Dallas is a city that has a rich business history, but for a city previously dominated by huge industries (which are still going strong), there’s an incredibly exciting amount of new innovative ideas. These aren’t just limited to startups, but as you can probably guess there’s a lot of tech. Here are some of the coolest business ideas coming out of Dallas that you should look out for in the new year.

The revenue potential, niche selection and traction of Dallas companies are set at a really high standard, there are many companies that look like they’ll be seriously big in the future.

Stackpath

Stackpath was founded in 2015 and has been a considerable interest for a few years now. It’s a platform that allows developers to enjoy security and high performance with anything cloud-based. It offers a selection of services that protect, accelerate and innovate the cloud properties of anything from websites to IoT services to media hosting and delivery. They pride themselves on their security and performance and offer a frictionless platform designed for incredibly flexible scaling.

Currently it’s traction is insane. It has more than one million customers ranging from young punchy startups to companies on the Fortune 100. Though it’s HQ’d in Dallas, it has international offices to keep up with the huge demand for its growth and maintenance. Their founder, Lance Crosby, thinks it’ll change cybersecurity forever.

5miles

5miles was founded by Dr Lucas Lu in 2014 and addresses what he saw as a serious and growing problem. Lucas Lu saw an influx of terribly designed online marketplaces during the eCommerce boom, with poor user interfaces, loads of spammers and some very sketchy users. Lu created a simple, beautifully designed and highly trustworthy trading website that allows people to trade goods with just a phone: users sell as easily as taking a picture, they shop as easily as they browse through Instagram.

Safety is a big priority and they keep all contact information private. They also focus on ensuring legitimate reviews are posted as much as possible.

SpotSee

SpotSee is an older company, founded more than 40 years ago in 1974. However, its products and services are cutting-edge enough to make it’s still an exciting player in the Dallas scene. It uses innovative technology to monitor valuables, with applications as diverse as power generation, oil and gas, life sciences and food logistics.

Their shock recorder is a perfect example of their innovative work – it connects with cellular connection globally to monitor the condition of products being shipped at any stage along the supply chain, so shippers can monitor if their product is handled unacceptably at any stage. In an increasingly globalized world, products like this are a godsend.

ParkHub

ParkHub is a parking ecosystem founded in 2010. It offers parking solutions and is used by many big management and operating companies. It provides hardware and software platforms to big events and venues so that they can better manage their parking traffic. They give their customers a bird’s-eye view of their parking lot operations so they can better manage how their lot is being run. Their clientele include Pepsi, Levi’s stadium & the AT&T Stadium.

RoboKind

RoboKind claims it’s the world leader in social robotics. Even if it’s not, it does some pretty amazing things to help others. It has Robots4Autism and Robots4STEM programs so that those needing autism therapy and coding instruction can get help from social robots that give life-like facial expressions with natural social interaction behaviours. They are designed to aid educators as well as therapists, with the end aim of helping all students learn and grow to reach their full potential.

rewardStyle

rewardStyle pairs the retail industry with the content writing industry. It offers growth consultancy and partnerships and yields a force of 16,000 premium content creators globally. rewardStyle influencers were claimed to drive approximately $1 billion in retail sales in 2017, which is an impressive traction datum, albeit difficult to prove. It has a consumer-facing content distribution platform as well, called LIKEtoKNOW, which makes its content actionable for millions of consumers across the world.

It also launched an app in 2017 that allowed consumers to shop using screenshots of influencer-created imagery wherever they find that imagery.

Alto

A premium ride-hailing app, Alto has created an upmarket alternative to Uber and Lyft. It focuses on safety and the ride experience – they vet and train their drivers and promise that their vehicles will always be as safe and clean as possible, with a preference for new models. What makes Alto stand out is its ability for experience customization. They allow you to control everything from music selection to climate control and offer a membership program.