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Omaha Startups to Watch in 2027: 9 Verified Omaha Companies in SaaS, Fintech, Agtech, Cybersecurity and Health Tech, Where They Get Support and Lessons for Founders

Omaha Startups to Watch in 2027: 9 Verified Omaha Companies in SaaS, Fintech, Agtech, Cybersecurity and Health Tech

Omaha is known for insurance, finance, logistics and Berkshire Hathaway, and its young tech companies build on exactly those strengths: software for large employers, crypto and payments, cybersecurity for trucking fleets, robots for grain storage and medical devices that grew out of the University of Nebraska. The 2026 version of this article listed ten names, but only one of them was an Omaha startup: most were companies headquartered in California, Ohio or elsewhere, one is now fully remote, two websites now show unrelated content, and one is a large wealth manager. For this 2027 edition we started again and checked every company on its own website or in its own press release in November 2026: that it still operates, that it gives Omaha as its headquarters or office, what it sells and what it publishes about its funding. What happened to the old names is listed near the end.
Quick answer: the Omaha startups to watch in 2027 are Workshop (internal communications software), Exodus (self-custodial crypto and payments, now listed on NYSE American), Guardify (evidence software for child advocacy centers and prosecutors), Grain Weevil (robots that work inside grain bins), Fleet Defender (cybersecurity for trucks and trailers), SecureSky (cloud security), Impower Health (treadmill gait analysis), MicroWash (nasal sample collection) and CAMcerta (credential checks for complementary medicine). Workshop's $12 million Series A is the largest private round on this list that a company published itself. For support, start with the Nebraska Business Development Center, Invest Nebraska and the state's Prototype Grant.
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Why Omaha Matters for Founders in 2027

Look at what these companies sell and a pattern appears: they serve industries Omaha already runs. Fleet Defender protects truck fleets and names Omaha's Werner Enterprises as a reference customer, Grain Weevil works for farms, co-ops and grain elevators, Exodus and SecureSky come out of the city's finance and data-centre economy, and Impower Health and MicroWash grew out of the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Several of them were funded by Nebraska money first: Invest Nebraska, the state's Prototype Grant and local venture funds such as MOVE Venture Capital appear on their own sites.
We removed the old article's claim of a significant increase in venture capital investment because it gave no source. For the wider picture, compare our guides to the best startup cities in North America and the best cities for early-stage startups, and our city lists for nearby Lincoln, Chicago, Columbus, Oklahoma City and Corpus Christi.

Omaha Startups to Watch in 2027 Compared

CompanyWhat it doesOmaha baseLatest funding we cite
WorkshopEmail-first internal communications platform for employersOmaha headquarters, office in Dublin$12M Series A, November 2023 (company)
ExodusSelf-custodial crypto wallet and payments platformOmaha headquartersPublic company, NYSE American: EXOD
GuardifyDigital evidence management for child advocacy centers, prosecutors and policeOmaha headquartersNot published
Grain WeevilRemote-controlled robots that level and move grain inside binsOmaha headquarters and assemblyNSF Phase II SBIR grant, 2023 (company)
Fleet DefenderCyber defense and theft protection for fleet vehiclesOmaha office (O Street)Invest Nebraska among its investors (no amount)
SecureSkyCloud security posture management and managed detectionOmahaNot published
Impower HealthSoftware that turns treadmills into gait labsOmahaStrategic investment led by Boomerang Ventures, February 2026
MicroWashNasal lavage device that replaces swab samplingOmahaNot published
CAMcertaCredential verification for complementary medicine practitionersOmahaMOVE Venture Capital, Nebraska Prototype Grant, angels (no amounts)
Sources: each company's official website, news page, investor page or press release, checked 1 November 2026.

The Omaha Startups to Watch in 2027

1. Workshop: internal communications for large employers

Workshop, the only company kept from the old list, sells an email-first internal communications platform: HR and communications teams use it to design and send employee newsletters, CEO updates, policy news and urgent SMS alerts, then measure who read them. Its press fact sheet gives Omaha as its headquarters, with a satellite office in Dublin, Ireland, 2021 as its founding year and 140 employees, and says more than 600 organizations use it; customers named on its site include Papa John's, Steve Madden and Hudl. In November 2023 it announced a $12 million Series A led by McCarthy Capital, with Ludlow Ventures and M25, 18 months after a $5 million seed round. In August 2026 it said it ranked No. 1 among Nebraska companies and No. 272 overall on the 2026 Inc. 5000 list of fast-growing private companies, and in September 2026 it launched AI Studio, which adds scheduled AI agents, connectors to company systems and a Workshop MCP server.
Lesson for founders: Workshop picked one channel, email, that every company already uses and built the best tool for it, then added AI on top. A narrow, familiar starting point is easier to sell than a new habit.
Best for: founders in B2B SaaS, HR tech and workplace communication.

2. Exodus: a self-custodial crypto and payments app from Omaha

Exodus was founded in 2015 by JP Richardson and Daniel Castagnoli. It makes a self-custodial crypto and payments platform: customers spend, swap and manage digital assets on desktop, mobile and browser while keeping control of their own keys, and it also powers card issuance and stablecoin payments for business partners. Its investor relations site gives its headquarters as Weir Street in Omaha and lists the company as Exodus Movement, Inc. on NYSE American under the ticker EXOD. In October 2026 it announced stablecoin payments for everyday purchases, starting with DIRECTV's DGO streaming service, and it plans to report its third-quarter 2026 results on 9 November 2026. It is no longer a young startup, but it is a listed tech company that still keeps its headquarters in Omaha.
Lesson for founders: Exodus started as a crypto wallet and now also powers cards and stablecoin payments for partners. A product people trust with their money can later carry new services to the same users.
Best for: founders in fintech, crypto and consumer apps.
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3. Guardify: evidence software for child advocacy centers

Guardify is a cloud-based digital video evidence management system for child advocacy centers, child protective services, prosecutors and police. Teams use it to store, share and review recorded forensic interviews and other evidence securely. Its about page says the idea came from Project Harmony, a child advocacy center in Omaha, that the company was incubated by Giving Tech Labs in Seattle and that it established its headquarters in Omaha with support from Nebraska investors. It calls itself a social enterprise funded by software subscriptions. Its homepage says more than 12,000 legal and social service organizations rely on Guardify, and its blog announced that it had reached 100,000 users. It has also announced that it will end its partnership with iRecord, effective January 2027.
Lesson for founders: Guardify was built around the daily work of one local nonprofit before it was sold nationally. A design partner on your doorstep gives you a product that fits real workflows.
Best for: founders in govtech, legal tech, social impact and secure video.

4. Grain Weevil: robots that keep farmers out of grain bins

Grain Weevil makes a small remote-controlled robot that rides on the surface of stored grain: it levels the grain, breaks crusts and bridges, and pushes grain toward the auger during unloading, while the operator stays outside the bin and watches a live video feed. A Nebraska farmer quoted on its site calls bin work the most dangerous thing his farm does, and the company's pitch is simple: no human entry. It lists a one-hour runtime with a 20-minute recharge, and says the robot also works in fertilizer, sugar and other bulk materials. The company was co-founded by Chad Johnson (CEO) and Ben Johnson, is based on Chandler Circle in Omaha and says its robots are engineered and hand-assembled in Omaha. Its awards list includes a 2021 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize, the 2022 American Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge, a 2023 National Science Foundation Phase II SBIR grant and the 2026 ASABE Davidson Prize, and its robots are on sale for the 2026 harvest.
Lesson for founders: Grain Weevil started from a safety problem farmers already talk about. When your product removes a danger, the buyer's reason to pay is clear without any marketing.
Best for: founders in agtech, robotics and workplace safety.

5. Fleet Defender: cybersecurity for trucks and trailers

Fleet Defender protects fleet vehicles from cyberattacks and theft. Its cyber defense product watches for unauthorized Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and IP connections, port scans, malware and malicious commands, its asset protection product covers trailer, cargo and fuel theft, tampering and dwell time, and a 24/7 vehicle security operations center handles incidents. Its office is on O Street in Omaha. Its homepage quotes the chief information officer of Werner Enterprises, the Omaha trucking company, on the real-time view of threats it gives fleet managers, and shows Invest Nebraska among its investors without naming amounts.
Lesson for founders: Fleet Defender sells into the freight industry that surrounds it in Omaha. A well-known local customer willing to be quoted is one of the strongest sales tools a young B2B company can have.
Best for: founders in cybersecurity, logistics and connected vehicles.

6. SecureSky: cloud security posture management

SecureSky was founded in 2018 by a team of cybersecurity specialists, according to its about page, and gives Omaha as its location. It calls itself a cloud security posture management company: its Active Protection Platform, which it describes as patented technology, checks cloud configurations across Azure, AWS, Google Cloud and SaaS tools and responds to threats automatically. It also offers cloud and application security assessments, penetration testing, Microsoft Sentinel and XDR deployments, and managed detection and response.
Lesson for founders: SecureSky combines a software platform with services. In security, consulting and deployment work can pay the bills while the product matures.
Best for: founders in cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure and managed services.
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7. Impower Health: turning treadmills into gait labs

Impower Health sells Gait Index software and a Gait Tracker module that turn standard treadmills into real-time gait labs, measuring speed, stride length, cadence and other walking metrics without wearables or cameras. It sells to rehab clinicians, fitness trainers and treadmill manufacturers. Its site gives an Omaha address, and its news page traces the patented self-pacing treadmill back to students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and to the university's UNeTech incubator. In February 2026 it announced a strategic investment led by Boomerang Ventures and the appointment of Trent McCracken as CEO; its news page also links coverage of $500,000 in venture funding from March 2026.
Lesson for founders: Impower Health adds intelligence to equipment clinics already own instead of selling new hardware. Retrofitting existing machines lowers the cost of saying yes.
Best for: founders in health tech, rehabilitation and university spinouts.

8. MicroWash: a nasal wash instead of a swab

MicroWash is a nasal lavage device that collects respiratory samples for laboratory testing as an alternative to nasal swabs. Its developer, University Medical Devices, gives an Omaha address, and its chief medical officer, Dr. Michael Wadman, is a professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The company says the device is an FDA-listed, 510(k)-exempt Class I medical device made under good manufacturing practice rules, and that it can deliver samples with up to 49% more sensitivity; that figure is the company's own claim.
Lesson for founders: MicroWash chose a product class that does not need FDA clearance before sale. Checking the regulatory path first can save a medical device startup years.
Best for: founders in medical devices, diagnostics and clinician-led startups.

9. CAMcerta: verified credentials for complementary medicine

CAMcerta builds a system of record for practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine, such as acupuncture or massage therapy, whose qualifications are spread across many schools and certifying bodies. Practitioners upload their education, licences and certifications, CAMcerta verifies them directly with the issuing institutions, and the result is a portable record that health systems, employers, payers and patients can check. It gives an address on Shamrock Plaza in Omaha, is led by founder and CEO Allison Beninato, and says it is backed by MOVE Venture Capital, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development's Prototype Grant Program and angel investors.
Lesson for founders: CAMcerta, founded by a woman, sells trust to a fast-growing field that lacks it. Becoming the neutral record-keeper for a messy market can be a durable business.
Best for: founders in health tech, credentialing, compliance and women-led startups.

Where Omaha Startups Get Support

  • Nebraska Business Development Center (NBDC): based at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (Mammel Hall). It runs the Nebraska Small Business Development Center (business plans, financial forecasts, loan packaging, export help), APEX government contracting advice and technology commercialization support, including information on SBIR and STTR grants.
  • Invest Nebraska: a venture development organization working in Nebraska since 2002. It invests in Nebraska companies in all industries that show early signs of product-market fit, with an average first check of $250,000, and lists more than 155 investments. Its office is in Lincoln, and it co-manages the Nebraska Seed Investment Fund with the state. Fleet Defender shows it among its investors.
  • Nebraska Innovation Fund Prototype Grants: the Nebraska Department of Economic Development pays up to $150,000 per project for new product development by Nebraska businesses with fewer than 500 employees, with a cash match of at least 50% of the grant (25% for value-added agriculture). The current window opened on 6 July 2026 and runs until 30 June 2027 or until funds run out. CAMcerta lists this grant among its backers.
  • SBIR/STTR state match: according to Invest Nebraska's page on the Business Innovation Act, Nebraska small businesses that win a federal SBIR or STTR award can receive a state grant of 65% of the federal grant, up to $100,000. This is worth a look for companies like Grain Weevil that win federal research grants.
  • University programmes: Impower Health came out of the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the UNeTech incubator, and MicroWash's medical lead works at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
  • The Startup Collaborative and Techstars: Invest Nebraska describes The Startup Collaborative, established in 2017, as a merged accelerator, incubator and community organization and lists its portfolio; its old web address now shows an unrelated site, so ask the Greater Omaha Chamber about its current programmes. According to Silicon Prairie News, Techstars has run a Founder Catalyst pre-accelerator for Greater Omaha founders since 2025.

Omaha Companies From the Old List That Changed or Were Removed

The 2026 version of this article listed ten companies. Here is what we found when we checked each one in November 2026:
  • Kept: Workshop, which still gives Omaha as its headquarters.
  • National Resilience, BioAge Labs, Unison and Aya Healthcare: real companies, but their own websites give headquarters in Blue Ash, Ohio (Resilience), Emeryville, California (BioAge Labs), San Francisco (Unison) and San Diego (Aya Healthcare), not Omaha.
  • Pinata: its about page describes a fully remote team across several countries and gives no Omaha headquarters, so we removed it.
  • BasicBlock: its old web address now forwards to an unrelated parked domain, so we could not confirm that it still operates.
  • 21st Century Systems: its old web address now hosts an unrelated personal finance site, so we removed it.
  • Radical Minds: directory listings describe an applied behavior analysis therapy practice in Omaha, but we found no official website and it is a care provider rather than a tech startup.
  • Carson Group: a real Omaha company, but an established wealth management firm that reports more than 500 advisors and more than $60 billion in assets under management, not a startup.
We also removed the old article's links to third-party startup lists and profiles (StartupBlink, Built In, Wellfound and F6S) and its unsourced claim about venture capital growth.

Which Omaha Startup Should You Learn From?

  • You build B2B software: study Workshop, which owned one channel before adding AI, and SecureSky, which mixes a platform with services.
  • You build fintech: study Exodus, which turned a trusted wallet into a payments business.
  • You build for government or nonprofits: study Guardify, which started with one local child advocacy center.
  • You build hardware for agriculture or logistics: study Grain Weevil's safety-first pitch and Fleet Defender's reference customer, Werner.
  • You build in health: study Impower Health's retrofit model, MicroWash's regulatory choice and CAMcerta's trust business.
  • You are just starting: talk to the NBDC, read the Prototype Grant rules and ask Invest Nebraska what it looks for before you raise.

How Founders Use the Omaha Startup Scene

Many companies on this list combined three kinds of money: state grants (the Prototype Grant, SBIR matching), Nebraska investors (Invest Nebraska, MOVE Venture Capital) and, later, national investors (McCarthy Capital, Ludlow Ventures and M25 for Workshop). Plan for all three. Compare investors in our guides to angel investors in North America and early-stage VC firms, and for non-dilutive money see our lists of deep tech grants in North America and grants for female entrepreneurs.
Before you pitch, test your story in one of the startup competitions in North America, and look at how founders in comparable Midwest and Southern cities built their companies in our lists for El Paso and Raleigh-Durham.
Omaha startups sell across the US, so they need to be easy to find online: publish your startup press release, and write about your product with the F/MS AI SEO Tool or the AI SEO Blog so customers, investors and AI assistants can find you.
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FAQ About Omaha Startups in 2027

Which Omaha startups should I watch in 2027?

Our verified list: Workshop, Exodus, Guardify, Grain Weevil, Fleet Defender, SecureSky, Impower Health, MicroWash and CAMcerta. Each still operates and gives Omaha as its headquarters, office or address on its own website or investor page, checked in November 2026.

Which Omaha startup has raised the largest published round?

Among the private companies on our list, Workshop's $12 million Series A from November 2023, led by McCarthy Capital, is the largest round a company published itself. Exodus is already a public company listed on NYSE American.

Are there agtech startups in Omaha?

Yes. Grain Weevil builds remote-controlled robots that level and move grain inside storage bins so farmers do not have to enter them, and it assembles them in Omaha.

Are there cybersecurity startups in Omaha?

Fleet Defender protects trucks and trailers from cyberattacks and theft, with Werner Enterprises as a named reference, and SecureSky sells cloud security posture management and managed detection services.

Which Omaha startups work in health care?

Impower Health turns treadmills into gait labs, MicroWash makes a nasal lavage sample collection device, and CAMcerta verifies the credentials of complementary medicine practitioners.

What does Invest Nebraska do?

It is a venture development organization that invests in Nebraska companies in all industries that show early product-market fit, with an average first check of $250,000, and it co-manages the state's seed investment fund.

How much is the Nebraska Prototype Grant?

Up to $150,000 per project for new product development, with a cash match of at least 50% of the grant (25% for value-added agriculture). The current window runs until 30 June 2027 or until funds run out.

Where can Omaha founders get business advice?

Start with the Nebraska Business Development Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, which runs the Nebraska Small Business Development Center, APEX government contracting help and technology commercialization support. Ask it about any costs before you book.

What happened to the companies on the old list?

Workshop stays. National Resilience, BioAge Labs, Unison and Aya Healthcare are headquartered outside Nebraska, Pinata is fully remote, the BasicBlock and 21st Century Systems web addresses now show unrelated content, we found no official site for Radical Minds, and Carson Group is an established wealth manager, not a startup.

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.
2026-11-01 19:56 Best Startups