Latest startup city rankings | Increasing the skill level of drones

Startup city rankings

Fast Future COUNTRY–Check out the latest Startup city rankings from Midwest Startups. The benchmark report helps stakeholders understand how cities within the Midwest are performing relative to each other in their tech startup ecosystems. Highlights: St. Louis’ Varsity Tutors and Benson Hill completed their reverse mergers at $1.7B and $1.3B market caps; Cincinnati’s VNDLY was acquired by Workday for $473M, and had its first three Unicorns: Astronomer, Enable Injections, 80 Acres Farms; and Minneapolis’ When I Work raised $200M, Arctic Wolf $150M, Suma Brands $150M, and Branch $75M.

Targeted Rare Earth Extraction

PITTSBURGH, PA–A process developed at The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) called Targeted Rare Earth Extraction (TREE) has been named a finalist in the 2022 R&D 100 Awards competition. TREE is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective technology for extracting rare earth elements and critical minerals (REEs-CMs) from a range of coal and coal-processing materials and waste streams. The extracted elements are used in manufacturing computers, clean energy technologies, defense systems, and more.

Increasing the skill level of drones

CHARLOTTE, NC–Further proof that disruptive technology can make its mark in any industry: Lucid Drone Technologies, founded in 2018, introduced power-pressure washing drones for cleaning the exterior of buildings. Now the drones are being tested to paint, perform post-construction cleanup, for pest control and to water lawns, among other uses.

Nashville is one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S.

NASHVILLE, TN–LinkedIn’s August Workforce Report examined where people are moving to this year, and Nashville was second on the list, just behind Austin, Texas. Nashville had a net migration rate of 79.78. Other Fast Future cities listed in the top 10 included Charlotte, N.C. (57.96); Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C. (50.73); and Denver, Colo. (42.42).