New Tech Returns to River Row on October 7
Santa Cruz Works New Tech returns on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at 6 pm at River Row in downtown Santa Cruz, with four companies tackling very different problems: smarter dairy herds, hidden global expansion, AI-powered finance, and single-use waste at live events. Here's a preview of who's presenting.
Feanix Bio: AI that knows every cow by heart
Dairy farmers make hundreds of decisions every day about which cows to breed, sell or cull, often relying on industry averages and gut instinct. Feanix Bio, which recently moved its headquarters from North Carolina to Scotts Valley, wants to change that.
Its platform, Autopilot, combines whole-genome sequencing with a farm's own data, including herd records, feed costs, milk checks and health records, to build a farm-specific prediction model. The result is a ranked, priced list of actions for every animal: breed, beef, sell, cull or monitor. The recommendations sync directly into the herd management software farm crews already use, and refresh weekly as new data comes in.
Upsite: Spotting companies before they expand
Global growth has gone stealth. Many companies now hire in new countries through employer-of-record services long before they register a local entity, which makes expansion hard to see.
Upsite's product, Foresight, uses AI to cross-reference signals like hiring velocity, funding rounds, executive relocations and local corporate registries to flag companies quietly building teams in new regions. Its customers include economic development organizations looking to attract and retain businesses, recruiters hunting for hidden hiring needs, and EOR firms looking for their next client. Upsite also offers an MCP server, so teams can query its company data directly from AI agents like Claude.
Firtop: A fractional CFO that builds, not just advises
Firtop, a Bay Area firm co-founded by Eric and Emily Helbush, gives founders CFO-level financial leadership without the cost of a full-time executive. The pair bring decades of experience across startups, billion-dollar software companies and PwC.
What sets Firtop apart is its focus on AI-native finance systems. Rather than stopping at advice, the team builds tools that connect a company's ledger, billing, CRM and product analytics into one queryable system, including conversational access to live financial data and AI-assisted reporting. Services also cover financial strategy, cash flow management, fundraising support and M&A advisory.
Fun fact: the company is named after the Firtop peak in Point Reyes National Seashore.
Revida Reuse: Making reusable cups effortless
Santa Cruz-based Revida Reuse wants to eliminate single-use cups at venues and events. The company runs a full closed-loop service: it supplies durable cups, manages inventory, handles collection, washing and logistics, and reports back on impact.
Venues get dashboards showing return rates, waste diverted, water saved and emissions reduced, which can also help them stay ahead of sustainability regulations. The goal is reuse that requires no behavior change from staff or customers.
Join us
New Tech returns on Wednesday, October 7, at 6 pm at River Row (444 Front St, Santa Cruz, CA 95062). The evening kicks off with networking, food and drinks, followed by fast-paced company presentations.
Related Articles
From North Carolina to Scotts Valley: Feanix Bio brings AI-powered dairy genetics to Santa Cruz County — How Feanix's Autopilot platform ranks every cow by her value to the farm, and why the company moved its headquarters to California's dairy heartland.
The Expansions You Can't See — Founder Lukas Sieber explains how Employer of Record hiring made global expansion invisible, and how Upsite brings it back into view.
Firtop: Stop Deciding on Stale Numbers — Eric and Emily Helbush on building an agentic finance layer that closes the books continuously instead of monthly.
New Tech Comes Home to the River — A look back at June's expo-style New Tech at River Row, the riverfront venue hosting October's event.
