RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK — The annual Tweener List, curated by serial Triangle entrepreneur Scot Wingo, was released today, celebrating select Triangle-based startups that have over $1 million in annual sales or over 80 employees.

In the latest update, 51 new Tweeners joined the list, while 48 either closed, were acquired, or “graduated.” (“Graduation” occurs when startups surpass $80 million in annual revenue or reach 500 employees, says Tweener List website.)

A few notable startups who are new to the list in 2023:

  • CareYaya, healthcare app that connects university student caregivers to families who need care support
  • Gradient Health, AI medical imaging company
  • Lucid Dream, virtual reality and augmented reality startup
  • Natrx, platform to incorporate nature directly into structures to help make them more resilient
  • Next Century Spirits, technology that slashes time to produce whiskeys, rum, and other spirits
  • Peoplelogic, platform to help companies improve engagement and retention by integrating and tracking work apps

This year, the 2023 Triangle Tweener list boasts 251 companies, a slight increase from the 2022 list which featured 248 companies, according to a press release from Wingo.

Tweeners celebrated on new website

Wingo started the Tweener List tradition in 2015. In the past, these lists were distributed as sizable text files, hosted either by ExitEvent, a startup support organization that operated for six years until 2017, or on Wingo’s Medium account.

But this year, the Tweener List has found a new residence at tweenerlist.com.

Wingo collaborated with the local design agency DreamTen to craft the graphic design and layout components for the website, according to the press release, and the back-end coding was handled by serial entrepreneur Robbie Allen.

“So far the reaction has been very positive, people are very happy with the new filtering options,” Wingo tells WRAL TechWire. “We had a customer find a bug, so working on that.”

Update on Tweener Fund

Allen is also a General Partner at Tweener Fund, a fund founded by Wingo in 2022 that focuses on early-stage tech companies with a presence in the Triangle.

“In its first year, Tweener fund invested over $2.8m across 48 portfolio companies,” said Wingo in the press release.

Learn more at tweenerlist.com and tweenerfund.com