SXSW Honors

Techy Dallas-based healthcare startup wins big at SXSW Interactive

Mend was one of the top three winners at SXSW's ReleaseIt competition.

The ease and accessibility of healthcare-on-demand app Mend is spreading. After expanding its service area to Frisco, McKinney, Southlake, and Flower Mound, the Dallas-based startup made its way into the top 10 finalists for ReleaseIt, the March 11 pitch competition in Startup Village at SXSW Interactive in Austin.

Thousands of companies from around the globe entered the contest, and Mend joined finalists from Japan, Germany, California, New York, and beyond as the only entrant from Texas to advance. Not only did Mend continue on to the top 10, ultimately it won one of the two runner-up spots overall.

The three judges for the contest included Dr. Susan Amat, CEO/founder of Venture Hive; Julie Lenzer, director of the U.S. Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship; and Marc Nager, CEO of UP Global. Trey Bowles, CEO and co-founder of the Dallas Entrepreneur Center, emceed the event.

“It is exceptionally impressive that Mend was selected as the second-place winner in this competition,” Bowles said in a release. “Over the last few years, we have had hundreds of extremely qualified companies come through this competition, and the top winners of the last few years have gone on to generate millions of dollars in revenue, raise substantial investment, and truly become amazing disruptors in their perspective industries.”

Mend launched in March 2015, founded by Dallas resident and board certified emergency physician Jonathan Clarke, M.D., a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Navy. It's on-demand, affordable healthcare summoned through an app. If you attended our CultureMap Social: Innovation Edition last fall, you may have gotten a flu shot provided by Mend.

Dr. Amat said about Mend: “Jonathan's pitch convinced everyone in the room not only that the need and opportunity are great, but that he and his team were the ones who can pull it off. Mend's approach is scalable while ensuring patient-centric care, under the leadership of a vet who also just happens to be a doctor — I'll bet my money on him any day. Healthcare is ripe for the disruption that Mend is offering. New models like this, run by teams that will keep the patient care at the core, will win.”

Inteliclinic Inc., out of San Francisco, took top honors; Atlanta-based Cinamaker Technologies Inc. was the second runner-up. Inteliclinic manufactures NeuroOn, an intelligent sleep mask that measures all important biological signals and provides accurate sleep analytics to users. It also uses bright light therapy to help users manage their circadian rhythm and optimize sleep.

Cinamaker ventures outside the health realm with easy-to-use, powerful, and insanely fast digital workflows for multicamera capture and production using smartphones, tablets, and compatible digital video-cameras. Video creators are apparently very happy about this.

apps sxsw health

State of innovation

Texas ranks among 5 best states to start a business in 2025

Photo by Mykyta Kravčenko on Unsplash

Texas' friendly business climate has allowed the state to regain its rightful position among the top five best states to start a new business.

As one of the largest states in the U.S., it's no surprise Texas is big on business and entrepreneurship. Now the state is earning new praise among WalletHub's 2025 list of "Best & Worst States to Start a Business."

The Lone Star State claimed the No. 4 spot in the report's rankings — putting Texas in a better shape than it was last year when it earned No. 8 in WalletHub's 2024 report.

The study compared all 50 states across 25 metrics to determine the best places to start, grow, and find success with a new business. Factors that were considered include the number of startups per capita, job growth rates, financing accessibility measures, labor costs, and corporate tax rates.

The three states to outperform Texas are Florida (No. 1), Georgia (No. 2), and Utah (No. 3). Idaho rounded out the top five.

Across the study's three main categories, Texas performed the best in the "business environment" rank, earning No. 1 nationally. This section compared the states based on its five-year business survival rates, average business revenues growth, and more.

Texas ranked No. 12 in the nationwide comparison of "access to resources" – which covers working age population growth, venture investment amounts per capita, and other means – and earned a fair No. 34 in the report's "business costs" ranking.

But Texas can still do better with its business friendliness to reclaim a top-three overall ranking, which the state last earned in 2023.

WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in the report that it is imperative for potential new business owners to establish their enterprise in a place that can maximize their ability to succeed.

"Around half of all new businesses don’t survive five years, so the idea of becoming a business owner can be daunting, especially with the current high cost of living," Lupo said. "The best states have low corporate tax rates, strong economies, an abundance of reliable workers, easy access to financing and affordable real estate. On top of that, you’ll need to make sure you start in a place with an engaged customer base, if you’re operating locally."

Dallas has also proven to be at the top of the destination list for entrepreneurs who are looking for their next venture.

The top 10 best states to start a new business in 2025 are:

No. 1 – Florida
No. 2 – Georgia
No. 3 – Utah
No. 4 – Texas
No. 5 – Idaho
No. 6 – Oklahoma
No. 7 – Nevada
No. 8 – Colorado
No. 9 – Arizona
No. 10 – Kentucky

business entrepreneurship rankings texas wallethub