remain competitive in a 21st-century economy but remains prohibitively expensive. Stratodyne is here to change that. Stratodyne uses autonomous smart balloons and predictive machine learning algorithms to provide users with geospatial data faster than aircraft or satellites at only a fraction of the price.

stratodyne.space

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Eemerg Roadside Assistance Marketplace

Eemerg Roadside Assistance is a revolutionary solution to emergency automotive dilemmas. Eemerg is an on-demand mobile roadside assistance marketplace geared toward customers with limited roadside assistance options. We are uniquely solving roadside assistance emergencies through an open platform where customers have multiple provider options at their fingertips with the press of a button. This app enables customers to decide which provider they want to go with, how much money they want to spend, and how long they want to wait for services. Not only is Eemerg cost-effective, but we also offer quicker response times as well.

Whitney-McClendon-Gregory, CEO

Whitney McClendon-Gregory is an ambitious CEO from Saint Louis, MO. She is the founder of Eemerg Roadside Assistance Marketplace. Eemerg, launched in early 2019, is a roadside assistance app created with the average consumer in mind. Whitney saw the need for a safe and consumer-friendly application to provide the automotive services that users need most. She is dedicated to providing an open marketplace platform where both customers and service providers can choose a suitable price option for their needs.

eemerg.com



Watch / Listen to February’s conversation with Whitney of Eemerg | 40 mins.

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HUM Industrial Technology

Hum was created to tackle chronic issues of inconsistent and unreliable service that have plagued the rail industry for decades. Inflexible existing data infrastructure frequently loses track of railcars and makes first and last mile delivery unpredictable. Mechanical defect detectors often provide more false alarms than actual alerts. Both systems have been unable to adapt to the needs of an increasingly dynamic supply chain, leaving railroads and rail shippers frustrated. Now, with advances in low power, wireless communication, geospatial tracking, and advanced analytics, Hum has developed a set of cost-effective wireless sensors for railcars that allows railroads the ability to not only deliver transparent, reliable service to rail shippers but also the insight to anticipate their ever-changing needs. Welcome to the modern supply chain that just … Hums.

Byron Porter, Co-Founder

Byron Porter is a multi-disciplined engineer, technologist, and entrepreneur. Born and raised in the farm country of Illinois, Byron spent the early part of his career as an Engineering Manager at a major Ag Processing company where he managed over $30 million in capital projects ranging from soybean receiving terminals to major plant expansions. It was during his time managing a shift of workers in a railyard that introduced Byron to some of the challenges surrounding freight rail today. After Byron left to pursue an MBA at Washington University in St. Louis, he decided to found Hum in 2019 and create the technology necessary to help the rail industry overcome its chronic issues. Byron has a BS, Chemical Engineer from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. Byron and his wife Emma, a St. Louis native, live in St. Louis with their two boys.

humindustrial.com



Watch / Listen to January’s conversation with Byron Porter of Hum | 40 mins.

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Kwema

Each workday, 7,000 U.S. employees experience an emergency at work and unfortunately some of them result in a death. The time it takes for them to notify they are in danger and for them to get the right help is the biggest factor in these life threatening situations. Kwema bridges this gap and saves lives. Kwema mitigates the safety risks that employees face by providing no behavior change wearables that effectively addresses with three main use cases: 1.Quick notification to the right emergency personnel in life-threatening situations buying time. 2.Seamless Contact Tracing at the workplace respecting GDPR & HIPAA Laws to mitigate Covid-19 Spread. 3.Easily track employee location and automate Safe Zone Roll Call during Mass Evacuations at facilities. Kwema’s technology is designed to avoid adoption hurdles and training costs by being placed in something employees already wear. For example, Kwema’s Patent Pending smart employee badge holder.

Ali Al-Jabry, CEO

Ali Al-Jabry is Kwemas CEO. He co-founded an Ed Tech Startup that has grown to 5 countries in 3 years and has been building teams for the last decade. Ali speaks 5 languages and has experience in Business Development/Relationship Building/Project Management/Operations and manufacturing. Ali’s biggest asset is his capacity to delegate and build in people.

kwema.co



Watch / Listen to December’s conversation with Ali Al-Jabry of Kwema | 45 mins.

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NEER

NEER offers comprehensive integrated real time water management platform that leverages Machine Learning to model and assess the risk condition of water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure systems.

Elango Thevar, Founder & CEO

Mr. Thevar is a Founder & CEO of NEER. He spent more than 15 years of experience on hydrology and hydraulic modeling, water quality modeling, LID BMP sizing, floodplain mapping, water resources system design, asset management and project management. His experience has ranged from working on watershed master plan, sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) and combined sewer overflow (CSO) studies to strategic asset management for water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure.

neer.ai



Watch / Listen to March’s conversation with Elango Thevar of NEER | 42 mins.

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