You’ve read recent blogs about the revolutionary battery technology coming from NDB. Inc as well as the wearable temperature monitoring device from Solos Health Analytics, both Pleasanton-based.
The San Francisco Business Times picked up the Bay Area entries on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies and topping the list were two from Pleasanton. Paxon Energy, with a three-year growth of 15,072% ranked No. 9 while Tryfacta grew 12,871% good for No. 12. Paxon is headquartered in Hacienda Business Park and provides a variety of professional services in heavy civil engineering projects in the oil, gas and utilities industries. CEO and founder Nooshin Behroyan has been recognized by a number of organizations for her leadership, including the list of outstanding leaders under the age of 40.
Tryfacta, headquartered a block down Chabot Drive from Paxon, provides information technology services to help clients reach their digital integration goals. Founded in 1996, it’s remarkable to see such a robust growth rate for a company that is 24 years old. It’s serving clients such as IBM, Amazon, SAP and Microsoft Azure. It was rebranded Tryfacta in 2018 from its prior name Systems America, Inc.
An earlier edition of the Business Times noted that Movano, another Pleasanton-based company, had secured $10 million in funding for its non-invasive glucose monitoring wearable technology. It does not prick the skin, instead uses radio signals to monitor the blood. The article reports that CEO Michael Leabman said the technology is proven, but needs to be miniaturized to a single chip that can fit into the wearable.
Companies such as these three abound in the valley, a fact that is celebrated by the economic development directors of the five cities as well as the Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group that it committed to enhancing the ecosystem here.
Innovation touted the Tri-Valley in its third annual Business Times event focused on the business climate here last month. It was done virtually.
Some takeaways from the two panels:
• Rick Shumway, the CEO of Stanford Valley Care, said that the hospital has three different clinical trials involving treatments for COVID-19 thanks to its affiliation with Stanford. He pointed out that within 2 ½ weeks the health system went from 5% of its physician visits by telephone or video to 70%. Shumway also said that early in the pandemic they connected with staff at Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national labs. He said the lab leaders asked what type of problems ValleyCare was facing that it could not resolve and how they could help.
• Dyrell Foster, who just joined Las Positas College as its president, cited 42 programs in six different sectors that are designed to train students so they are job-ready in one year.
• As expected, participants emphasized the Tri-Valley’s unique strengths with its talented work force, quality schools and great quality of life with lots of open spaces to say nothing of more than 50 wineries. Stephanie Beasly from Sandia added another factor, “There’s a passion for community here that is unreal.” She pointed out how workers grateful for continuing in their jobs raised money or donated food to the food banks that saw demand soar with as unemployment soared.
