The GPS devices available on the mass market today are accurate only to within a few yards--usually enough for people to find the nearest restaurant or coffee shop. But Swift Navigation realized that for many industries working toward a more automated future, a few yards is too much. The technology that allows for inch-level precision has been around for almost 20 years but only at a prohibitive cost for most consumer applications. So in 2012, Swift set out to create a high-precision GPS device that would go for less than $500, and by 2014 it had launched its first product, Piksi. The startup went on to raise a total of $13.6 million from venture capital firms in two rounds of funding to support it growth. The capital inflow has also helped Swift develop new products (two of which will be coming out later this year) that can facilitate a wide-range of applications. Swift's main focus is currently in the automated vehicle industry and in creating products that will help advance the goal of decreasing automotive-related deaths to zero.
Note: All data as of 1/31/16

TaskUs provides next generation customer experience that powers the world's most disruptive companies through the partnership of amazing people and innovative technology. We provide Ridiculously Good strategy, business process optimization, revolutionary technology and the best talent to deliver transformational, digital scale. TaskUs has the best culture in the outsourcing industry because of our belief in always putting our teammates first. We are free from the burdens of on-premise legacy systems and old-fashion processes. The latest cloud technology makes the work we do seamless and our bottom-up management approach keeps us agile.

Students use Tilt, a Kickstarter-meets-Venmo payments app, to organize frat parties and weekend trips, inviting all of their friends to chip in and spreading the app to new campuses. In the past year, the company has grown by 41 percent every month on college campuses, and 350 percent by the number of projects funded. The San Francisco-based startup is betting that this viral demand will help it graduate along with its fiercely loyal users, turning the platform into the next Facebook or Snapchat. Co-founder James Beshara, a Texan whose post-college nonprofit job turned into a stint as a South African debt collector, soon learned how to adapt to a changing market. He started Tilt in Austin as Crowdtilt, a charity-minded crowdfunding platform, but quickly saw the greater demand from young people looking for a better way to send and receive money. "It's meant to be bite-size, simplified, kind of like a Twitter for crowdfunding," he says. Investors are hooked: Tilt has raised some $67.1 million from high-profile backers including Sean Parker, Andreessen Horowitz, Goodwater Capital, and SV Angel.
Note: All data as of 1/31/16

After a harvest, a marijuana grower has to find buyers quickly to move thousands of dollars' worth of fresh product. Most growers have built a network of relationships over the years or work with a pot broker who connects producers and dispensaries. But Tradiv, an online marketplace where growers and retailers can buy and sell legal marijuana on an Amazon-like platform, is replacing the old street-dealer aspects of the marijuana economy. With over 230 businesses using Tradiv in Colorado, about $1 million worth of product is sold each month on the platform, making it as easy for a dispensary owner to buy a pound of high-grade marijuana as it is for a liquor store to buy a case of Scotch. 
Note: All data as of 1/31/16

Jessica O. Matthews recalls that on the night of her aunt's wedding in Lagos, Nigeria, the power suddenly went out. "They brought in a diesel generator to keep the festivities going," she says. "I started to cough and got dizzy." The experience stuck with her and ultimately led her, as a junior at Harvard, to invent Soccket, a soccer ball that captures kinetic energy and stores the power in an internal generator that can light a room or charge a cell phone. Soccket, along with a jump rope called Pulse, generated more than $6 million in revenue last year for Matthews's company, Uncharted Play. The products are typically purchased by governments and large corporations that brand them, and distribute them in Africa, mostly through NGOs. Now, Matthews's wildly ambitious goal is to "democratize on-demand power for everyone" by rebranding her company as M.O.R.E. (motion-based, off-grid, renewable energy), an energy company that's creating a microgenerating system that can harness the kinetic energy of just about anything that moves. On deck: a baby stroller that generates enough power to charge a cell phone.
Note: All data as of 5/23/16