RealLIST Startups 2024: DE's most promising early-stage companies

As seen on the Technical.ly website. This blog post has be edited for space. It reveals Marins Med as one of the most promising startups in Delaware for 2024. 

https://technical.ly/startups/reallist-startups-delaware-2024/

Feb 20, 2024 4:19pm

All of that uncertainty made it a bad year for venture capital, with investments down to a six-year low in Q4. Yet, at least anecdotally, the number of startups cropping up and doing well in Delaware has been up, based on our research while putting together the latest Delaware RealLIST Startups

In the seven years since Technical.ly’s inaugural yearly roundup of the First State’s most promising young tech companies, we’ve seen an evolution — not just in the tech ecosystem but in how we define tech companies. The business of science and technology has been foundational in Delaware since the creation of DuPont in 1802. But that wasn’t always seen as “tech” over the last couple of decades, when Big Tech came to dominate.

Now, all companies are tech companies, and Delaware is part of two federally recognized tech hubs: The Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub (MACH2) and The Greater Philadelphia Region Precision Medicine Tech Hub. 2023 also saw the launch of the first gBETA Bronze Valley VentureLab accelerator in Delaware, which has already had an impact on the ecosystem.

Last year’s RealLIST Startups included STEM companies, especially in greentech and healthtech, as well as ecosystem-building ventures working to support entrepreneurs and technologists in Delaware and beyond. This year, STEM still dominates, especially healthcare-related startups. We’re also seeing AI startups enter the local field, as part of a national trend.

Technical.ly started the RealLIST as a yearly look at the exciting early-stage tech companies in each of our markets. Its name comes from questions often debated in our newsroom: Is that startup real? Is the team serious? Is the product interesting?

Since there’s no single definition for what a startup even is, we needed to lay down some rules for what qualifies as a “real” one in our eyes:

• Founded no earlier than 2021 (though we know founding dates can be tricky)
• Most of its revenue comes from an innovative product — so, no agencies
• Has shown some track record of success
• Remains independent, meaning it’s not been acquired, merged or gone public
• Headquartered and primarily staffed in Delaware — especially important in a state where many of the companies incorporated here don’t live here.

As we say every year: These rankings are not scientific. This is merely a list of 10 companies we’re most excited to follow in 2024. If you’d like to see another company on this list next year, you can always offer your nominations for the RealLIST Startups (or any of our annual RealLISTs) using this submission form.

Before you learn about this year’s list, you can check out past years: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2018 and 2017.

Now, let’s meet Technical.ly’s 2024 RealLIST Startups for Delaware:

This 2024 EDGE STEM grant recipient was founded by Darryl DuBre, Suzen DuBre and Steve Burke in 2021. The company focuses on innovative prosthetic devices, including The ProHensor hook with replaceable cartridge system technology designed by Darryl — an amputee himself with decades of experience using prosthetic devices.