Kwikly Named to the Inc. 5000 List

Every year Inc. releases a list of the Top 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in the U.S. We are pleased to congratulate Traction Capital portfolio company, Kwikly, for making the list for the second year in a row! This year Kwikly was ranked #169, up from #491 last year.

Kwikly was the first investment in our fund back in 2021 and has had phenomenal growth ever since. In the past three years alone, the company has grown 3,132%! We are tremendously proud of Pedram Nastaean and Yomiyu Hirpa’s hard work and success.

In addition to their national ranking, Kwikly placed 3rd in the state and 24th in the Midwest. Last year the company was ranked 13th in the state and 26th in their industry.

Being named on Inc.’s Top 500 is a huge opportunity for growing the team and further establishing their brand name. Just last year, the list generated millions of impressions on the Inc website.

Make sure to follow Kwikly on LinkedIn to stay up to date on all other news and hiring opportunities.

Prime Party

E-commerce party supply company, Prime Party, has received a $500,000 investment from Traction Capital. The Washington-based company is making themed parties easier than ever before. Traction Capital looks forward to working closely with Prime Party as they roll out new brands and scale their business.

Prime Party is a direct to consumer, TV show themed party supply company. They design and create exclusive licensed and non-licensed party products across multiple product categories. One of their current top sellers is their Golden Girls party line, which includes tableware, decorations, yard signs, games and more. With their extensive knowledge of the industry, Prime Party’s team has been hard at work securing licenses for future lines, including The Office.

“We are excited with the new partnership with Traction Capital” commented Shane Smith, CEO of Prime Party. “Their growth capital combined with the extensive use of self-implemented EOS strategy sessions is sure to advance our company to new heights.”

With their funding from Traction Capital, Prime Party plans to roll out new products for existing themes, increase SEO presence, launch B2B corporate gifting and more. The team will be immediately hiring a warehouse manager and a marketing manager at their headquarter operations in Monroe, WA.

Only 4 years old, the company has already shown great success. Traction has seen the huge potential of Prime Party and is eager to be a part of their team. “We were drawn to Prime Party because of their significant traction, unique IP and experienced founding team. We see incredible potential in terms of product line expansion, combined with the EOS and e-commerce expertise of the Traction team. It’s been a pleasure working with Paul and Shane thus far and were excited to join forces moving forward” says Chris Carey, VP of Acquisitions at Traction Capital.

Impacks

Traction Capital has invested $500,000 in a St. Cloud based startup making school supplies more convenient and accessible. Impacks provides families with pre-packed school supply kits, tailored specifically to their school and grade. The Minneapolis venture capital firm looks forward to helping Impacks expand their customer base and give back to their community.

Impacks is a tech powered company that simplifies the way parents and educators access critical school supplies for students. Their platform customizes the back-to-school experience for parents, educators and administration through teacher approved school supply kits and bulk supply purchases for schools. Striving to create a world where all students can flourish, Impacks allows schools to fundraise and matches a percentage of each donation.

“Brandon and I, along with our Impacks team, are thrilled to join the Traction Capital portfolio. We believe Traction Capital offers a unique perspective and value through the depth of experience represented across their team and investors. We’ve already seen the impact of their process from just one strategy session with the Traction Capital team. We believe in the system, and we’re proud to align with an organization that leverages tools they use to elevate startups in MN and beyond. One thing that stood out to me in our early conversations with Traction Capital team is the blend of practicality, strategy, and ambition this organization applies to mentoring their portfolio of companies. We have a big goals for Impacks over the next few years, and we’re grateful to have Traction Capital’s support in those goals” says Clare Richards, CEO of Impacks.

Impacks has partnerships with over 50 schools across MN and Wisconsin, has sold over 6,000 school supply kits, and has generated over $18,000 in donations for partner schools.

The founders Clare and Brandon Richards were inspired to solve the issues facing parents and schools after volunteering at a school supply event in their community. Truly a dynamic duo, Clare has over 8 years of experience in marketing strategy and brand building, and Brandon has over 8 years of experience in the school supply industry and sales. Since founding Impacks, the team has participated in multiple accelerators including gBETA, BETA and ILT Academy. After seeing high growth in their company over the last 3 years, Clare and Brandon are excited to take their platform even further with the help of Traction Capital.

As Impacks begins putting their investment to use, they plan to expand their team, grow their facilities, and further develop their platform.

Traction and Impacks are eager to continue working together as Impacks prepares for further expansion. With strong growth and an impressive team, Traction looks forward to helping Impacks succeed. “Clare and Brandon are quite impressive and a pleasure to work with. They’re thoughtful and on top of things. Always prepared when we meet and well thought out. Impacks will fix a problem that has not yet been addressed that will resolve a major piece of the back-to-school headaches parents struggle with. We’re excited to be a part of what they’re doing”, says Brian Cox, President and Integrator of Traction Capital.

Clean Waste Systems

Clean Waste Systems (“CWS”) has received a $500,000 investment from Traction Capital. The Maple Lake, MN based company manufactures and sells equipment utilizing its own proprietary, patented ozone technology for sterilizing infectious medical waste. The process uses significantly less energy and water to operate and produces a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions as traditional technologies currently in use today. Traction Capital looks forward to working with the company as they continue to grow.

Clean Waste Systems has been in business since 2011. The company is registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its technology is approved in 30 states and has been licensed and is in use abroad. The company’s customers consist primarily of large hospitals and third-party medical waste processors.

Due to COVID, surgeries and other medical procedures that produce infectious medical waste were significantly curtailed the past few years, which, in turn, reduced hospital revenues and profits, which, in turn, reduced hospital budgets for any type of capital equipment acquisitions. “It’s been a rough couple of years,” said Peter Jude, one of the company’s founders, “but COVID appears to be largely behind us now and some of the sales that we were working on prior to 2020 seem to be getting back on track. Traction Capital had the foresight to see what we saw going forward and we’re really excited to have them on board with us.”

“Prior to their investment in our company, Traction Capital introduced us to EOS (The Entrepreneurial Operating System), and we’ve been using it since October of last year”, said Steve Pellegrene, also a founder of Clean Waste Systems. “We love the discipline and accountability that EOS has brought to us. It forces us to keep our eye on the ball and make sure that we have the right people in the right seats doing what is necessary to be successful. It’s a new day around here and we could not be more excited about our future.”

“We’re excited too.” said Shane Erickson, CEO and Managing Partner at Traction Capital. “We think CWS is going to be a big winner for us and for our investors. The ability to substantially reduce a hospital’s carbon footprint, along with ongoing operating expenses is huge. We believe the future is very bright for CWS and we’re delighted to be on board.”

Scribe

B2B marketing technology company, Scribe, has received a $400,000 investment from Traction Capital. The Minnesota based company provides businesses with handwritten notes scribed by robots to be mailed to customers. Traction Capital looks forward to working with the Scribe team as they continue to grow.

Scribe provides businesses with personalized, handwritten mailers for existing clients and lead generation. In addition to the letters, Scribe supplies its customers with segmented data farming, tracking numbers, and optimized ad copy. The mailers can be written in 20 different fonts with 20 variations of each letter, providing customers with an authentic letter. Once approved by their customer, Scribe can write and send the mailers within 48 hours.

“Here at Scribe, our bullish team’s vision is dedicated to creating an intimate, automated, personalized sales touch in a crowded digital world. The pairing of this principle with technology, marketing strategies, and strategic, data-driven white glove consulting, results in new a tool that connects business to their audiences. All with a track record other marketing channels or tools can’t match. Traction and its team have become the ideal partner in our vision. Their unique approach to supporting their founders is not only why we partnered, but why together, we will reach our disruptive goal, ” says James Schutrop, founder and CEO of Scribe.

With their recent investment, Scribe plans to scale their current model and team along with working to improve their product and portal interface and connecting directly to the top CRMs. All to create the gold standard of all automated nurturing touches.

Key advantages of Scribe’s solution include:

  • Fast and easy targeted campaigns
  • Trackable and profitable marketing
  • Increase in marketing ROI
  • Automated CRM triggered handwritten touches (Coming Soon)

Traction Capital and Scribe are excited to work hand in hand as the company’s success grows. With like-minded values, Traction looks forward to helping Scribe continue to expand their business. “As a business owner myself, I see a huge amount of value in handwritten notes to communicate with current and prospective customers. Scribe’s offering resonates with me, and I believe their product and service will be very successful. James Schutrop has a great vision for the company growth and enthusiasm for what he’s doing”, says Brian Cox, President of Traction Capital.

Delve Health

 Delve Health on Track to Transform Clinical Trials Worldwide

Traction Capital has invested in an on-going partnership with a local Minnesota MedTech company with experience in clinical studies around the world. Delve Health reduces clinical trial costs and accelerated drug development by bringing the trials to patient homes, enabling more accurate data collection, and processing from wearables, digital health apps and sensors. The Minneapolis venture capital firm looks forward to helping the company continue their expansion.

Delve Health’s end-to-end solution combines web, mobile, SMS and wearables to make clinical trials more accessible to a broader group of patients to increase patient diversity and engagement. Ultimately, Delve Health’s technology platform improves clinical trial outcomes for pharma and medical device companies.

“We are very excited about partnering with Traction Capital. Their investment will allow us to nearly double our staff, while updating and strengthening our platform—all of which will allow us to continue to effectively help patients around the world” says Wessam Sonbol, co-founder and CEO of Delve Health. Delve Health has already supported 100+ studies and 26 registries in a variety of therapeutic areas. Their clients include medical device, pharmaceutical, and biotech manufacturers; clinical research organizations (CROs); as well as specific therapeutic area organizations.

The founders, Wessam Sonbol and Tamer Swidan, each have over 20 years of experience in healthcare and technology industries—making them extremely qualified to enter the MedTech world. With big goals on the horizon, they are looking to hire for a variety of positions, including individuals with expertise in sales, marketing, operations, and software development. Follow Delve Health as well as Traction Capital’s LinkedIn pages for more details and up-to-date information.

As they begin putting their investment to use, they plan to grow their team, expand their marketing efforts, and continue to work on product enhancements.

Key advantages of Delve Health’s solution include:

  • Access to a large, diverse patient pool
  • Reduction in patient burden and increase in patient data
  • Minimized patient dropouts

Traction Capital and Delve Health are delighted to partner in pursuit of this growth opportunity. With similar principles, Traction Capital looks forward to helping Delve Health enhance their values and achieve high growth. “The Traction Capital team is looking forward to working with Delve Health as they remain focused on growing their business and making clinical trials more accessible to a greater number of people. We believe the industry is ready to embrace Delve Health’s innovative solution to virtual and hybrid clinical trials (e.g., decentralized clinical trials (DCTs)), which is validated by their growing number of contracts with major clinics around the world. We are excited to work with Wessam and his team as we implement processes and leverage our experienced network to add value and grow the business,” says Shane Erickson, Founder and Managing Partner of Traction Capital.

 

TroutRoutes

Traction Capital has invested in a Minnesota Technology company revolutionizing the way people fly fish. The company provides anglers with the knowledge and technology to optimize their trout fishing experience. The Minneapolis venture capital firm looks forward to helping TroutRoutes grow their platform as they tackle the U.S market.

TroutRoutes is revolutionizing a sport that began over 1,000 years ago. Their mobile app and desktop service provides anglers with maps of public streams, water conditions, access points, elevation levels, GPS services, locations of local fly shops and more.

“What we’re most excited about is the mentorship and integrated approach to Traction as a capital partner,” says TroutRoutes founder Zach Pope. “The next phase of our project will require more than an early product and an excited early adopter cohort; we’ll need structure, process and people and I can’t think of a better partner for this than Traction Capital and the leadership with Shane Erickson.”

TroutRoutes is already active in 33 states and has mapped over 25,000 streams. With over 100,000 users, they are changing the way new and accomplished anglers experience trout fishing.

Founder Zach Pope is an avid trout angler himself and noticed firsthand the opportunity in the market. In addition to angling, Pope also has experience in technology engineering and management in the medical device space with a Masters in Management of Technology from the University of Minnesota. TroutRoutes has grown rapidly in 2022 and now has 4 employees, with several active openings in technology (software engineering), marketing and operations.

As TroutRoutes begins putting their investment to use, they plan to grow their team, expand to the rest of the U.S and continue to work on product enhancement.

Key advantages of TroutRoutes include:

  • Every trout stream with proprietary rating system
  • Public land access
  • GPS and Navigation
  • 750,000 Designated Access Points
  • Real-time Stream Flows and Elevation Map
  • Personal Notebook (make notes, create markers, plan trips)

Traction Capital and TroutRoutes are excited to join forces during this period of rapid growth. With strong entrepreneurial spirit, Traction Capital looks forward to helping Zach grow his team with more like-minded, hardworking individuals. “Zach is an incredibly smart and driven individual. The Traction Capital team and I are very impressed by the platform he’s developed and can’t wait to see the company accelerate as he grows his team,” says Shane Erickson, Founder and Managing Partner of Traction Capital.

Saltbox

B2B sales company, Saltbox, has received a $500,000 investment from Traction Capital to finish out their $675,000 raise. The Minneapolis-based company is revolutionizing the way B2B organizations improve the buying experience of their customers. As Saltbox continues to grow, Traction Capital looks forward to working closely with their team.

Saltbox is a Salesforce startup that helps to digitize, personalize and automate a B2B consumer’s buying experience. With their extensive knowledge of Salesforce, they are able to improve storefront experiences and purchases, in addition to streamlining order management. As B2B buyer personas shifts, B2B buyers are expecting more B2C– like experiences and Saltbox assists organizations in identifying and catering to that shift.

“The investment and partnership from Traction Capital will play a pivotal role in helping Saltbox accelerate our mission of helping B2B companies reimagine the buying experiences of their customers through the use of Salesforce. I’m also excited to bring Traction’s experience as operators to our board of directors, as their guidance will be just as important as their capital as we look to scale the business and capitalize on the tremendous opportunity for rapid growth that the salesforce ecosystem provides,” says David Blue, founder of Saltbox.

The company strives to deliver engaging, frictionless, B2C-like buying experiences to their customers. Unlike their competitors, Saltbox specializes in B2B commerce and order management, with capabilities spanning the entire Salesforce platform. Their expertise and ability to serve end-to-end buyer transformation use-cases also helps them stand out. Saltbox’s three main industries of focus include manufacturing/consumer goods, high-tech/software and medical devices/pharma.

For the immediate future David’s focus will be expanding their software, growing their team, and continuing to innovate within the company. They are currently hiring a Salesforce Account Executive, multiple positions within the delivery organization, and will continue to post as more positions become available. Check out their LinkedIn for more details.

Both experts in their field, Traction Capital and Saltbox are eager to join forces. “We are excited by David’s extensive experience in the field and his ambition to make Saltbox succeed. Traction Capital looks forward to helping Saltbox grow their team and continue to innovate with the implementation of EOS. Our Traction team believes Saltbox has what it takes to transform the way B2B organizations interact and we are eager to help them accomplish that,” says Shane Erickson, founder and Managing Partner of Traction Capital.

Froogle

Traction Capital has invested $500,000 in Froogle, a Software company that focuses on the hospitality industry. The company utilizes its location-based technology and online ordering software to help small and medium sized businesses draw in new consumers while also saving money and manpower. The Minneapolis venture capital firm is excited to be a key partner in Froogle’s growth and development.

Froogle is a SaaS startup that uses its technology to enable restaurants to offer mobile contactless order and pay for pickup and delivery. This software is free for businesses to use. Froogle also assists with social media, marketing/advertising and web development, this lessens the marketing hassle for restaurants and helps them compete with their larger competitors.

“When I met Shane and Brian at Traction Capital I felt they understood the vision of Froogle and what it offers to small and medium size businesses. I am extremely impressed with Traction Capital, their knowledge and support in growing businesses is what attracted me to them. Froogle’s Free online ordering software and assistance in helping with marketing, advertising and web development takes a lot of pressure off the small business owner.  We are growing so fast that we are seeing 15-20% month to month growth,” says, Michael Juszczak ,founder and CEO of Froogle.

Froogle currently has clients across 25 states and they have seen over a 90% retention rate. As Froogle continues to grow, they are looking to hire 8 employees in a variety of different roles including sales, social media manager and a content manager. Keep an eye on Froogle as well as Traction Capital’s LinkedIn for more details.

Key advantages and features of Froogle include:

  • Free White label ecommerce platform
  • Online marketing
  • Web development
  • Social Media Engagement
  • Cost Reduction for restaurants

Traction and Froogle are excited to focus on growth and more national expansion. With both companies’ EOS backgrounds, the joining of forces will only drive more success. “Mike and Corey of Froogle specifically sought out our Traction Capital team at Twin Cities Startup Week in fall of 2021. Their experience and interest in running Traction EOS aligns perfectly with Traction Capital’s thesis and value add. Mike and Corey are hustlers, go getters and have what it takes to be successful with Froogle in a high demand marketplace, while adding value to their customers,” says Brian Cox, Integrator and President at Traction Capital.

ControlBright Names Barbara Stinnett President

After raising $500,000 in capital in recent months, ControlBright is set for growth and has chosen veteran technology executive and private equity trailblazer Barbara Stinnett to lead the charge. Stinnett’s role as President began on 3/15/2022.

Barbara Stinnett is a highly respected industry executive who brings a wealth of global leadership experience in high-tech organizations. Stinnett served and led operationally in the C Suite at Hewlett Packard, Sybase/SAP, Oracle, & Cisco where she was directly responsible for global sales, services, and support groups. She was also the first female CEO for one of the largest global Private Equity firms. In 2008, she founded Timmaron Group, based on her passion to work with companies to address their strategic desires by applying technologies to be the best they can be.

“Barb brings unparalleled leadership skills and a deep skill set in technology,” says ControlBright Founder Chad Behling. “We are excited to have her join our team. With her industry acumen, financial expertise, and extensive connections, we have no doubt that Barbara will position ControlBright for considerable growth.”

Stinnett holds degrees in International Business and Management Information Technologies, Applied Technologies, and International Studies from the University of Wisconsin. She is a National Association of Corporate Directors certified fellow and seasoned board member serving on over 15 public, private, and non-profit boards.

Over the next year and beyond, Stinnett and ControlBright will work to build out their team to scale up production and sales. With Stinnett in place, Behling will be able to shift his focus to spending time on the company vision and areas of the business he is best at.