Fresno Startups to Watch in 2027: Verified Companies in Agtech, Water, Nonprofit Software and Rural Internet
Fresno sits in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley, one of the most productive farming regions in the world, so it is no surprise that its most interesting young companies sell to growers: pollination, irrigation water, fertilizer and irrigation automation. Next to them are software and infrastructure companies that grew up serving the Valley, from nonprofit accounting to rural internet. The 2026 version of this article listed ten startups, but when we checked them again in November 2026, four of them had no official website or record at all, one is headquartered in Vietnam, one moved on under a new name, and one, Bitwise Industries, collapsed in 2023. For this 2027 edition we kept only companies whose own website confirms a Fresno-area base and what they sell today. That leaves seven companies, three of them from the old list, plus the local programmes that support founders.
Quick answer: the Fresno startups and young companies to watch in 2027 are BeeHero (precision pollination, headquartered in Fresno), ECO2MIX (carbonic acid instead of sulfuric acid for irrigation water), Nitricity (organic fertilizer from almond shells, with a new plant in the Central Valley), WiseConn (irrigation automation, US office in Fresno), Aplos (nonprofit accounting, now part of Velora), unWired Broadband (rural internet since 2003) and Outlier Automation (factory automation engineers). Founders get support from Fresno State's Lyles Center and its Water, Energy and Technology (WET) Center.
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Why Fresno Matters for Founders in 2027
Fresno's startup scene is small next to the Bay Area, but it has something the Bay Area does not: customers in the field. Growers around Fresno test pollination, irrigation and fertilizer technology on real orchards and row crops, and several companies on this list are here for exactly that reason. Fresno State supports founders through two centres: the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the WET Center, which says it has evaluated more than 500 companies, helped create 840 jobs and held 2,500 mentoring sessions. Software, internet and engineering companies that serve this economy, like Aplos, unWired and Outlier Automation, show that a Fresno company can also grow steadily without being an agtech startup.
Fresno is one of several California cities in our series. Compare it with Sacramento startups to watch, Stockton startups to watch and Bakersfield startups to watch in the Central Valley, or with San Diego startups to watch and San Francisco startups to watch on the coast.
Fresno Startups to Watch in 2027 Compared
Sources: each company's official website, contact page and own press releases, checked 6 November 2026. Customer numbers and acreage are the companies' own figures.
The Fresno Startups to Watch in 2027
1. BeeHero: pollination with sensors in the hive
BeeHero sells data-driven, managed pollination to commercial crop growers. It uses IoT sensors, data analytics and AI to bring transparency to crop pollination, and sells this as Precision Pollination as a Service in the hive, plus a Pollination Insight Platform for the field. Its own release of 19 April 2026 says it was named one of the THRIVE Top 50 AgTech Companies of 2026 and that the company is headquartered in Fresno, with offices in Palo Alto and research and development in Tel Aviv. Its contact page lists its US field office in Del Rey, in Fresno County, and an office in Australia. BeeHero also lists a rank of No. 109 in North America on Deloitte's 2025 Technology Fast 500.
Lesson for founders: BeeHero did not try to replace bees; it made an old service, renting hives to growers, measurable. If your customers already pay for something they cannot see, data about it is a product.
2. ECO2MIX: making irrigation water act like rain
ECO2MIX lowers the pH of irrigation water with carbonic acid, which it makes by dissolving CO2 at the pump, instead of sulfuric acid. It sells this as a fully managed service: the company owns, installs and runs the system for one fixed price. It says it started in 2017, has more than 100 systems in operation and has treated more than 10 crops, and that its method is approved by CCOF, the organic certifier. It now serves agriculture, golf courses and horticulture in eight states, from California to South Carolina. ECO2MIX was one of the 2025 Pepperdine Most Fundable Companies, its CEO Waldo Moraga took part in Fresno State's Valley Ventures accelerator, and its homepage announces a new headquarters on East University Avenue in Fresno.
Lesson for founders: ECO2MIX sells safety as much as chemistry: no hazardous acid stored or handled on the farm. Find the risk your customer worries about and remove it.
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3. Nitricity: organic fertilizer from almond shells
Nitricity makes a plant-based organic nitrogen fertilizer, Ash Tea, from almond shells, air, water and renewable power. On 10 September 2025 it announced a $50 million Series B co-led by World Fund and Khosla Ventures, with Chipotle's Cultivate Next fund among the other investors, days before breaking ground on its first-of-a-kind plant in Delhi, California, in the Central Valley. The company's office is in Fremont, in the Bay Area, so it is a Central Valley company by its factory, not its headquarters. Its CEO Nicolas Pinkowski is quoted on the WET Center's homepage saying the centre gave Nitricity "a speed boost".
Lesson for founders: Nitricity turns a local waste product, almond shells, into an input that local farms buy. Look at what the industry around you throws away.
4. WiseConn: irrigation you can run from a phone
WiseConn makes DropControl, a wireless network and app for monitoring and automating irrigation and fertigation, so a farm can run its pumps and valves from a smartphone or laptop based on sensor data. The company says DropControl monitors and controls 500,000 acres, with 20,000 nodes installed, 3,000 active users and 50 dealers. Its US office is on North Brawley Avenue in Fresno; it also has offices in Chile, Iberia, Italy and Australia.
Lesson for founders: WiseConn runs its US business from Fresno, in the middle of its customers' farms. For agtech, being close to the field can matter more than being close to investors.
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5. Aplos: accounting for nonprofits and churches
Aplos makes fund accounting software built for nonprofits and churches, with budgeting, reporting, bill approval, AI bill entry, payroll and bookkeeping services. Its story page says it was founded by a pastor who understood nonprofit accounting from the inside and that more than 65,000 users rely on it. Aplos is now part of Velora, a nonprofit operations suite that also includes Keela for donor management and Raisely for fundraising. Its contact page lists its headquarters in Fresno. The old article described Aplos correctly; what changed is the Velora merger.
Lesson for founders: Aplos started from a problem its founder lived with. Narrow software for one type of customer can beat general tools with workarounds.
6. unWired Broadband: internet for the rural Valley
unWired Broadband was founded in 2003 with a single tower site near Clovis to bring internet to rural and underserved areas. Today it sells fixed wireless internet to homes and businesses across Central and Northern California with unlimited data and guaranteed speeds, plus business redundancy and a data centre, and its NextGen Fiber network serves Coalinga, Parlier, Gustine and Wasco. Its headquarters is on West Fallbrook Avenue in Fresno. The old article linked to a domain that is now parked; the company's site is getunwired.com.
Lesson for founders: unWired grew by serving the places big providers skipped. An underserved market close to home can carry a company for two decades.
7. Outlier Automation: engineers for the Valley's factories
Outlier Automation is a small team of automation engineers headquartered in Fresno. It programs PLC, HMI, SCADA and MES systems and robotics with Allen-Bradley, Siemens and Ignition, designs and retrofits machines, and works for food and beverage, agriculture, water and wastewater, oil and gas and life sciences companies. Its site says it makes service calls in Fresno, Clovis, Visalia, Madera and Merced and that it is a certified LGBT-Owned Business Enterprise (LGBTBE).
Lesson for founders: Not every company has to be a venture-backed startup. A skilled services firm that sells to local industry can be profitable from the first project.
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Where Fresno Startups Get Support
- Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Fresno State's entrepreneurship centre in the Craig School of Business, launched in 2003 in partnership with local entrepreneur Dr. William Lyles. It runs programmes for K-12 students, university students and the community, including the Pay It Forward and THINK programmes and the Johanson Entrepreneurship Workshops.
- WET Center: Fresno State's Water, Energy and Technology Center on East Barstow Avenue, 100% grant-funded with partners such as the California Energy Commission, the California Office of the Small Business Advocate, the EDA and the SBA. It manages the BlueTechValley innovation cluster, with hubs on CSU campuses in Bakersfield, Chico, Fresno, Humboldt, Monterey and Sacramento.
- Valley Ventures: the WET Center's accelerator for water, energy and agtech startups, now aimed at companies at technology readiness level 6 or higher. It runs mostly online, with an in-person week of farm tours and a closing Ag Tech Day in Fresno.
- Angel Academy and Start, Grow, Stay: the WET Center's training for founders and new angel investors, and its yearly conference and pitch competition for Central Valley businesses.
- Culinary Catalyst: a WET Center programme for food entrepreneurs, including HACCP food safety training.
- Accelerate California partners: through the state's Accelerate California programme, the WET Center works with the Valley Community Small Business Development Center (Fresno, Tulare, Madera and Kings counties), the Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation and the Hmong Business Incubator.
Women founders can also look at our lists of accelerators for female entrepreneurs and grants for female entrepreneurs in North America, and at grants for early-stage startups.
What Changed Since the 2026 List
Only three of the ten companies on the old list could be confirmed as active and based in Fresno. Here is what happened to the rest:
- Bitwise Industries is gone. The Fresno tech training company collapsed in May 2023, and according to the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California, its co-founders Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin Jr. were sentenced on 17 December 2024 to 11 and 9 years in prison for a fraud of about $115 million. Its old website now shows a parked page.
- Lumify Care, the nurse-led maker of a wearable light, now trades as Adni (its old address redirects to adni.co). We could not confirm a Fresno base on its own site, and directories place it in San Francisco, so it is no longer listed.
- GemCommerce, the maker of GemPages, is headquartered in Hanoi, Vietnam, with an office in Singapore, according to its own site. It was never a Fresno startup.
- SolarRise, National Freight Logistics Inc., FinkaboutIt Analytics and GreenTech Fresno: we found no official website or record for any of them, so they are removed.
- unWired Broadband is real and still in Fresno, but the old link went to a parked domain; its site is getunwired.com.
- Statistics removed: the old "400 tech companies", "$1.9 billion" and "$7 trillion" e-commerce figures had no traceable source.
Which Fresno Company Should You Learn From?
- You build agtech: study BeeHero and WiseConn, which put their US teams next to the growers they sell to.
- You sell a service, not a device: study ECO2MIX, which owns and runs its systems for a fixed price.
- You build climate or circular economy tech: study Nitricity and how it turned almond shells into fertilizer.
- You build B2B software for a niche: study Aplos and its focus on nonprofits and churches.
- You build infrastructure: study unWired Broadband, which grew from one tower to a regional network.
- You want a profitable services business: study Outlier Automation and its focus on local industry.
- You want to avoid the biggest mistake: read the Bitwise case. Growth built on false numbers ends badly for founders, staff and investors.
How Founders Use Fresno's Startup Scene
Agtech and water founders should start at the WET Center: Valley Ventures gives access to farm tours, growers and investors, as ECO2MIX and Nitricity found. When you are ready to raise, compare local angels with the groups in our guide to angel investors in North America, the funds in early-stage VCs in North America and, for hard tech like Nitricity's, deep tech VCs in North America. Pitch practice helps: see our list of startup competitions in North America and, for software founders, AI incubators in North America.
Then make sure customers can find you. Many Valley companies rely on word of mouth and trade shows, which is why a good website and articles that rank matter: list your startup in the F/MS marketing directories, publish your startup press release, and write about your product with the F/MS AI SEO Tool or the AI SEO Blog so growers, investors and AI assistants can find you.
FAQ About Fresno Startups to Watch in 2027
Which Fresno startups should I watch in 2027?
Our verified list: BeeHero, ECO2MIX, Nitricity, WiseConn, Aplos, unWired Broadband and Outlier Automation. Each one's own website confirmed a Fresno-area headquarters, office or plant in November 2026.
Why does the list have seven companies, not ten?
Six names from the old list had no official website or record, are based elsewhere or could not be confirmed in Fresno, and Bitwise Industries collapsed in 2023. We list only companies we could verify.
Which Fresno startups work in agtech?
BeeHero (pollination with hive sensors), ECO2MIX (carbonic acid for irrigation water), Nitricity (organic fertilizer from almond shells) and WiseConn (irrigation automation).
Is BeeHero based in Fresno?
Yes. Its own April 2026 release says it is headquartered in Fresno, with offices in Palo Alto and research and development in Tel Aviv. Its US field office is in Del Rey, in Fresno County.
What happened to Bitwise Industries?
It collapsed in May 2023. According to the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California, its co-founders were sentenced in December 2024 to 11 and 9 years in prison for a fraud of about $115 million.
Which Fresno startup raised the most money recently?
Of the companies on this list, Nitricity announced the largest round we could confirm: a $50 million Series B on 10 September 2025. Its new plant is in Delhi, California; its office is in Fremont.
Where can startups get support in Fresno?
Fresno State's Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the WET Center with its Valley Ventures accelerator and Angel Academy, and the Valley Community Small Business Development Center.
Is there support for underrepresented founders in Fresno?
Yes. Through the Accelerate California programme the WET Center works with the Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation, the Hmong Business Incubator and the Valley Community SBDC. The Fe/male Switch startup game is another way to practise building a startup.
What can founders learn from Fresno companies?
Stay close to your customers, sell a service when the product is hard to run, turn local waste into a product, and never build growth on false numbers.
Where can I get a backlink by writing about my startup?
You can publish a guest post in one of the Fe/male Switch startup blogs, which rank in Google and in AI tools. Get a quality backlink.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
