They say the best ideas happen over a round of beers with friends, so it’s no surprise that Milwaukee and the surrounding areas are becoming a hub for great disruptive ideas.

From legal and health software platforms that strive to make the jobs of industry professionals easier to development companies that build apps and solutions for their clients, there’s a lot of great work coming from up the lake.

Here are 25 Wisconsin software companies to watch as they keep growing and innovating their products.

Access HealthNet

The need for more affordable healthcare has never been more apparent, and Access HealthNet is leading the charge. Their cloud-based platform, The Super Option, connects value-orientated service providers with self-funded full-pay entity administrators looking to take control of healthcare costs.

AkitaBox

AkitaBox is born and bred in the Midwest. The facility management software provider was founded in Madison, Wisconson, and has raised its capital exclusively from the middle of the country. Its suite of software addresses the entire facility environment and helps managers reduce risk, improve communication and drive real business goals.

Coinigy

Digital currencies like bitcoin just might be the future, and Coinigy makes managing and tracking them easy. The platform connects with over 45 exchanges, allows you to trade on 20 exchanges and provides email and SMS price alerts. And because it never stores your funds, the platform is completely safe to use.

Comply365

Comply365 is a provider of smart content to both the rail and aviation industries. Static digital content like PDFs is no longer sufficient for frontline operators in these industries; they need dynamic content that changes, based on the behavior or past experiences of the reader. The result is increased operational efficiency, compliance and safety.

DataChat

What if you didn’t have to know how to code to perform data science functions? That’s the question DataChat is answering. Using Conversational Intelligence technology, the company’s platform lets anyone carry out exploratory analytics, predictive analytics, visualization, data wrangling and many other forms of data science that can have a transformative impact on your business.

Milwaukee skyline; wisconsin software companies concept

GrocerKey

The team at GrocerKey has a passion for local and independent grocers. They create eCommerce platforms and branded online grocery stores in a world where almost everything is bought online. Their software has resulted in more than 2.5 million fulfilled orders and generated more than $280 million in revenue. Not bad for local grocers.

Harqen

Built by recruiters for recruiters, Harqen uses AI to better meet the demands of today’s employers. The platform puts human biases aside by using on-demand interviews and AI-powered candidate scoring to help recruiters identify and engage with the very best applicants as quickly as possible. The result is both a more effective hiring experience and a better candidate experience.

Ideawake

Ideawake offers innovation management software and consulting services. Entrepreneurs looking to start a business or company managers trying to engage employees can create a call for ideas, and then rank and evaluate entries. This creates a sense of collaboration and allows people to find partners in their business. This can either be used within communities or organizations to create a fun, collaborative environment.

Ionic

Founded in 2010 and used by over five million developers, Ionic is a platform for building native mobile, desktop and progressive web apps with one codebase. The company’s suite of development products is used by startups and companies of all sizes, allowing them to accelerate web-based app development without having to bring in outside talent, and powers some 20 percent of apps in the app stores.

Key2Act

SaaS platforms have transformed construction, helping developers improve cost-effectiveness and efficiency while building more comfortable and environmentally friendly dwellings. Leading the way is Key2Act and its two technology platforms. Signature Field Services Solution offers field service enablement and job costing tools while Building Optimization Broker monitors the health of buildings.

Moxe

Moxe is a clinical data clearinghouse that aims to accelerate data exchange across the healthcare ecosystem. Specific solutions include Substrate, an electronic medical record integration tool, and Convergence, a framework for embedding web apps directly into electronic health records.

Northwoods

This company specializes in web design and digital marketing, but don’t underestimate its software development capabilities. The team at Northwoods listens to their customers and decides what tools need to be built and how they can be built effectively. Their secret to success is investing in different employee teams and cross-training.

lake michigan; wisconsin software companies concept

Okanjo

Okanjo is an affiliate aggregation platform that connects digital publishers and influencers with millions of product links from leading affiliate networks. Everything is searchable from Okanjo’s single database, making it easy for users to find, filter and curate products by the characteristics (price, commission, category, brand) that are important to them. Best of all, publishers keep 100% of the commissions they earn through the platform.

One Event Technologies

Wisconsin residents know a thing or two about the cold. Perhaps that’s the reason Mount Horeb-based One Event Technologies is the industry leader in remote wireless temperature monitoring. IoT-powered real-time alerts and predictive analytics help brands like Taco Bell, Culver’s and Coach’s Club make sure their refrigerators and freezers remain at the right temperature.

Pantera Global Technology

Pantera is a leading provider of software tools for the construction industry. With tools that facilitate every part of the construction management process, from bidding and planning through to project management and reports, Pantera’s software suite is the only thing general contractors, subcontractors and project owners need.

Part Analytics

Global supply chains are incredibly complex, but Part Analytics is helping international manufacturers simplify their processes and shed light on their operations. The company’s AI-powered analytics platform automates manual processes for manufacturers while identifying potential risks, reducing costs and accelerating the product development cycle.

PerBlue

PerBlue is a Madison-based independent mobile games studio that makes free-to-play RPG and strategy games. The company started in college dorms in 2008 and has since grown to a team of over 50 employees. It is regularly voted as one of the best places to work in Madison.

PKWARE

PKWARE is often credited with putting Milwaukee’s IT scene on the map. It offers enterprise-level data encryption to protect information wherever it is used. The company prides itself on being an industry thought-leader and regularly hosts or takes part in conferences around the country.

Project Foundry

Project Foundry is working to modernize the traditional education system by creating scalable tools for project-based learning. It integrates multiple subjects to make sure teachers hit student requirements for learning while creating a better learning environment for everyone involved.

Redox

Redox makes it easy for healthcare organizations and vendors to securely transport data. The cloud-based and standard-agnostic nature of Redox’s platform means there’s no need for point-to-point integrations. It’s a popular solution. In fact, with hundreds of technology and healthcare providers using the system, Redox is the largest interoperable network in the healthcare industry.

Scanalytics

Scanalytics makes it easy to uncover product and customer insights from your retail, commercial, or trade show space. Its software tracks human behavior through floor sensors in these built spaces: at events, in stores, and throughout commercial buildings. This allows planners to see how occupants think and move around their environments, which helps planners design better spaces.

Socialeads

Catching people at the right time matters if you want to be successful at sales. That’s what makes Milwaukee-based Socialeads’ AI referral engine so powerful. Rather than searching for new leads yourself, their machine learning platform serves up actionable information about ideal prospects so you can spend more time fostering relationships and closing deals.

Spothopper

This app started in Milwaukee but has since expanded across the country. Spothopper offers marketing automation for bars and restaurants while assisting owners in website maintenance and content. This way, those owners can avoid spending thousands on web developers and marketing firms while focusing on their core businesses — namely serving up great food and drinks.

ZoomShift

As software continues to eat the world, more companies are updating their ancient time clocks for hourly employees. ZoomShift offers a platform for employee scheduling, time clock management, and manager-friendly timesheets for tracking employees in an effort to make this transition seamless for employers.

Zywave

A leader the insurance tech industry, Zywave is used by more than 15,000 agents, brokers, carriers and HCM service providers across the globe. It offers these customers everything they need to automate business growth, including marketing and lead generation, client communication and analytics tools. Zywave is rapidly growing itself, too, acquiring nine companies since 2017.

Originally published 3/7/17. Updated 8/8/22.
Images by: ©benkrut/123RF Stock Photo, ©dotshock/123RF Stock Photo, marchinileo0, Hans

Amanda Dodge
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