SCRA Awards Company of the Year and Founder of the Year at annual summit

Jeremy Stuart (left), Chief Scientific Officer at Precision Genetics, the 2022 SCRA Company of the Year, presenting to Jeremy Berman, Co-founder and President of GoodUnited, the 2023 SCRA Company of the Year

Hundreds gathered at South Carolina Research Authority’s annual summit in Columbia this week, where Charleston-based GoodUnited was awarded Company of the Year, and Lanford Holloway, CEO of Columbia-based TerraStride, was awarded Founder of the Year. GoodUnited developed an application that helps nonprofits raise money with their innovative two-way messaging platform that integrates with social media. TerraStride offers two products, TerraStride PRO, which allows users to tour a piece of land virtually, and HuntStand, the most popular hunting app in the country. TerraStride was recently acquired by industry giant GSM Outdoors.

Themed Founders First, the summit is a time for SCRA-supported and funded entrepreneurs, startups, and project leaders, as well as members of the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, to come together, network, and learn more about how to grow their businesses successfully. The success of these startups results in economic growth and new jobs for the state. The keynote speaker was Joe Hanna, Chief Product Officer at Magnit Global, which acquired ENGAGE Talent, a startup he founded. SCRA supported and funded ENGAGE Talent, which helped revolutionize talent acquisition and management.

The criteria for being named the SCRA Company of the Year include having an exceptional job and revenue growth, a unique product or service, being a recognized technology leader with protected intellectual property, and having proven scale-up abilities. The criteria for being named SCRA Founder of the Year include being a visionary leader, being a creative, technological disruptive game-changer, having relentless passion, and having a compelling and inspiring story.