Startups

Sugar Magnolia Breads and Baked Goods officially rolled out its new Brownie Bark product this week, using the chocolate snack as its first foray into shelf-stable items suited to online sales and retail shelves.

Meredith Mexal left a career at a trucking company to launch Happy Tails, which offers pet grooming, pet sitting and dog walking with a fleet of Mercedes Sprinter vans.

The 6-year-old startup, which offers a fringe benefits marketplace for employee perks, said the funds will keep it running as it fine-tunes its software and operations as part of a pivot into partnerships with larger benefits providers.

Check out scenes from a spirited evening celebrating the region’s 25 fastest-growing companies, presented by Keiter.

Behold, the rankings for the RVA 25 class of 2024, presented by Keiter. The group, made up of the region’s fastest-growing companies, was honored last night at a ceremony at Hardywood West Creek, where the list was unveiled.

The company, which has been fully remote, recently bought the two-story building next to Sefton Coffee.

Glenn Diersen is back in startup mode with a new venture, CereHive, which he thinks has even more growth potential than his first company, Summit Human Capital.

“There was this void of really finishing your home, where you look at steps or an entryway and there’s something missing,” Brit Trible said of her new company Gilded Lily.

“With a content creator their personal life is their business, which means the deductions they get are unique compared to pretty much any other business out there,” said Cookie Finance founder Nate Coughran.

“As you go out and you visit customers and you say, I’m Glen Baker, People look at you and they’re like, ‘I used to know a company named Baker Equipment,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, that was my family,’” said Glen Baker.