Key Facts

  • Cincinnati and Columbus are the locations of Ohio’s largest tech companies.Columbus’ tech sector has seen a total of $3 billion in investments over the past two decades.Ohio’s biggest tech companies include Cincom Systems, Hyland Software, MRI Software, Olive, and Paycor.

Arguably, Ohio is most well known for its vibrant music and art scene, as well as its sports teams. And, who could forget the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Even Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon came from Ohio.

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Needless to say, tech companies are maybe not the first thing on your list when you think of Ohio. Either way, this state houses some innovative startups and big tech companies that are making major moves.

Come along for the ride as we delve into what Ohio’s tech sector has to offer.

Which Tech Companies Were Founded in Ohio?

There’s a wide range of services offered by the largest tech companies in Ohio, and many of them were founded there. Let’s take a look at some of these companies.

AvaDirect Custom Computers

AvaDirect provides customized desktops, laptops, workstations, and servers to customers across the United States, for both home and business use. Plus, they provide free technical support for system configuration and assembly from their team of experts.

AvaDirect was founded in 2000 by Alex Sonis; after years of attending tradeshows and custom-assembling computers, Sonis founded AvaDirect to better serve customers with a wide variety of configuration options. Over 20 years later, AvaDirect is still booming, offering thousands of component options for their computers.

AvaDirect employs around 50 people and is headquartered in Twinsburg, Ohio.

Stratacache

While Stratacache offers outdoor digital displays and shelf-edge displays for commercial stores, its main focus is on digital signage solutions. These can display personalized content aimed at grabbing consumers’ attention, building brand loyalty and awareness, and increasing sales. Stratache offers solutions to many businesses, such as restaurants, retail, airports, stadiums, and convenience stores.

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They were founded in 1997 by Chris Reigel and are based in Dayton, Ohio.

Cincom Systems

Cincom was founded in 1968 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by Tom Nies, Claude Bogardus, and Tom Richley. Nies used to work for IBM and decided to found Cincom when he realized software was becoming an increasingly important component of computer systems.

Cincom is best known for its product called TOTAL, a database management system, and is one of the largest software firms in the world.

Cincom’s headquarters are located in Cincinnati, Ohio, and it employs around 500 employees.

Olive

Olive provides automated healthcare solutions powered by AI, aimed at enhancing the patient experience by streamlining administrative duties and improving efficiency and connectivity.

AI for the healthcare industry is still in its relative infancy, and Olive is taking the lead in this sector –– they claim to be the only AI purpose built to solve healthcare challenges. Due to this, Olive is one of the most exciting tech companies in Ohio making a name for itself.

After founding several startups, Sean Lane founded Olive in 2012 and has employed around 10,000 people. Olive is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

Root

Root, Inc. is based in Columbus, Ohio, and was founded in 2015 by Alex Trimm and Dan Manges. Root uses technology and data science to provide a fair and personalized experience for customers wishing to purchase insurance.

They have a mobile app that analyzes customers’ driving habits, providing them with an overall score which is then used to price their insurance premium. This is a big move away from traditional car insurance and aims to charge users reasonably, breaking barriers to social inequality.

Currently, Root has around 1,300 employees.

Popcom

Founded in 2017 by Dawn Dickon, Popcom’s objective is to assist brands with smart vending solutions, providing valuable data insights and enabling customer engagement. In a nutshell, they develop automated technology software to give insights into consumer data for vending machines and retail kiosks.

Popcom uses AI and robotics to accomplish this and allows users to monitor their sales and even adjust their prices and product descriptions through remote access.

Their primary office is located in Columbus, Ohio, and they employ around 22 people.

7SIGNAL

7SIGNAL provides a cloud-based platform for businesses and home use that monitors wireless networks continuously in order to identify any performance issues that arise.

The platform is aimed at increasing employee productivity and efficiency by improving the user experience of their network. Their technology is currently used by healthcare systems, educational institutions, and Fortune 500 companies.

7SIGNAL has around 50 employees and has headquarters in Independence, Ohio.

VNDLY

VNDLY is a vendor management system used by many companies worldwide. VNDLY uses a cloud-based system and helps businesses to engage and manage their external workforce through a user-friendly platform. They provide an agile solution with API integrations, informed by e-commerce design, meaning the platform can communicate effortlessly with a business’ other technology providers, which is essential when managing external contractors.

VNDLY was founded in 2017, and has headquarters in Mason, Ohio, with around 250 employees.

Paycor

While Paycor predominantly provides payroll services, they also offer a human capital management (HCM) solution. This can manage custom reporting, file tax documents, and offer compliance support along with human resources tools. They’re a cloud-based software company focused on helping small businesses.

Paycor was founded and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and has around 2,000 employees.

What are the Biggest Tech Companies Located in Ohio?

We’ve looked at some of the companies founded in Ohio, so now it’s time to explore the biggest tech companies with offices located here, by revenue and market capitalization.

Intel – $63-64 billion

Intel is the world’s largest semiconductor chip manufacturer, and its instruction sets can be found in most computers today. They supply microprocessors for many computer manufacturers, such as HP, Lenovo, Acer, and Dell.

While they have headquarters in Santa Clara, California, Intel has recently announced plans to build at least two semiconductor manufacturing plants in New Albany, just outside of Columbus, Ohio. Intel has committed $20 billion to this project, and the plant should be in operation by 2025.

Intel has a projected 2022 full-year revenue of $63-64 billion.

TransDigm Group – $5.429 billion

TransDigm Group, Inc. is an aerospace manufacturing company located in Cleveland, Ohio, and employs over 13,000 people. They develop and engineer aerospace components such as valves, pumps, and avionics.

TransDigm’s products are used in the majority of military and commercial aircraft currently in service. They were founded in 1993 by W. Nicholas Howley and Douglas W. Peacock and formed through the buyout of four industrial aerospace companies.

TransDigm reported a full-year 2022 revenue (as of September 30th) of $5.429 billion and a market cap of $34.05 billion as of November 14, 2022.

Hyland Software – $492.7 million

Hyland Software was founded in 1991 by Packy Hyland, Jr. and is most well-known for OnBase, a software suite used for process management and enterprise content management (ECM).

Hyland helps businesses deliver essential information to their employees, focusing on the digital management of a company’s information and dissemination of this information to achieve business goals. They also offer a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) application of OnBase, the OnBase Cloud.

While they have offices all around the world, they’re headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, and have over 3,500 employees. It reported a 2021 full-year revenue of $492.7 million.

MRI Software – $300.0 million

MRI was founded in Solon, Ohio in 1971 under the name Management Reports Incorporated, by Fred and Sid Goodman. MRI specializes in providing technology solutions for real estate, such as end-to-end software supporting real estate management, investment, and finance. They help residential managers do their job better by automating business processes and providing integrated solutions, as well as supporting commercial real estate owners.

MRI Software has ten offices throughout North America, but its headquarters are located in Cleveland, Ohio. It employs around 5,000 people and reported a 2021 full-year revenue of $300 million.

Stratacache – $69.8 million

Offering digital signage solutions aimed at boosting customer engagement and sales, Stratacache has been around for over 20 years. Their headquarters are located in Stratacache Tower in Dayton, Ohio, which even has its own zip code and is the tallest building in the city. Stratacache is mostly focused on the retail sector, providing digital solutions to enhance and streamline the customer experience.

Stratacache employs around 370 people and reported a 2021 full-year revenue of $69.8 million.

Forgotten Tech Companies in Ohio

Unfortunately, going bankrupt and closing is a risk that all businesses must face, especially in today’s competitive market. These companies may have been forgotten, but here’s a refresher on the tech companies from Ohio that have either closed or been acquired.

Convergys

Convergys Corporation came from Cincinnati Bell Information Systems and primarily sold information management and customer management products to large businesses. These included self-service and customer care software, along with revenue, product, and order management software. In 2018, Convergys was acquired by Synnex for $2.43 billion.

IndiePub

IndiePub Entertainment, Inc., stylized as IndiePub, was a video games publisher based in Cincinnati, Ohio. IndiePub was initially founded as Driftwood Ventures, Inc., and was further renamed Zoo Entertainment in 2008 after the acquisition of Destination Software, Inc. and Green Screen Interactive Software, Inc., with the IndiePub name coming into fruition in 2010.

Best known for publishing games for the Nintendo Wii and DS, IndiePub also intended to branch out into the mobile games sector in 2011, with IndiePub Mobile. However, all activity ceased and IndiePub was closed in 2013. The last game they published was Vessel in September of that year.

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